Hong Kong 1 win from Rugby World Cup spot after 12-try rout of Sri Lanka
Emphatic 78-7 victory at Kai Tak in their second Asia Championship outing puts them on brink of historic qualification
Hong Kong’s men are one win from qualifying for a World Cup for the first time, after a comfortable 78-7 victory over Sri Lanka at Kai Tak Youth Sports Ground on Sunday.
A dominant forward display was more than enough to overcome some sloppy mistakes against a team returning to the Asia Rugby Emirates Men’s Championship for the first time in more than a decade.
Luke van der Smit’s hat-trick of tries from No 8 and his man-of-the-match award rather summed up a game that was largely over from the moment Calum Scott finished off a driving maul with 11 minutes gone.
Van der Smit’s second soon after, when he took a pop pass from centre Tom Hill and raced away from near halfway, made it 14-0, and his third moments before the final whistle put the exclamation mark on a thoroughly one-sided affair.
The final word fell to full-back Matt Worley, running in under the posts from close range for his third of the game.
“It took us a while to get into our systems, but once we started flowing and playing our tactics it really paid off for us,” van der Smit said. “Full credit to the boys, we pulled through and on to the next.”
