Canada start as slight favourites, but we’ll be fitter
Brendan Gallagher talks to David Rees about the Welsh connection aiding Hong Kong’s progress
David Rees missed out on the inaugural World Cup as a player in 1987 so is understandably keen to see if he can’t rectify that in his role as Rugby Operations manager at Hong Kong.
Rees won four Wales B caps and was a member of the full squad in 1986 but was unfortunate enough to ply his trade with Cross Keys Newbridge and Newport during a time of plenty in Wales with the likes of Jonathan Davies, Mark Ring, Paul Turner and Bleddyn Bowen blocking his path to full honours at fly-half.
He was a canny operator on the field though and has a considerable coaching palmares having taken charge of Wales U20 and Wales Sevens and worked as an assistant with Newport Gwent Dragons before moving to Hong Kong as national coach in 2008 as rugby operations manager – effectively the DoR – with Leigh Jones heading up his coaching team.
“It’s an interesting dynamic in Marseilles next month, that’s for sure, says Rees. “In one way this is just another quadrangular tournament, and we have had recent experience of those and done OK, and we will be playing teams who we believe we are on a level with. But of course, it’s so much more than that because of the World Cup place at stake.
“The prospect of getting to Japan and lining up against New Zealand and South Africa sends a shiver down your spine but at the same time you really have to park all those thoughts no matter how difficult. They can be very distracting, there is a massive mountain to climb in Marseilles before we even get a view of the main peak.
“I’m sure that that goes for the other teams, well certainly Germany and Kenya who like ourselves have never been to the finals. Canada will possibly be different in that respect because they are regular qualifiers, in fact they have never missed out yet.”
There are some in the rugby world who seem horrified at the prospect of Hong Kong ‘gatecrashing’ the party and acting as mere canon fodder in Japan but there is no logic in that.
Nobody would have any qualms at Canada playing New Zealand so if the Dragons beat them – and others – fair and square in qualifying where’s the problem? It should also be noted that if World Rugby have their wish and make the World Cup a 24-team competition in the future, teams even lower down the pecking order could find themselves in a similar position.
“My stock answer about what happens if we qualify is that we will face that hurdle when we get to it,” continues Rees. “If we do progress we will have just under a year to work on what we have already achieved, the foundations we have laid, but that’s for another day. First we face the three biggest games of our careers, that’s enough to be getting on with.”
Hong Kong as we have seen pick from probably the smallest player base of any Test team in the world’s top 40 let alone top 20 but Rees has learned how to make a virtue of that.
“It does have its upsides. Myself and Leigh and all the coaches are on first name terms with every single player in contention for the squad, we work with them most days of the week. We see players develop and blossom in front of our eyes. It’s almost the ultimate in hands-on coaching at this level.
“Ever since we beat the Cook Islands to reach the repechage there has been a huge buzz and surge of energy within the entire Hong Kong rugby community. The work and commitment has been phenomenal.
“Soon after we got the managers and team coaches from our six Premiership sides together and kicked around how we could make everything best work for the national side. That’s another advantage of a small set-up.
“We decided to pull forward the first tranche of five games to before the repechage and use them as the basis for our squad selection rather than trying to organise something more elaborate or complicated. That way the guys will have been working together all week in a comfortable environment at home in Hong Kong and be match hardened by five weekends of Premiership rugby. Then, after our final squad selection, we go to Wales to fine tune.
“All concerned in Wales have been spectacular with their help. That final camp will be vital in bringing everything together and finalising our specific game plans because all three of our opponents are very different indeed.
“And then we have those two great hit outs against the Dragons and Crawshays. We are very thankful to everybody back ‘home’ in Wales and these are great friendships and relationships we are building. They will continue whatever happens next month and hopefully we can reciprocate at some stage.
“It’s really difficult to predict what is going to happen. The consensus seems that Canada are marginal favourites but essentially what we have are four pretty well-matched teams all capable of nicking a win off each other on any given day. There are no bonus points on offer so points difference and tries scored will come heavily into play if it gets really tight on the final weekend.
“It’s going to be classic tournament rugby with every point scored counting, even if you are losing it will be important to limit your losses because it might be your day to win in the next match.
“Of one thing I am confident and that is there won’t be a fitter squad in Marseilles. Physically our Hong Kong team will comfortably handle three big matches in 13 days and will still be at full tilt in the final five minutes of our last game against Canada. That is one of the things we can control and the boys have worked incredibly hard. The rest is in the lap of the Gods.”
“There is a massive mountain to climb in Marseilles before we even get a view of the main peak”