Hong Kong’s men’s rugby sevens team capped a flawless group stage with a 43-5 thrashing of Inner Mongolia on Thursday, then powered into the gold-medal match at the 15th National Games with a 33-19 semifinal demolition of Jiangsu later that night.
The squad first secured the top spot in pool play after earlier wins over Shandong and Tianjin, rotating Cado Lee Ka-to out entirely, benching Max Denmark, and handing starts to Matthew Rickard and Fong Kit-fung.
Fong wasted no time, darting over after just 54 seconds against Inner Mongolia, fueling three first-half tries and a conversion for a 17-5 halftime edge.
Denmark then erupted off the bench with two second-half scores as Hong Kong poured on four tries and three conversions for 26 unanswered points, sealing a 38-point rout.
Hours later in the semifinal, Hong Kong struck even faster: Harry Sayers, Fong Kit-fung, and Liam Herbert each notched tries to race to a 21-0 halftime cushion.
Jiangsu clawed back with two rapid tries after the break, but Denmark again delivered the dagger—two tries for 10 points—to snuff the rally and propel the city into the final with silver locked and gold tantalizingly close.
(Updated at 9.15pm)
