Day #7 - The world famous Hong Kong Rugby Sevens Tournament....

What a week, what day, and what a fantastic way to finish off what has been an exceptional tour. 

Today was the world famous Hong Kong Rugby sevens finals day helping the boys and coaching staff got to witness one of the worlds great advance in a stadium full of rugby enthusiasts that would love to watch exciting rugby and have an exciting time.

In the party spirit the boys got themselves already early this morning and we headed off to the stadium. In their backpacks were their fancy dress costumes, ready to go on upon arrival at the staudium. Most of them had purchased something at Stanley markets to stand out in the crowd and the winner of the best dress today was Harry Ward. In a wonderful White Rabbit suit with boardshorts, he certainly went all out in his creative outfit. Have a look at the Flickr page for all of the other boys costumes.

It's a long day at the sevens but there were plenty of things to entertain us including watching the south stand where many of the younger patrons consume huge amount of alcohol in their costumes and then dancing to the music that is constantly playing around the arena. There are a couple of videos on the Flickr page would might give you an understanding of what the rugby sevens atmosphere is really like. 

Following the event, and presentations, fireworks, etc, we exited the stadium with 40000 others, and headed home to our Hotel. We walked home together in a tight bunch, to ensure no one was left behind, in our bright yellow tour shirts,. the boys got plenty of comments along the way (from drunkin patrons), but all the same it was in good humour. We all had a small bite to eat and the boys start to prepare for our early departure from the hotel.

It has been one of those weeks that I certainly will remember the coaching staff and the boys have really enjoyed themselves and seen many of the sites that are available to us here in Hong Kong. 

They have been wonderful ambassadors for the school and also for our country their manners have been exceptional and they hopefully have gained some knowledge culturally on what is a very different country to our own. 

Thank you again to all the parents the ones that came and also the ones that are viewed the blog and the photos along the week weeks journey I hope to see back home. 

This will be my final blog and as Ronny Corbit used to say "Its bye from him, and bye from me"...

l see you back at TSS all the best 

Ian Browne

Day #6 - Sightseeing at Stanley and The Peak.

Today was really our first day of sightseeing around this extraordinary Island of Hong Kong.

The boys woke up early with anticipation of seeing more markets (how do I know this, because at breakfast I received 22 questions asking the dame thing; 'Are we going to the Markets???"). with that the boys seem to have an liking to spend money on 'rubbish' (useful items that will last a few days) at the local markets and all couldn't wait to get out to Stanley to see what was on offer. 

We jumped on the Big Bus Tour (an On/Off style bus) which took us around the city area first of Hong Kong. We stopped at a number of the local attractions including a 'Buddhist' temple which was quite interesting to see, and for the boys certainly a very unexpected cultural experience. 

Next stop was the Star Ferry Terminal, where we change buses onto the Aberdeen/Stanley bus route and set off through the enormous tunnel that goings from onside to the other which took us over to the other side of the island which is quite lush, mountainous and beautiful. With lovely beaches including Big Wave Bay and Repulse Bay (both I took pic of on Flickr) , and then around to the next bay of the Stanley township. 

Stanley certainly has changed since I was last here seven years ago. There is now Stanley Plaza which is actually quite nice. As you follow escalators down to the water's edge, passing many novelty and souvenir stores, it brings you down to a lovely 'Italian style' Piazza which then goes leads onto a long stretch of beachfront with restaurants and bars. From this busy area, the entrance to the famous Stanley markets appears. The boys could not wait to get to this and then as soon as we saw the entrance they just bolted in and went spending all them valuable money. 

We gave them around two hours there to do some shopping and looking at all the items and then had some lunch on the beach with the boys we have this Paisono's Pizza for lunch and they were 24 inches wide (the biggest pizzas I've ever bought in my life). We bought four pizzas, and that fed quite easily 25 people. A huge meal. We ended giving away to locals walking by because of the huge slices. 

After lunch the boys got another 30 to 40 minutes to do some extra market shopping before we climbed the hill and got ready to go back on the bus around the island back to Central, and onto The Peak tramway. 

Upon arriving at the peak tram, the queue there was absolutely enormous. One person walking past said the queue would take around 3 1/2 hours to get just on the tram to head up to the mountain. Luckily though, becuase we were with the Big Bus Tour, we were able to shortcut that to about 30 minutes wait before we hopped on the famous tram up to the Hong Kong Peak. 

THe tram ride is fantastic. As you clmb the hill, at a very acute angle, you are able to see the city landscape below through the large Tram windows. A wonderful experience for the boys and coaches.

Once up there (and as we joing the many others there for the same thing), we gave the boys an hour or so to look around and look at the site take some photos and absorb what they could see and where they been in Hong Kong. 

Come dinner time, we enjoyed a Team Dinner at the World Famous 'Bubba Gumps' restaurant. A lovely meal was had by all, and as it was our last real opportunity to sit together (as tomorrow dinner will be either at the Rugby or a quick bit on the way home). 

With so many people around at the peak there was another long queue back onto the tram heading down to one stand it was a brisk 30 minute walk back to the hotel to wear off the large meal that we had and then straight to bed at around 10:30 PM

Speaking of tomorrow, we head early to the Stadium to ensure good seats, and ready ourselves to hopefully see the Australian Sevens team play well again. I'm hoping for the boys this will be one of those exciting days  they will never forget, for our last day here in Hong Kong. 

GAME #5 v Melbourne Grammar School

Venue - Australian International School - 3A NORFOLK RD, KOWLOON TONG, HONG KONG
Get off MTR at Kowloon Tong station Exit E, and walk 200m to school.

Kickoff  - 12noon.
10s format

Wrapup of Day #5

Boys are starting to feel the pressure of the action packed tour. With that, a well-deserved rest this morning was greatly appreciated by all, and a late breakfast at 9 AM was a bit of a luxury for all. 

After a delicious breakfast we then jumped on the very efficient public transport, the train system MTR. This was quite an experience for the boys as we had difficult task of changing to three different trains on route, The coaches set the boys a small challenge to get us to the venue of our first game against Melbourne Grammar, at Kowloon Tong, at the  Australian international School field. 

Upon arriving we were confronted with 6 to 8 international schools all within one block. All high-rise schools with very small playground facilities for students to get out and kick a ball. Aftre discussing with the boys the importance of how lucky we are at TSS to have 12 full sized grassed fields, we then were confronted with the AISHK's 1/2 court semi syntho grassed concreted pitch.

While waiting for the school grounds to open walked over to a local shopping mall and the boys got a bit of time to walk around one of the more modern shopping centres here in Hong Kong which included its own ice skating rink and movie theaters all indoors. 

We returned to the Australian international school and then started their warmup. The ground itself was very tiny and really could only cope with potentially six aside match, but we crammed an 11 aside for the match against Melbourne to our best ability. The game commenced with our own coach referee Spencer Attoe officating, the 15 minute quarters. We split our touring squad into 2 x 11 aside teams. Melbourne GS's strength wasn't in their play, and TSS from basically the start dominated in most areas of the game the final score was 60-10.

After a small celebration ceremony, we jump back on the MTR and returned to the hotel briefly before changing clothes and heading off to our first experience at the Hong Kong stadium and the Hong Kong sevens. 

It's one of those walks (about 25mins from our Hotel) that everybody enjoys, with so many rugby enthusiasts all heading towards the stadium, in their brightly coloured clothes and outfits. 

Upon arriving at the 40,000 seat stadium we moved up into the upper reaches so we could get a much better view. If you have a look at the photos on Flickr then you will be able to understand how high the stand goes. We are able to witness Australia winning their first pool match against Samoa and then proceeding that saw some of the other main contenders for the title including New Zealand and England play their pool matches as well. 

With the boys very keen to do a little bit more shopping at markets, we left the stadium before the main crowd started to leave, and headed over to the Jardine Street markets in Causeway Bay. Unfortunately upon arriving it seems the markets weren't up to the boys shopping expectations, and with that, we headed back to the hotel in preparation for our big day tomorrow over to Stanley looking through the historic area of Hong Kong Island, and the world famous market place. 

Day #4 - International Youth Tournament - Sevens Rugby.

Team lists

"Young Guns"
Drew Bass
Justin Faber
Ethan Kay
Jock McCormack
Ty Dowthwaite
Nick McKenzie
Cody Wood
Stirling Smith
Dane Lendorf
Zavier Crain
Harry Ward

"Old Dogs"
Josh Batt
Sam Morris
Cooper McGeary
Christos Vivilios
Harry Wells

Joe Statham
Beau Arscott
Jack Dwyer
Jojo Fifita
Tom Kelly
Stirling McInnes

Day #4 wrap up.

Anticipation was high with all players and coaches expecting to do well at the international youth sevens rugby tournament today held at Kings Park, Kowloon. We left the hotel quite early after all another delicious breakfast and headed over by bus to the venue. Our first game was at 9 AM with the two teams well prepared and feeling confident. One thing we didn't count on was how tired the boys have been with a busy to a schedule demanding a lot of the energy and time. The two teams, Team 1 was the Young Guns, and Team 2 were the Old Dogs (see above for the Team lists).

As the game started the coaches realised that we had a very tired group but still their performance in a game that is not familiar to them was excellent. With each team playing three pool games, Team 1 (Young Guns) drew one and lost two of those with narrow losses. Team 2 (Old Dogs) started really well with a win, then a draw and then a final loss from their three matches. 

These results placed Team 1 in to the Plate Final for fifth and sixth. By the time the final came our boys were very tired & tight but their performance was admirable considering most of the team were 12/13 yrs old v 14yr olds. The result in the end was a narrow defeat to the opposition team from HK. 

Team 2 (our slightly old team - Old Dogs) started well in the final for 3rd & 4th (the Bowl final) against Sandy Bay Football Club. Come the second half unfortunately Sandy Bay ran away with a couple of tries which made the difference at the end of the game. A small note, this match was refereed by one of my Rogers boys, Brayden Hudson, who resides in HK, and obviously was home on holidays. Great to see we have a few young experienced referees coming through TSS.  

So our teams ended up fourth and sixth on the day and a great effort considering the smoggy and humid conditions. I think because of the tightness of the touring team and they played to their best ability and picked up the sevens format quite well. Especially when very few of the boys had played 7s rugby before.

After the tournament we were to go straight to some markets but sensing the boys needed some downtime and rest, we returned to the hotel. This evening we are off to the night markets and then hopefully arrival to watch the spectacular symphony of lights at 8pm. 

Symphony of Lights is where all of the buildings on the island side light up with a spectacular show that is orchestrated with music we will stand on the Kowloon side and watch this as it goes through its motions hopefully after that will return home and the boys can get a well-deserved sleep in for tomorrow which is our final match on tour at 12 PM at the Australian international school in Kowloon. 

This match is against Melbourne Grammar School and will be in a tens format and we are hoping for again another win to top off our tour which has been a success so far. 

Finally thank you again to everybody for your kind remarks about the blog and the photos that we are sending back past halfway of the tour and looking forward to what happens over Friday Saturday and Sunday. all the best from Hong Kong

Day #3 - What is a Junk?

Day 3 has been a rest and relaxation day, away from rugby, and something that the boys have really enjoyed.

This morning we jumped on the bus and went to the new territories. We arrived at the small fishing village of Sai Kung, to catch a traditional Chinese junk out into the wonderfully spectacular islands of Hong Kong. This is also home of a wonderful Old Boy, Wayne Parfitt and his family, who have invited the Touring party out on their boat for the day.

The boat trip was great for the boys to just be able to relax away from rugby for the day and enjoy some of the more spectacular sites of the new territories of Hong Kong. The boat's first stop was a small beach named 'Millionaires Beach'  and where the boys enjoyed a swim to shore, then a spirited game of Touch, a couple of drinks, an exploration of the surrounding rocks, before swimming back to the boat and going off to lunch. 

After a sjhort cruise around to the next bay, we had a delicious lunch provided by Wayne in his beach front restaurant. The boys enjoyed a wide range of Western foods (which went down a treat after yesterdays Chinese meal), and then some free time to explore more.

Late afternoon, we journeyed back around the islands and back into the Port of Sai Kung. 

One of the more interesting sites in Sai Kung is the wet markets. This area is where people pull up in boats and sell their goods, inc; fish (all sorts), vegetables, homemade items, and many others, along the waterfront. For the boys this was an eye-opener into the life of the Chinese culture.

Upon returning from a long day out on the water we had dinner and the boys headed off to bed prior to our tournament commencing tomorrow another wonderful day in Hong Kong on our tour.

Big day tomorrow...  two team of 11 players, in a Sevens Tournament, kicking off at 9am. Looking forward to it. 

Day #2 - Rugby, Rugby and more Rugby....

we won our game v Valley Fort, 44-24 ...

Day two was one of the more interesting days of the tour so far. We enjoyed a day of rugby, rugby and more rugby during the day. 

The day started with a bit of a surprise for the boys as we walked over to Happy Valley (the Hong Kong Footbasll Club field) to watch the Classic Wallabies team train prior to their tens competition which commenced on Wednesday. At this training session we saw the likes of Wallaby legend, Wendell Sailor, Justin Harrison, and many others, preparing for their tournament. The palyets too timr out to meet and greet withe the boys, answer questions and get a few photosd (on the Flickr site). It was pleasing to see one of my childhood heroes also switch codes from NRL to play rugby at this tournament, Steve 'Beaver' Menzies (Manly Legend).

Following this we caught a Tramway, down to central pier, home of the world famous Star Ferry. Unfortunately I missed directed the boys and we ended up going in a different way so our tram ride took a little longer than expected. Once in central we hopped on the star ferry and went over to Kowloon across the wonderfully spectacular Hong Kong harbour. 

Once in Kowloon we had a lovely meal at a traditional Chinese restaurant overlooking the sights. It was a eye-opener for many of the boys to have traditional Chinese food. Some of the items included jellyfish noodles, peking duck wraps, a soup (that I'm sure is not made in Australia as it smelt pretty bad), and fried ice cream that once we opened it actually wasn't fried ice cream it was an egg with Apple inside it???. 

After enjoying this delicious lunch we walked to the MTR (mass transit rail) and caught our first subway experience up to Jordan station and Kings Park. 

At Kings Park (the venue of our Tournament on Thursday) was the next surprises for the boys , as we got to witness the Australian sevens team training against Spain in an opposed session. Both team  where very physical, and the session was great to watch, especially as we will see bnoth team again play this weekend in the HK 7s. After the session the coach Andy Friend and many of the players stopped and chatted with our boys in a short Q&A session prior to them leaving and going back to the hotel.

We jumped on the bus and then headed to our second game of the tour against Valley Fort, which was played over near Stanley. This was an exciting bus ride particularly around areas of the island many would not see in Hong Kong. The school we played at was the Hong Kong international school, and it was a wonderful venue to play another game on Synthetic turf field. 

The match was one was another hard fought contest with Valley for leaving at half time one try over TSS but in the end our fitness and physicality proved to be the winner on the day and TSS won by 44 to 24 in this match After a quick bus ride back to the hotel some dinner the boys enjoyed a well and rest and after a wonderful day would be pleased with the reference. I must thank all the parents who have made the journey across to Hong Kong to watch our boys play it's wonderful to have that sideline support

Finally I would like to send my condolences to my father who lost his mother and buried her today. At 102 she has had a wonderful life... thinking of her whilst in Hk. miss you Gran.

Day #1 - Long, tiring, exhausted, but what an eye opener...

After a very long and tiring day the boys and coaches are happy to now be heading to bed at 10:24pm. It's been quite an exciting day with many, with new smells and sites to see in Hong Kong. With many of our boys never having been to Hong Kong before even just the air and the smog has been an awakening for them. The realisation that Australian isn't that bad has hit in early...

We arrived after a bumpy flight from Australia into the Lantau Island airport here in Hong Kong at around 7:30 AM. After a brief encounter with the customs department we got through and join our bus which took us on route to our hotel on Hong Kong Island. Along the way the boys enjoyed seeing the smoggy mountains of the new territories and of the high-rise mountains built around what look to be a lovely Harbour of Hong Kong. 

Once arriving at our hotel unfortunately they won't ready for us with no rooms available, so we decided to put our luggage into storage and then venture into the city to have a look around at the many of the sites and people of this wonderful place. 

Times Square was our first stop it's a large shopping centre with some food outlets. With many of this very tired from the flight over the first thing that we felt like with some type of sugar release or coffee so Starbucks was a hit amongst all of the touring party. 

After grabbing a bite to eat the touring party walked a few of the streets he came across a local market place which sells fresh fruit fish meat all on the street front this was an eye-opener for the boys as a number of the butchers where carving up the meat on the foot step. After walking around and looking at some of the sites of the downtown district we headed back to the hotel at around 2 o'clock hopefully being able to get into our rooms unfortunately this wasn't the case we have to wait around another hour for some of the final rooms to be released not many of the touring party got to have a quick nap as we have to prepare for our first match against the Hong Kong football club over at Happy Valley.

Its a short 15-20 minute walk to the racecourse and to the lush grounds that surround this wonderful venue for a game of rugby. With a skyline full of skyscrapers surrounding the ovals it's a very picture risk and unique place for our boys to play their first game of the tour

The first game started very well and TSS was strong in the opening phases of this match but the opposition itself also was finishing a very long and succesdsful season and they had been well drilled. 

They entire match was a tussle between both sides with one scoring and then the opposition scoring, one scoring then the opposition scoring, ending up in a final result with the Hong Kong football club beating TSS by one try. This is an amazing feat by the TSS for TSS touring party especially after many of them haven't then slept for over 24 hours. Man of the Match - FWD - Sam Morris and Justin Faber, and Back - Jojo Fifita.

Following this wonderful game we celebrated with our opponents gave away some of our gifts and then headed off to an all boys restaurant nearby and had a lovely meal of nachos, Hamburger, chips and desert which fill the stomachs of the boys in preparation for the rest the tour.

After dinner we jumped on an old trolley car which took us around to near our hotel we walked home later at me evening it was a long day and the boys will enjoy a good night sleep and so will the coaches.

Please remember to go the link on this blog to see the many photos from the day.

Best regards,

Ian Browne

HI we have arrived safe and will do a Blog and photo update in the morning regarding the long first day...

For parents in HK, IMPORTANT news re: the 2nd game at Hong Kong Int. Scholol. Please read below;

For supporters and parents, anyone wishing access to the grounds to watch will need to show passports or HK IDs on the day. Please ask them to arrive at least 15 mins prior to the game (starts at 630pm local time) as it will take security time to get through that many people.

Kind reminder it's HKIS Middle School entrance at 700 Tai Tam Reservoir Road which is by the playing field and NOT High School entrance (Tai Tam Road)  - it's a large campus so wish to help avoid confusion. 

Google map https://www.google.com.hk/maps/place/700+Tai+Tam+Reservoir+Rd,+Tai+Tam+Tuk/@22.2342336,114.2281775,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x340401e38d188d4f:0x6823276fe6121156?hl=en-us