New Zealand men, women rule at Hong Kong Sevens
IT WAS A DOUBLE CELEBRATION for New Zealand as the men’s and women’s teams defended their titles at the Hong Kong Sevens tournament last Sunday (Apr 7).
The men beat France 10-7, claiming afterwards they will no doubt now have a target on their backs at this summer’s Paris Olympics, while the women thrashed the United States 36-7 in their final showdown.
A cagey men’s final, in the most prestigious leg of the World Series, was decided by two quickfire second-half tries by Scott Curry and Cody Vai.
France, winners of the previous leg of the series, in Los Angeles, scored unchallenged at the death through Varian Pasquet, with Rayan Rebbadj nailing the conversion.
But that was the last action and New Zealand’s triumphant men and women celebrated at a boisterous 40,000-capacity Hong Kong Stadium by doing the haka.
It was a particularly special occasion for New Zealand’s Tone Ng Shiu because he is a quarter Chinese, and also a warning of intent with the Olympics just over three months away.
“Just speechless, unreal, unreal feeling,” said Ng Shiu, who is just back from a serious knee injury.
“We know we’ve got a target on our backs (at the Olympics), but we’re trying to take it one tournament at a time.
“We spoke about why we love this game, and at the end of the day, we all came out, prepared well, stuck to the routine and did our job.”
There was more frustration for Fiji, the reigning two-time Olympic champions, who were defeated by New Zealand in the last eight.
Argentina, who came to Hong Kong as series leaders after five rounds, failed to get out of the pool stage.
They still top the standings but are now just eight points clear of Ireland, who finished third with a 14-5 win over Australia.
In the women’s table, New Zealand – the Olympic champions – are now level on points with rivals Australia at the top.
The next leg of the series is in Singapore on May 3-5.