Photo credit: HKRU
The Hong Kong Women's Sevens squad made light work of Thailand 24-5 to win the 2018 Borneo Sevens Cup, while a gritty performance was enough for the men to claim Bronze after a close-fought 20-17 victory over Sri Lanka.
Despite a host of notable absences travelling with the Women's squad to Malaysia, their strength in depth was readily apparent as Singapore were routed 38-0 in the semi-final.
Tries were supplied by the familiar core of Natasha Olson-Thorne, Melody Li Nim-yan and the spectacular Coleen Tjosvold, who helped herself to a hat-trick before Sham Wai-sum put the result beyond doubt.
The star of the Final against Thailand was undoubtedly Chong Ka-yan, who finished off waves of Hong Kong attacks for a first-half brace, with Tjosvold's accurate conversions handing their side a 14-0 advantage going into half-time.
While the second-half saw Thailand splutter into life by shaving 5 points off Hong Kong's lead, Kevin West's charges dug deep and saw Thailand off with further tries from Olson-Thorne and Stephanie Chan.
Photo credit: HKRU
“It was great to beat Thailand in the final. We lost to them in the Asian series so to get that victory was important. We had to work hard against them, but it was a comprehensive result, so I’m very happy with that,” said West.
“We had to be quite aggressive defensively in the semi final and then to defend slightly differently in the final and I’m delighted that the girls were able to adapt to the challenges we had." he added.
A number of standout performance during the tour may now cause a selection headache for the New Zealander, although it is one he welcomes.
"A lot of the new girls like Poon Hoi-yan, Amber Tsang, Sin Yi Au Yeung, Stephanie Chan either started or came on in most games. They haven’t had a lot of opportunities to get that type of experience previously, so changing that dynamic is fantastic,” he remarked.