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