HKRFU Names Men’s Sevens Squad for World Games 2013 in Colombia

The Hong Kong Rugby Football Union (HKRFU) has named the men’s sevens squad for the upcoming rugby sevens competition at the World Games 2013 (1-2 August) in Cali, Colombia.

The squad features two of Hong Kong’s up and coming young sevens stars in 18-year old Chris Maize and 19-year old Josh Peters both of whom recently made their senior sevens squad debuts.

The World Games marks Hong Kong’s 13th major sevens competition this season and the sixth international tournament the squad has played in since March.

The 30-hour travel to Colombia adds another exhausting element to what has been Hong Kong’s most intense sevens season ever with the squad appearing in tournaments in Africa, Asia, Europe and now South America in the past five months.

Considering the intensity of this year’s campaign, the management team has given the squad a full month off after their performance at the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013 in Moscow in June.

“We asked all of the players where their enthusiasm levels and availability were for travelling to the World Games and nearly to a man they have indicated they are keen to compete in Colombia,” said HKRFU Head of Performance and National Coach, Dai Rees.

Dai Rees - Click to Enlarge (more pics)

The only exception is forward Eni Gesinde who has had to withdraw from the squad due to work commitments. Gesinde is replaced by 18-year old Chris Maize who will join 19-year old Josh Peters as the two Under 20 Hong Kong team representatives playing in the senior squad. Maize made his senior sevens squad debut at the qualifiers for the National China Games in June.

Coach Rees commented on the two youngsters in the squad saying: “Chris and Josh have really broken the mould in terms of being two young players who have opted to stay in Hong Kong for university as part of their commitment to representing Hong Kong on the rugby pitch.

“Chris is a Hong Kong born product of our development programme and this will give us another opportunity to get him and Josh more experience of elite international rugby, while they will also continue to represent Hong Kong at Under 20 level for the next few years.

“With the squad being called on to play in so many tournaments each season the importance of building our depth continues to remain a key priority,” added Rees.

With the upcoming Sevens season starting just three weeks after Colombia keeping players rested and motivated is another priority for Coach Rees and his management team.

“We knew that we had to give the players time off after such a long season. It will be an interesting experiment to see how we perform with this kind of lay-off. We haven’t trained or even gathered together since Moscow and I won’t see the players until we meet on Saturday at the airport. We consciously decided to give them the time off to re-invigorate them for the upcoming competitions. We will have a few training sessions in Colombia and then go into the tournament,” Rees said.

The team will be thrown back into the deep end at the eight-team World Games as Hong Kong is grouped in Pool A alongside top seeds South Africa, fourth seeds Canada and the hosts Colombia who are the 8th seeds in Cali. France, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil make up the four teams in Pool B.

South Africa, France, Canada and Argentina are the respective regional champions for Africa, Europe (FIRA), Canada (NACRA) and South America while Brazil is invited as the host of the 2016 Olympic Games where Rugby sevens will make its debut. Fiji, Oceania champions, who have won every World Games Rugby Sevens competition since the sport’s debut at the World Games in 2001 withdrew from this year’s competition and have been replaced by another strong regional competitor in Uruguay.

Coach Rees talked about Hong Kong’s chances saying, “It’s a tough competition without a doubt. But I think that some of the teams may use this tournament to blood a few new players and we will have the advantage of coming in with a settled and hopefully well-rested and enthusiastic squad.

“If we can perform on day one there is the chance to get a couple of wins in our pool and then be in the position of having to win one or two games to reach the Bronze medal match.

“At the moment we have the luxury of entering the tournament without much in the way of expectations. We are really treating the event as an occasion and an honour to represent Asia on the last playing of Rugby Sevens in the World Games,” added Rees.

Hong Kong, China Men’s Sevens Squad for the 2013 World Games:

Rowan Varty (captain)
Kwok Ka Chun
Anthony Haynes
Yiu Kam Shing, Salom
Alex McQueen
Ben Rimene
Tom McQueen
Lee Jones
Jamie Hood
Josh Peters
Nick Hewson
Chris Maize