[ad_1]
Hong Kong’s men continued their good form in the second leg of the third round of the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series in Uruguay, and faced an inspired home team in the final.
Impressive wins over Japan, Chile and Tonga earlier in the weekend had already given the team a chance to compete in a series that could earn them promotion to the elite 12-team HSBC SVNS. The season on the Top Tier circuit includes the main competition at the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.
And Hong Kong took another scalp in the semi-finals in Montevideo on Sunday local time, defeating series co-leaders Kenya 21-14.
Hong Kong led from the start, with Caddo Lee Kato scoring two of the three tries and Callum McCullough scoring the other try.
However, Uruguay made a comeback. After losing to Uganda and Germany in the pool games, they only advanced to the quarterfinals as one of the top two teams in the group stage, but they advanced to the finals by defeating Portugal and fellow series candidate Chile.
Backed by their home crowd, they stormed past the Hong Kongers at the Estadio Charrua, winning 28-0 with tries from Diego Aldao, Bautista Basso, Ignacio Facciolo and Ignacio Álvarez Aquiqui.
This moved the South American team into a tie with Kenya for first place in the overall series standings. Hong Kong are in fifth place, level on points with Germany, one place above them, and will play the first round in Munich in May.
The women’s series was dominated by China, who had a simpler story, defeating Argentina 38-7 and winning the series for the second time in a row.
Hong Kong’s women’s team won the seventh place match against Kenya 27-22 thanks to a hat-trick of tries from Chong Ka-yan.
Hong Kong Sevens nearly sold out as event prepares to bid farewell to home turf
Hong Kong Sevens nearly sold out as event prepares to bid farewell to home turf
Chong scored the first goal, and after a reaction from Janet Okello, she crossed for the second goal, giving Hong Kong a 17-5 lead.
Okello’s second and Phoebe Otieno’s Kenyan try cut the gap to two points, only for Julia Mbah Oyana and Nam Kaman to give Hong Kong some breathing room again.
Stella Wafula claimed a second-half goal for Kenya, but it was too late to change the result.
After the final round in Krakow for the women and Munich for the men, the top four teams in their respective series overall standings will qualify for a solo promotion/relegation tournament against the bottom four teams of HSBC SVNS 2024.
Four men’s teams and four women’s teams will compete from these tournaments in Madrid, completing next year’s elite line-up.
[ad_2]
Source link
