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| Mike Rehu looks back at Week 2 |
Last year Hong Kong went down 75-29 to the eventual champions Japan in Niigata. It was an entertaining game, but it exposed a few shortcomings in the Hong Kong set up, so the SAR went back to the drawing board. A new coach Dai Rees was brought in from Wales, so it was an interesting exercise to see how the teams compared this year.On the negative side, Hong Kong couldn't score any tries. You can put this down to a special effort from the Japanese; they were focused on denying their opposition the same latitude as last year.There were positives; the biggest one for me was the Hong Kong lineout. Stuck with two options last year and made to pay at set-piece time, 6 of the 7 receivers (plus the scrum-half at one stage) took lineout ball. That is an impressive statistic.A coach can have any number of plans up his sleeve, but whether his team has the ability or is allowed by the opposition to execute these cunning schemes..... well that's another.Hong Kong coach Dai Rees' frustration was palpable post-match after his team went down 59-6 to the irresistible Japanese at the Hong Kong Football Club."We were playing the game at our pace, competing with the Japanese well, and at 5-3 down, we had a kickable goal, and went for the lineout" reminisced Dai. "If we'd put that over, along with the other points, it could have been very close at halftime". I remember being surprised at the time the penalty shot was spurned, but to be fair, if Hong Kong had scored, it would have stressed the young experimental Japanese team even more!The Hong Kong team has worked really hard on their game management, their control of territory and defensive work (especially in the midfield) was exemplary. At 12-6 after 30 minutes, Hong Kong was "on" for keeping the game close. Unfortunately two factors cut in at that stage. Hong Kong's amateur players, superbly fit for guys with day jobs, started feeling the pace. This was combined with the fact that the tiny dynamic Japanese halfback Fumiaka Tanaka started fancying a snipe or two through the ‘A channels'; the fringes of the ruck.From there it was game over. Of the 9 Japan tries they'd scored by fulltime, 6 tries came from Tanaka's skilled running and poor defence close to the breakdown, two from set-pieces, and only one from sustained attacking phases. All in all, a good effort from Hong Kong that will keep them confident they may be able to gain that coveted second place in Asia, especially after the big surprise from Kazakhstan. The form book was thrown away as Korea folded in the face of some determined play, and went down 30-27 in Almaty.Korea has never been the best traveler, they seem to lose about 15-20 points of ability once they get on the plane at Incheon airport. So will Korea's confidence crumble for their game against Hong Kong this week, or will the Chinese team suffer a big whiplash? I suspect the latter!And Kazakhstan has gone from looking at a very difficult game in steamy Singapore (a match we thought may decide who would be relegated) to having a real position of power. If they can beat Singapore, and then show Hong Kong the same ‘hospitality' in round 5 at Almaty, they may even finish second!I think Kazakhstan will come back down to ground this weekend, Singapore know that this is their big chance to glean a victory so I am expecting a very tense tight test match.Be sure to watch this week's game between Singapore and Kazakhstan, if you are in Hong Kong its on STAR Sports at 1930 on Monday, but for the rest of Asia, tune in 2300 next Tuesday night.
EXTRA One thing Hong Kong has no shortage of is halfbacks. The position where being skilled and small is considered an asset is obviously a popular one in Asia. In the current squad there must be five or six players who could step into scrum half and acquit themselves well. Jeff Wong debuted and played very well, distributing quickly and accurately. Then Tim Alexander, the newly crowned Hong Kong Player of the Year, got a chance.Alexander has a fantastic retro tackling style. It's no wonder; he is from the outback in New South Wales, where a lot of things are stuck in the 1970s! These days the high ‘ball and all' tackle is in fashion, to inhibit the ability of the ball-carrier to pop the pill onto a team mate. But one thing Alexander illustrated is if you go in very fast, low and hard and take the attackers feet from under him, it's extremely difficult to pass the ball!Good work Tim right out of the text book! |
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