An experienced and settled squad will boost Hong Kong’s credentials as they make a strong bid to topple Asian juggernaut Japan in the 2012 HSBC Asian Five Nations elite Top 5 competition – now in its fifth year – which gets underway at the end of April.

A 31-man training squad announced yesterday by the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union (HKRFU) has the remarkable statistic of only one new cap – hooker Lachlan Chubb – which bodes well for ambitious Hong Kong who finished runner-up last year.

“We have a lot of experience in the team. Most players have been involved in the last two HSBC Asian Five Nations and we have a good crossover of players from our sevens squad as well,” said HKRFU Head of Performance and Coaching Dai Rees.

Hong Kong skipper

Number eight Pale Tauti will captain the team which won three of its four HSBC A5N matches last season, barring a 45-22 loss to Japan, the closest they have come to upsetting the Japanese in recent years. Hopes are now high that they can run the Asian champions even closer when they travel to Tokyo on May 19.

While Chubb – whose father Morgan Chubb also represented and captained Hong Kong in the late 1990s – will be winning his first ever cap, another handful of players will also be playing for the first time in the HSBC A5N.

They include Hong Kong Football Club front-rowers Ian Ridgway, Steve Nolan and Tom Bolland who won their first caps last December at the inaugural four-nation Cup of Nations, which Hong Kong won defeating Brazil in the final.

“The HKFC front row trio, lock Dan Watson and scrumhalf Cado Lee are the only other players along with Lachlan Chubb who will be experiencing their first HSBC A5N campaign. The rest of the guys have been around for a couple of seasons or more and this bodes well for us,” Rees added.

Hong Kong has also been boosted by the return of flankers Mark Wright and Rory Hussey. Former sevens captain Wright has been playing in Japan for Toyota Shokki Shuttles and missed out on the Hong Kong Sevens this year as he was struggling with an injury. He has recovered, as has Hussey, giving Hong Kong more dynamism in the back-row.

Sevens captain this season Rowan Varty and 12 other members of the Hong Kong sevens team have all been included. Apart from Cado Lee, Mike McKee and Peter McKee, the rest of the backline comprises of sevens players including fly-half Keith Robertson, centres Lee Jones and Ally Maclay, wingers Alex and Tom McQueen and Salom Yiu Kam-shing, and fullback Ross Armour.

HK Sevens star Keith Robertson has been included in the SAR A5N squad

Hong Kong head coach Leigh Jones was delighted with the squad. He said: “There are some good omissions from the team this year which shows we have built some depth within the squad. Inside the squad there will be some strong challenges for positions which is also a good sign for us as we enter a very intense phase of competition.”

Hong Kong’s hopes of toppling Japan from its pedestal were raised when new Japanese coach Eddie Jones named only one overseas-born player in his initial training squad – young New Zealand flanker Michael Leitch.

Unlike his predecessor John Kirwan, who included nearly 10 foreign-born players in his World Cup squad last year, Jones has opted to begin by trying to build a team propped up mainly with locally born players.

“We have probably got the best chance in a number of years of upsetting Japan,” said Rees. “But what you have to remember is that Eddie Jones is still drawing his players from a top professional league. They will still be quality individual players.”

Campaign schedule

Hong Kong will begin its campaign on April 27 away to the United Arab Emirates in Dubai. They will then host newly promoted South Korea on May 5 at Hong Kong Football Club (16.00) before the crucial encounter against Japan at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium in Tokyo on May 19. The campaign will end with Hong Kong hosting Kazakhstan at Mong Kok Stadium (16.00) on May 26.

A5N 2012 SQUAD:

Management:

(from BlitzBokke.com)

The Hong Kong Rugby Football Union (HKRFU) announced that after today’s public ticket sale, the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens is now officially sold out.

The world-renowned Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens expects to welcome 120,000 visitors over three days from March 23 – 25, 2012.

Remaining 4,000 tickets

After an initial pre-sale period for international package buyers and local rugby clubs and supporters, the last remaining 4,000 event tickets were sold today to members of the Hong Kong public. To ensure the widest possible distribution of tickets in the local community, each buyer was allowed to purchase a maximum of two tickets in today’s sale.

Following today’s sale, and the pre-sale period for members of local rugby clubs from adult to youth and mini rugby and other HKRFU stakeholders, fully 75% of the 40,000 tickets available in 2012 were sold to local residents.

Trevor Gregory, Chairman of the HKRFU, commented on today’s sellout saying, “This year’s Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens has once again attracted extraordinary demand. On behalf of the HKRFU, I would like to thank the Hong Kong community for their continued support. The 2012 Hong Kong Sevens will again provide a significant boost to the local economy and Hong Kong’s international reputation. We look forward to hosting another full house at the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens this March.”

Online frustration

A quick social media scan among local South Africans revealed that, as in previous years when tickets where sold by local online retailer HKTicketing, this year’s vendor CityLine didn’t fare much better.

“I gave up after 20 minutes.” said Eugene Wong. Katharine Schäfli concurred: “Meanwhile Cityline’s servers groan under the strain of the number of hits……. no improvement from HK Ticketing then!”

However, Monique Tenderini had more patience and was luckier. “(It) took nearly 3 hours but I managed to get 2. Was using 2 iPads, a pc and a laptop…”

See you at The Sevens!

(From BlitzBokke.com)

The Hong Kong Rugby Football Union (HKRFU) today announced that the public ticket sale for the 2012 Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens will be held via local ticketing service Cityline this Saturday, January 14, 2012.

To further enhance the ticket purchasing process and convenience for local consumers, tickets for the 2012 Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens will be retailed via ticketing service Cityline.

Tickets will be sold exclusively online via www.cityline.com. No tickets will be sold via Cityline Outlets or Call Centres.

Online ticket sale will begin at 10.00am on January 14, 2012.

To ensure the widest possible distribution of tickets in the local community, each patron will be limited to purchase only two tickets. Each applicant will also be required to verify their local residency with a valid Hong Kong or Macau SAR postal address for registered mail or courier services.

Tickets will be distributed to successful applicants starting from March 1, 2012 via registered mail or courier service only (additional cost may incur and details are available at www.cityline.com). There will be no personal collection of tickets.

Following the increased demand from Hong Kong rugby clubs, Youth and Mini Rugby Sections and members of the local rugby community as well as other HKRFU stakeholders during the initial pre-sale period, the HKRFU today announced that 4,000 tickets will be available for sale to the public.

The 2012 Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens will be held from March 23 – 25 at the Hong Kong Stadium.

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Blistering half centuries by Abdul Razzaq and Sohail Tanvir guided Pakistan to a 35-run victory over England to be crowned champions at the Karp Group Hong Kong Sixes on Sunday.

Captain Razzaq smashed 63 not out, while the left-handed Tanvir battered 58, as Pakistan set an imposing target of 155.

It was too much for England who regularly lost wickets before being bowled out with two balls left in the final eight-ball over, sparking jubilation among most of the 4 500-strong crowd at the Kowloon Cricket Club (KCC).

The victory saw Pakistan draw level with England as the team with the most number of wins at the big-hitting event – each on five. South Africa, who were disappointing over the weekend have won at the KCC three time: 1995, 2006 and 2009.

But Pakistan warned they will be back for more.

A  jubilant Pakistan celebrates with the spoils (Pic: Victor Fraile, The Power of Sport Images/HKCA)

“We are delighted to have matched England with five wins a piece. But we want to make it six next year,” said skipper Abdul Razzaq who was named Man-of-the-Match.

“It was a superb batting display,” conceded England captain Rory Hamilton-Brown. “We were up against some world-class players and getting to the final itself was creditable for us.”

Pakistan had looked in good nick for the event and even outshone the All Star team boasting countryman Shahid Afridi and Sri Lankan legend Sanath Jayasuriya.

The All Stars bowed out in the quarter-finals, failing to defend a sizeable total of 118 against Sri Lanka who made it home in the very last delivery.

The Ben Hollioake award for Player-of-the-Tournament went to Pakistan’s Umar Akmal who aggregated 197 runs and set the event alight with his fierce batting.

The Currie Cup Final at Delaneys Irish Bar last night, coupled with a WanChai brimming with Halloween revelers meant that Day 3 started rather late for me.

Thankfully, I made it to the Kowloon Cricket Club (KCC) just in time for the third match of the day:

South Africa vs. Australia.

I’m not sure if the South Africans managed to catch any rugby last night, but the Lions’ win in the Currie Cup Final seemed to have motivated them against the Aussies.

South Africa managed their first win in four starts at the 2011 Karp Group Hong Kong Sixes, thumping Australia by 47 runs.  The win however, was but a morale-boosting exercise as both teams were eliminated from the competition on Day 2.

The fixtures for Day 3 are:

08h30 China Women vs. HK Women

09h15  Bangladesh vs. New Zealand

10h00  Australia vs. South Africa (Result: South Africa DEFEAT Australia by 47 runs)

10h45 1st quarter-final Woodworm All Stars vs. Sri Lanka (Result: Sri Lanka DEFEAT Woodworm All Stars)

11h30  2nd quarter-final England vs. India (Result: England DEFEAT India)

12h15  3rd quarter-final Hong Kong vs. Scotland (Result: Hong Kong DEFEAT Scotland)

13h00  4th quarter-final Ireland vs. Pakistan (Result: Pakistan DEFEAT Ireland)

13h45  Exhibition match: China vs. HK Development team

14h30 1st Semi-final: Sri Lanka vs. England (Result: England DEFEAT Sri Lanka)

15h15 2nd Semi-final: Hong Kong vs. Pakistan (Result: Pakistan DEFEAT Hong Kong)

16h15  Final England vs. Pakistan

Congratulations to Pakistan with their comprehensive victory over England to secure the 2011 Karp Group Hong Kong Sixes title for the fifth time.

Images and summaries to follow…

Day 2 of the Karp Group Hong Kong Sixes here at the Kowloon Cricket Club (KCC) has been blessed with another morning of glorious sunshine.

The stands are slowly filling up in anticipation of a full day of exciting cricket.

That the host team Hong Kong just beat crowd-favorites Pakistan will certainly do much for the spirit in the bleachers.  Let’s hope we can get a full-house today.

The fixtures for the day:

0845-0930 Pakistan v. Hong Kong (Result: Hong Kong DEFEAT Pakistan)

0930-1015 Australia v. Bangladesh (Result: Bangladesh DEFEAT Australia)

1015-1100 Woodworm All Stars v. Scotland (Result: Scotland DEFEAT Woodworm All Stars by 5 wickets)

1100-1145 South Africa v. India (Result: India DEFEAT South Africa by 5 runs)

1145-1230 Sri Lanka v. New Zealand (Result: Sri Lanka DEFEAT New Zealand)

1230-1315 England v. Ireland (Result: Ireland DEFEAT England)

1315-1400 South Africa v. Hong Kong (Result: Hong Kong DEFEAT South Africa)

1400-1445 Woodworm All Stars v. Sri Lanka (Result: Woodworm All Stars DEFEAT Sri Lanka)

1445-1530 Pakistan v. India (Result: Pakistan DEFEAT India)

1530-1615 Australia v. England (Result: England DEFEAT Australia)

1615-1700 Woodworm All Stars v. New Zealand (Result: All Stars DEFEAT New Zealand)

Through to tomorrow’s quarter-finals of the Karp Group Hong Kong Sixes are:

Scotland, Sri Lanka, Woodworm All Stars, Ireland, England, India, Hong Kong and Pakistan

Losing out on a quarter-final spot are:

South Africa, Australia, Bangladesh and New Zealand.

Video: SA vs India (final over)

Mangaliso Mosehle is caught (SA vs.Hong Kong)

Mangaliso Mosehle is caught (SA vs. India)

The fixtures for Day 2 of the Karp Group Hong Kong Sixes are as follows (time is local Hong Kong):

Pool A

29 Oct (10:15 AM) Woodworm All Stars v Scotland

29 Oct (11:45 AM) Sri Lanka v New Zealand

29 Oct (2:00 PM) Woodworm All Stars v Sri Lanka

29 Oct (4:15 PM) Woodworm All Stars v New Zealand

Pool B

29 Oct (9:30 AM) Australia v Bangladesh

29 Oct (12:30 PM) England v Ireland

29 Oct (3:30 PM) Australia v England

Pool C

29 Oct (8:45 AM) Pakistan v Hong Kong

29 Oct (11:00 AM) South Africa v India

29 Oct (1:15 PM) South Africa v Hong Kong

29 Oct (2:45 PM) Pakistan v India

If you have access to Supersport on DSTV (Southern Africa), Supersport 7 will be showing all 11 matches live. Here is the schedule (SA matches in green, time is South Africa)

For the latest from the Karp Group Hong Kong sixes, follow @BlitzBokke on Twitter

The 2011 Karp Group Hong Kong Sixes kicked off early today at the Kowloon Cricket Club (KCC) in Kowloon’s Jordan district.

The day started off in glorious sunshine with a schools exhibition match at the diminutive ground in Cox’s Road.

I will only be heading over there in the afternoon, but will update this page as the scores come into my Inbox.

You can also follow me on Twitter @BlitzBokke

Round 1 (Friday 28 Ocotber 2011)

09:30 Sri Lanka vs. Scotland POOL A (Result: Sri Lanka DEFEAT Scotland by 30 runs)

10:15 Bangladesh vs. Ireland POOL B (Result: Ireland DEFEAT Bangladesh)

11:00 India vs. Hong Kong POOL C (Result: India DEFEAT Hong Kong by 5 wickets)

11:45 Pakistan vs. South Africa POOL C (Result: Pakistan DEFEAT South Africa by 23 runs)

——————————————————————————————————————

SA won the toss and sent Pakistan in to bat.

Pakistan

A Razzaq caught L Van Wyk b R Cameron 0

S Khan retired not out 36

S Tanvir retired not out 38

U Akmal not out 27

H Azam caught R Cameron b A Swanepoel 0

Y Shah run out 0

Extras: 9

Total: 3/110

South Africa

L Van Wyk retired not out 32

M Mosehle b 5

R Cameron retired not out 33

D du Preez c 5

L Meyer not out 0

A Swanepoel not out 5

Extras: 7

Total 2/87

——————————————————————————————————————

12:30 England vs. Bangladesh POOL B (Result: England DEFEAT Bangladesh by 4 wickets)

13:15 New Zealand vs. Scotland POOL A (Result: Scotland DEFEAT New Zealand by 5 wickets)

14:00 Australia vs. Ireland POOL B (Result: Australia DEFEAT Ireland by 28 runs)

15:00 HK/China/Woodworm All Stars vs. Rest of the World (T20)

The Woodworm All Stars DEFEAT The Rest of the World

Please REFRESH your browser to view the updated scores.

Some images from the Kowloon Cricket Club:

All twelve teams participating in this weekend’s Karp Group Hong Kong Sixes have arrived in the city and used the day to acclimatize as best they could, also taking in their only practice session before tomorrow’s opening round.

The South African side, again coached by Corrie Van Zyl consists of:

Dillon du Preez, Mangaliso Mosehle, Richard Cameron, Lenert Van Wyk, Lyall Meyer, Aubrey Swanepoel and Matthew Hulett.

The Woodworm All Stars were out early, taking in some of the sights and sounds of The Peak ahead of their coaching clinic for some local youngsters this afternoon.

The tournament drawcard-side consists of:

Shahid Afridi (Pakistan),

Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka),

Herschelle Gibbs (South Africa),

RP Singh (India),

Piyush Chawla (India),

Lou Vincent (New Zealand) and

Ryan Ten Doeschate (Netherlands).

The Woodworm All Stars on a walkabout around The Peak earlier today

Day 1 starts with an exhibition schools game at 8.30am. followed by the first round of Sixes.

The very-first T20 match to be played in Hong Kong takes place at 3pm.  The Woodworm All Stars will play a Karp Group Rest of the World team, combined from the other 11 participating teams in Hong Kong as a showcase match to launch the tournament.

Tickets for the Karp Group Hong Kong Cricket Sixes are now only available from the gate at Kowloon Cricket Club starting tomorrow at 8.30am.

Woodworm All Star Shahid Afridi (Pakistan) does some early Halloween shopping.

(Additional picture by Herschelle Gibbs via Twitter)

For the latest from the Karp Group Hong Kong Sixes, join us on Twitter by adding @BlitzBokke

Saturday marked a week to go to this year’s Karp Group Hong Kong Cricket Sixes.

The grounds at host-club Kowloon Cricket Club (KCC) was a hive of activity as workmen were busy assembling the spectator stands and other facilities.

The reason I was out at Cox’s Road was to attend an event to mark the announcement that tournament organisers were to give some 600 free tickets to organizations that support non-ethnic Chinese minority groups in Hong Kong.

The tickets will be distributed through a variety of social welfare and neighborhood institutions active in the South Asian community with a particular focus on those that work with at-risk youth.

The two Caritas associations participating in Saturday’s session are among several organisations to receive tickets for the Friday of the Karp Group Hong Kong Sixes.

Over 350 tickets have already been distributed to a variety of organizations and community support centres such as the Kowloon Mosque, with another 150 being provided after strong demand.

In addition, 100 tickets have been provided to the Home Affairs Bureau for distribution through its own channels to various ethnic Chinese community groups in Hong Kong.

Today’s clinic was run by members of the Hong Kong Cricket Association’s Men’s and Women’s Cricket Sixes team.