Pressure on for HK rugby team to take gold again
Hong Kong men's rugby captain Max Woodward said on Monday that his team are looking to retain their champion title at this month's Asian Games.  Woodward said the squad have a great dynamic given their balance of experienced players and new talents in the line up. However, he said the pressure is on with Hangzhou fast approaching. "I think for us, as a team, there's always pressure to medal. I think that is a testament to the quality of our squad in the last few years. The pressure has been ramped up a little bit," he said.  "We have been quite successful in Asian tournaments and then based on the last Asian Games, there's a bit more pressure to come back with the same colour medal as we did last time." Hong Kong took gold in Jakarta in 2018 after beating Japan 14-0 in the final. Russell Webb, who will make his Asian Games debut after missing the last event due to injury, said the team will have to give it their all.  "The top teams here going into the tournament are Korea, China, Japan, and us. We're all capable of winning this tournament, so it's really going to be who can show up on the day and play the best they can," he said. "Especially the game of sevens, it can be so unforgiving and so unpredictable that you have sort of just got to basically play your best." Meanwhile, co-captain of the women's rugby team Natasha Olson-Thorne said they are hungry for a spot on the podium, after coming in fifth at the last Games.  She said the squad have continued to develop and incorporate new tactical dimensions to their play, but their chemistry is what will put them on top. "We have the experienced, so they bring a little bit more smarts, and then we have some players who have speed and physicality, and just the raw skills that we need. It's really good and quite interesting," Olson-Thorne said. The Hong Kong men's team will face Malaysia in their first match on September 24, while the women's side will take on India the same day.