Rowan Varty out to grab the silverware for Hong Kong
After five World Cups with little success, captain Varty says his men have eye on a trophy
Rowan Varty is determined to return with a souvenir from his first trip to Russia - in the form of a trophy for Hong Kong.
"Coming to Moscow is something I don't think I would ever have done if not for the World Cup Sevens. But having said that, this is a very nice place and everything has been great. It will be even greater if we can return home with some sort of silverware," said Varty.
This is the third World Cup for the Hong Kong captain, the other two being Hong Kong 2005 and Dubai 2009. But the team has little to show for all these outings.
"It is nice beating one or two teams, but the real satisfaction will be to come away with a trophy. While our main goal is to finish as the top Asian team in this competition, we will be going out to win something on Sunday," Varty said.
Hong Kong are drawn with England, Argentina and Portugal in the preliminary pool in the 24-team men's competition. They meet Argentina tomorrow, and the other two on Saturday.
"We will see how we go on day one and two and whatever competition we end up in we will try and win that competition. To come away with something will be great. Getting good results is always nice, but it is much nicer to have something to show for all the hard work," Varty added.
It has been a long and hard season for Hong Kong, starting with the Asian Sevens Series last September which ended with the team being crowned Asian champions for the first time, and ending with the failed bid to qualify as a core team on the HSBC Sevens World Series last month.
Varty and company have played in nearly nine tournaments in as many months, from Borneo to Shanghai, Zimbabwe to London. All the travel must have taken its toll on forward Nick Hewson who was ribbed by the team for failing to reset his alarm clock on his first night in Moscow, waking up both himself and roommate Tom McQueen.
"I didn't change my alarm so I got up a bit earlier than planned on my first morning. It was still dark and I looked out of the window and then realised I was still on HK time," said Hewson.
Hewson and the forwards will have a big role to play if their performance in the final game at the London Sevens is a guide. Up against Spain, Hong Kong failed to win any possession and lost a game they needed to win to keep alive their hopes of becoming a core team.
Hewson said. "It has been a long season but we are all looking forward to this tournament and taking a few scalps."
Four years ago, Hong Kong lost all their preliminary round matches to England, Kenya and Tunisia to end in the Bowl competition. They defeated Italy in the quarter-finals but lost to Ireland in the semis.
"We should have beaten Ireland as I remember, it was a close game," Varty said.
"But we had a very young team then and in the last four years we have come a long way. Hopefully this time we can return with a trophy as well as be the number one team in Asia."
Bragging rights apart, the highest-placed union from Hong Kong, Japan and the Philippines will be invited by the International Rugby Board to send their junior squad to the Youth Olympics in Nanjing next year.
