Dominant Hong Kong completed their task of qualifying for the Junior World Rugby Trophy 2015 in Portugal when they thrashed South Korea by 58-07 points in the round 3 match on Saturday evening to win the JWRT Asian Qualifiers Tournament 2014 held at Race Course international rugby stadium.
Hong Kong skipper Hugo Stiles kicked off the game in style with his boot. Hong Kong stamped their authority in the 2nd minute of the game itself when Hugo Stiles kicked an easy penalty kick after a Korean player was penalized for holding on to the ball after being tackled.
(HK 03 – SK 00)
Hong Kong’s try scoring machine Daniel Davidson started off their try-spree in the 9th minute as he touched down after a scintillating break by Matt Worley. Hugo Stiles converted.
(HK 10 – SK 00)
Hong Kong continued to dominate the game as they were far more superior to their Korean counterparts in the breakdowns and set-pieces. After 23 minutes of intense rugby, Second-row forward Calvin Hunter scored his 1st try after Hong Kong counter-attacked the Koreans from a broken play. Hugo Stiles added the extra points. (HK 17 – SK 00)
Just before the half-time whistle, Center Jordan Cooper scored an individually executed brilliant try as he kicked deep a loose ball from a Korean player and won the race to pounce on the ball and score the 3rd try for Hong Kong. Hugo Stiles made no mistake with the conversion.
Half Time: Hong Kong 24 – South Korea 00
After the half-time break, the Korean fly-half Gumin Han recommenced the final game of the JWRT Asian Qualifiers Tournament 2014. Hugo Stiles got his team off to a terrific start in the 2nd half as he did in the 1st when he fired across a penalty kick with only few minutes of play.
(HK 27 – SK 00)
The scoreless South Koreans were very poor in their structural game plan and they were no match for the mighty Hong Kong team. South Korea suffered another setback when their flanker Kyounghwan Hwang was sin-binned by referee Irshad Cader for continuous foul play.
Daniel Davidson showed his class and speed as a winger when he capitalized a territorial kicking error by the Korean full back and sprinted to score under the posts in the 11th minute of the 2nd half. Hugo Stiles bisected the uprights with ease. (HK 34 – SK 00)
Hong Kong opened up the flood gates as Jordan Cooper scored a try from nothing as Matt Worley once again breached the Korean defense to assist Cooper’s 2nd try. Hugo Stiles made the conversion. (HK 41 – SK 00)
Against the run of play, South Korea managed to put some points in the score board as their hooker Minhyeok Yeo scored a hard-fought try in the 54th minute. Full back Jaekwang Jeong converted without much trouble. (HK 41 – SK 07)
Calvin Hunter surprised the Korean defense just after the cooling break in the 2nd half as he took-off from the back of a strong driving maul to work himself through the blindside to score his 2nd try of the match. Hugo Stiles made a rare failure with the conversion. (HK 46 – SK 07)
South Koreans had no answer to the Hong Kong onslaught and had to play the final 10 minutes of the match with only 14 boys when their center Jinhyeok Kim was yellow-carded for tackling a player in the air. Hong Kong skipper Hugo Stiles who had an extraordinary tournament with his leadership and his place kicking showed his excellent passing skills when he off-loaded a back of the hand pass to replacement winger Kevin Field who easily ran past few Korean defenders to score the 7th Hong Kong try for the evening. Hugo Stiles added the extra points as Hong Kong stretched their score past a half-century. (HK 53 – SK 07)
Raef Morrison rounded-off the powerful Hong Kong performance as he scored the final try of the tournament when he ran straight through the Korean defense to score near the corner flag. Hugo Stiles failed to kick his final kick right through the posts as referee blew the final whistle.
Full Time: Hong Kong 58 – South Korea 07
Hong Kong remained unbeaten throughout the entire campaign gaining 18 points from 3 games and will participate in the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy 2015 in Lisbon, Portugal as the Asian Qualifier.
ThePapare Man of the Match – Daniel Davidson (Hong Kong winger)
