Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018: Hong Kong blown away by early Russia blitz – ‘we hadn’t touched the ball’
After falling behind 21-0 at the break, Paul John’s side show some fight in the second half and will now face Jamaica in the Bowl quarter-finals
Hong Kong’s dream of stealing a win in the main draw at the Rugby World Cup Sevens was over within seven minutes on Saturday morning, with Russia ambushing Paul John’s side with a dominant first half before going on to win 21-7.
The score was 21-0 at the break after three quick-fire Russian tries, before Hong Kong fought back in the second half to restore some respectability to the scoreboard at AT&T Park in San Francisco.
It’s been only two weeks since Hong Kong played the Cook Islands in a qualifier for the 15s World Cup and the quick transition seemed to tell, although captain Ben Rimene was making no excuses.
“I guess you could use that but we’re professionals, we know what we need to do and we have played a lot of sevens,” Rimene said. “It’s not the easiest going from 15s to sevens but it’s part of the job and we have to do it.
“It was a slow start for us, they were 21-0 up at half-time and we hadn’t touched the ball, when we had the ball we just gave it back to them too easily. Teams like that, if you give them the ball they are going to score points.”