Japan Bounces Back Against HK to Win Borneo Sevens

Japan successfully defended its Borneo Sevens title in a gripping final against Hong Kong at the Likas Stadium in Sabah on Sunday.

The Borneo Sevens is the first of four events on this year’s HSBC Asian Sevens Series 2012 (HSBC A7s). Although trailing 12-17 in the first half, Japan bounced back in the second half with four tries and three conversions making the final points tally 33-22 at the end of the 20-minute (10 minute halves) Cup Final.

The key break for Japan, who were trailing 22-19 with 90 seconds remaining on the clock, was a yellow card against Hong Kong’s Alex McQueen for failing to retreat after a penalty. Japan made rapid use of its man advantage to score a crucial try through wing Kenichi Yokoyama that was beautifully converted by Japan captain Katsuyuki Sakai.

Japan ratcheted up the pressure as they capitalized on a Hong Kong fumble from the re-start to score again, this time through Sione Teaupa. Captain Sakai’s conversion was again successful bringing the final score to 33-22 and returning the Borneo Sevens Cup to Japan for a second consecutive year.

New Japan Sevens coach Tomohiro Segawa marked his debut win with the squad after replacing former coach Wataru Murata after the Tokyo Sevens.

Segawa maintained that even though Japan were down he never lost confidence in his squad, saying, “I asked the players to keep two things in mind - get possession of the ball from the kick off and don’t concede any penalties. We have a new squad for this year’s HSBC Asian Sevens Series and I am very pleased with the performance of the players and that we were able to defend the title ... We played hard for 20 minutes and although the Hong Kong team is very experienced, I was confident that we could win if we kept possession of the ball and kept on the attack.”

In the Asia Pacific Women’s Rugby Sevens final earlier, reigning Women’s World Cup Sevens champions Australia defeated Japan 36-17 on their Borneo debut.

Earlier, Japan and Hong Kong had both reached the Cup semi finals from the Asian side of the draw, a remarkable result that saw Asia’s number one and two sevens sides, China and Kazakhstan, relegated to the plate, which Kazakhstan won 29-14.

After being escorted from the Cup semi finals by Japan, Hong Kong lost to 2011 Asia Pacific Women’s Sevens champions Papua New Guinea in the 3rd/4th place match 17-26. In the Women’s Bowl final (9th/10th playoff), Singapore beat South Korea 29-0.

Australia coach Chris Lane said he was proud of the spirit the Australian team showed in the last few minutes especially with six players on the field.

“That just showed the real Australian character, the true Aussie spirit that I asked for before the start of the game. The standard of the tournament has been very competitive, and the standard of Asian rugby has been impressive, particularly the work ethic of all the teams,” he said. “We had two big wins on our first day but the girls said that the opposition just never stopped trying. Japan beat us in the first round (14-10) and we are very grateful for the chance for some revenge.”

Chinese Taipei took home the Plate after beating a re-building Philippines Volcanoes seven in the final, 31-12. The Volcanoes reached the final last year in Borneo before bowing out to Japan.

In the Bowl final (9th/10th place play-off) hosts Malaysia’s last hope of salvaging some pride went up in smoke when despite a 12-7 lead in the first half they succumbed 12-19 to the Ben Gollings-coached Sri Lanka Seven.

Gollings, the all-time top points scorer in HSBC Sevens World Series history, will coach Sri Lanka across all four events on this year’s HSBC A7s including at the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013 qualifiers in Singapore in November.

Gollings commented on the tournament, his first as coach of Sri Lanka, saying, “It’s been an interesting week for me as I have only just arrived in Sri Lanka, but I am pleased with the guys. I’m still getting to know them but I think on Saturday they knew there was more in them. Today it was their goal to go out and win the Bowl and they’ve done that, which gives us a great platform to build off of for the coming tournaments.

“The HSBC Asian Sevens Series is really excellent for the Asian nations”, added Gollings. “It gives them the opportunity to develop their rugby and for Asia it is a step in the right direction ... I have been impressed by the standard of play in Borneo. There has been some strong games and it seems to me it is developing very fast. I think that with the nations participating in Borneo you will see them develop the quickest with what they have going on, in terms of a highly competitive Series structure.”

South Korea and China battled for 3rd/4th honours in the Borneo Sevens with China coming up trumps 19-14 after trailing 14-5 at halftime.

The 3rd/4th place spot is always fiercely contested at HSBC A7s tournaments, and will continue to be a focus on this year’s series, most especially in Singapore in November when the fourth and final event of the series, the Rugby World Cup Sevens Asian qualifier is held in conjunction with the long-running Singapore Cricket Club Sevens.

Three spots are reserved for Asian teams at next year’s world championship in Moscow so there will be everything to play for in November. The final HSBC A7s series standings following the third 2012 ranking event in Mumbai in October will determine the seedings for the Asian men’s teams taking part in Singapore.

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