Hong Kong march on Bahrain
Thu, 29 Apr 2010 23:52
Hong Kong captain (No.8) Simon Leung celebrated a successful debut
After upsetting South Korea last weekend at home a resurgent Hong Kong have now set their sights on their upcoming match in Bahrain to solidify their shot at Asia’s sole entry to the IRB Rugby World Cup 2011. Kazakhstan, the other co-leader in the series after an opening win against the Arabian Gulf last weekend is on a bye this weekend.
The Arabian Gulf is coming off a heartbreaking loss in a thrilling clash in Almaty against Kazakhstan, last year’s runners-up, where the visitors were within shouting distance at 33-28 down until the final minutes of the match. Despite the slow start the Kazakh juggernaut finally found its form behind impressive flanker Anton Rudoy who opened his personal A5N account with three tries against the Gulf.
Now both Hong Kong and the Arabian Gulf will look to rally in the desert for the battle of Bahrain after short preparation weeks ahead of a crucial Friday evening tie at the Bahrain Rugby Football Club that will go a long way towards determining Hong Kong’s Rugby World Cup chances.
For Hong Kong coach Dai Rees focus will be a priority of the coming match. He said: “We must come back with nothing less than a win. The Arabian Gulf will be strong and well organized and will be extremely motivated for their first home match of the Asian 5 Nations. We have to improve on our Korea performance to ensure a win in Bahrain.”
Hong Kong fields a side primarily unchanged from its big win versus Korea with the exception of bringing Tom McQueen into the starting XV at the wing and forcing his brother Alex McQueen to the fullback slot versus the Arabian Gulf. Sevens veteran Tsang Hing Hung replaces Tom McQueen. First choice prop Nigel Hobler remains out with injury so Alex Baddeley has been drafted into the side from the larger training squad as front row support. The McQueen brothers who played their school rugby at the University of Queensland add another dimension to Hong Kong’s backline depth.
Rees said: “Tom brings an extra cutting edge to our attack as evident in his impact as a sub against Korea (when he scored Hong Kong’s bonus point try), while Hing Hung adds specialist centre cover on the bench. We need to use our squad strength to look after key players with three games in a span of 14 days. The recovery has been good,” added Rees, “but we must now work on consistency of performance which has been our emphasis in training this week.
“To improve on our last performance and ensure all the players are focused and not taking the Gulf lightly is one of our challenges this week. The match will be an indicator of how far we have come in our development since our European Tour and our away games in the A5N last year."
Arabian Gulf coach Bruce Birtwhistle who successfully led his charges to promotion from Division I in 2009 is focusing on similar challenges. The Arabian Gulf XV made a strong statement about their 2010 aspirations taking their opportunities well with both ball in hand and the through the boot of fullback James Love.
Love, who tallied 18 of the Gulf’s 28 points in Almaty, is the second top points scorer in the 2010 A5N and one of four players in the matchday 22 who plays his rugby for Bahrain RFC. Love will be even more dangerous at home where he can expect a bit more affection than he received from the noisy partisan crowd in Almaty. The Arabian Gulf will likely again look to the comforting solidity of its forward pack as they try and grind out their first win against visiting Hong Kong whose young, pacy backs look dangerous with ball in hand.
Birtwhistle said: “There were a lot of positives from our match with Kazakhstan and we need to take these into the next game. I was happy with our performance in Almaty but we need to cut down on our penalty count. It should be a different story on Friday as we are at one of our home grounds and the support from the crowd will definitely help us. I am sure it will be a great atmosphere. All of the boys have taken heart from our performance in Kazakhstan and we are confident of getting the result."
With both teams targeting Friday’s clash as a must-win encounter the battle for the A5N trophy and Asia’s sole direct entry to Rugby World Cup 2011 is set to heat up in the desert.
Teams:
Hong Kong: 15 Alex McQueen, 14 Salom Yiu Kam Shing, 13 Rowan Varty, 12 Simon Hempel (vice captain), 11 Tom McQueen, 10 Keith Robertson, 9 Tim Alexander, 8 Simon Leung Ho Yam (captain), 7 Mark Wright, 6 Nick Hewson, 5 Charles French, 4 Nigel Clarke, 3 Jack Bennett, 2 Jon Abel, 1 Peter Spizziri
Replacements: 16 Alex Ng Wai Shing, 17 Alex Baddeley, 18 Renaud Chavanis, 19 Kwok Ka Chun, 20 So Hok Ken, 21 James Kibble, 22 Tsang
Hing Hung
Arabian Gulf: 15 James Love, 14 Ross Stapleton, 13 Trent Eastgate, 12 Taif DeLamie, 11 Joshua Sherrin, 10 Duncan Murray, 9 Jonathon MacDonald, 8 David Clark, 7 Byron Kraemer, 6 Edward LePine -Williams, 5 Jason Voyce, 4 Michael Cox-Hill (captain), 3 Nicholas Croker, 2 Rory Power, 1 Michael Riley
Replacements: 16 Daniel Heal, 17 Mark Gathercole, 18 Steven Little, 19 Karl Sutcliffe, 20 Sean Hurley, 21 Paul Beard, 22 Nicholas DiMarco
Date: Friday, 30 April 2010
Kick-off: 19.00
Venue: Bahrain Sports Club, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain
Referee: Akihisa Aso (Japan)
Assistant referees: Takashi Harada (Japan), Shuhei Kubo (Japan)
From Sean Moore
Contact Us | Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy | Advertising
