Hong Kong's men and women learn what it takes to live with Sevens best

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Hong Kong Sevens 2023: city's men and women learn what it takes to live with the best

Cheers, tears, frustration and pride. All were in the mix as the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens ended for the city's women's team on Saturday evening.

Gathering the players for a huddle in the Hong Kong Stadium tunnel after their campaign closed with defeat by Brazil, sevens head coach Paul John told the bruised, battered dozen that they had shown they could cut it at this exalted level, as part of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.

Losing 35-0 to Great Britain earlier was to be expected, but they came close to taking the scalp of one of these elite sides - albeit the weakest among them - when tries by Nam Ka-man and Chloe Chan put them in the hunt against the Brazilians in the 11th-place play-off.

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"It's mixed feelings," co-skipper Melody Li Nim-yan said after they went down 21-10. "We're really glad that we got to be in this tournament, to play with all these [World Series-level] teams and help us improve.

"In the last game everyone just put everything in. I was just exhausted - I haven't felt like that before. I have to thank the girls for having my back. It's a good way for us to learn, to take forward.

"Paul told us we do have the ability in us, and we should keep believing. We had a really good go in this Sevens."

Hong Kong's women console each other after the loss to Brazil. Photo: Elson Li

Emotions ran high as disappointment was tempered by the roars of an appreciative crowd and the knowledge they had emptied the tank. To judge from the adoration of the children in the stands, the impact of their efforts for the women's game locally will far outlast memories of tries spurned or conceded.

"It's so different to play on your home ground," Li said. "It's really great to see a lot of kids here watching us and aspiring to be the next generation of players."

Those sentiments applied equally to the city's men, after they battled hard in defeat in their remaining pool matches by Great Britain and Uruguay, although they looked closer still to the standard required, and they knew it.

Trailing the South Americans, they launched a stirring comeback through tries by Max Denmark and Seb Brien, and were closer than the 24-14 margin suggests.

"The message for us is that this is how close it is," captain Max Woodward said. "We had the ball with seconds to go, and if we had scored, we'd have won. Then the whole energy, how we reflect on it, would be completely different.

Hong Kong's Max Denmark rounds Uruguay's Guillermo Lijtenstein to score his try. Photo: Sam Tsang

"We know it's on that cusp of winning or losing, and we have to start pushing that in our favour. It means so much to us and it's important to get the crowd behind us as winners, not just gutsy losers, then feed off that, because it's so powerful."

As they had all tournament, Hong Kong made a point of being proactive. Enough, Denmark believes, to "worry some of the teams we normally play" when not appearing above their normal level, as they are here.

"It's been a thing for us to not invite teams; we want to put them on the back foot," he said. "We made it an aim, 'attack the attack', by getting in their faces so that they have to get around us and really work for their tries.

"The takeaway is, 'We're better than that.' We know that in at least two of the games we've just played, we could have won, so there's still that frustration that, 'Oh, it's Hong Kong, they put on a good show.' We want to shed that [unlucky] tag and take out one of these top teams."

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