Jack Neville and Alex McQueen scored tries as Hong Kong beat China 14-7 in a thrilling Cup final to win the second round of the Asia Rugby Men’s Sevens Series in Huizhou.
🇭🇰🏆Alex McQueen steps up to give @hongkongrugby a first Cup title since 2017! @worldrugby7s pic.twitter.com/ghyFsMGxub
— Asia Rugby (@asiarugby) September 15, 2019
It was a second successive Cup defeat for the home fans as Japan won the women’s final, but Hong Kong were able to celebrate a first Cup title since the 2017 Sri Lanka Sevens.
Paul John’s side now sit on top of the overall standings after China beat Japan in the semi-finals.
Having scored 116 unanswered points in pool play Japan suffered a 14-7 defeat to China in one of the shock results in recent history.
Fixtures and Results >>>#ARM7s Men China 7s
Fixtures and Results>>>> #ARW7s Women China 7s
After Michael Toloke had given the Korea 7s champions the lead, it was Gao Bing and Yi Zhiwen who created an historic moment for China with the result meaning their run of four successive Cup titles would come to an end.
Kensuke Iwabuchi’s side bounced back from the defeat to beat Sri Lanka 40-0 in the third place play-off.
Hong Kong went unbeaten in Pool B before Raef Morrison scored a first half hat-trick, with Russ Webb adding two scores, in Hong Kong’s emphatic 55-0 win over the Sri Lanka Tuskers in the semi finals.
Chinese Taipei came from 19-0 behind to beat the UAE 24-19 thanks to two tries from Po-Wei Huang in the Plate semi-finals before falling short against Korea 17-0 in the Plate final.
Luc Smith scored twice as the Philippines beat the UAE 26-5 to finish seventh, overturning an earlier 21-17 defeat to the same side in pool play.
FINAL STANDINGS
1. Hong Kong
2. China
3. Japan
4. Sri Lanka
5. Korea
6. Chinese Taipei
7. Philippines
8. UAE
