“We knew we were going to be in a tough position heading into (the Asian Rugby Championship),” said Hull, who has been coaching the team since 2015. “But equally in a good position to have the opportunity to be competitive for that first and second spot.”

Hong Kong are ranked 19th in the world, behind Japan (12th) and Kazakhstan (15th). Hull said the team were targeting winning the tournament, or coming second, which would have qualified them for a repechage with three other teams for the final spot at the World Cup.

“We were feeling pretty positive about everything,” said Hull about where the team was at prior to Covid-19 restrictions. “And we still are, nothing has really changed for us.”

Hull said they were able to give 10 new players international caps in Amsterdam. This was in stark contrast to some of the test matches the team played after the 2017 Rugby World Cup in Ireland. Hong Kong qualified for the tournament via a repechage, but were clearly outmatched in their group, which included New Zealand, Wales and Canada.

After Ireland there was a turnover of players leaving the national programme and Hull stated it was the beginning of their current rebuilding phase.

“The make-up of our team last year was that we had a few new caps in Holland, but the previous year we had about 50 per cent of the squad being new. So we are planning towards featuring fewer youngsters and more established players now.”

Hull said there were a few players who stood out in Holland that got their first caps (Aileen Ryan, Roshini Turner and Lara Schats) and she had been looking forward to them strutting their stuff at the ARC.

“With the 15s we tend to take players a little bit older, based on that physical maturation and the physical demands of the 15s game, but equally we’ve had some young players coming through that have been in our system for quite a while.”

Like every other professional team, they have had to deal with social-distancing guidelines during the lockdown. She said the squad switched to strength and conditioning sessions, and they also incorporated regular fitness challenges as the team was split into three groups according to positions.

“If anything this has undoubtedly brought the team closer together, in terms of camaraderie and in terms of team-ship,” said Hull about the lockdown. “We created a good sense of competitiveness and also set them up with some skills challenges.”

Natasha Olsen-Thorne, one of Hong Kong’s most decorated players who got her first cap with the sevens team in 2011, said adjusting to the lockdown was a bit strange at first.

“It was a bit weird and lonely at times not being able to train with the rest of the team,” she said. “But we stayed connected online and had some fun challenges in addition to our strength and conditioning workouts, which helped keep morale and motivation high. It was lots of fun seeing how creative people were when they didn’t have access to a gym.”

Hull’s squad are now on a four-week return to a training programme, which is geared around gradual increments to avoid injuries, in the hope of resuming full practices soon.

World Rugby is expected to make a statement at the end of the month about rescheduling tournaments, Hull said. “The girls are ready to go. Once they make that announcement we can hit the ground running.”