Battered and bruised

Coach Paul John is looking for improvement after Hong Kong finished runner-up in the first leg of the two-stop World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger Series in Chile, losing 10-0 to Germany in the cup final.

The result keeps Hong Kong on track in their bid to qualify for a full-time spot on the World Sevens Series but rest and recovery are at the top of John's mind as the team head to Uruguay for the final leg of the Challenger Series this weekend.

"There are some battered and bruised bodies out there after playing six games in two days," John said. "The biggest thing is to keep the squad as fresh as we can."

Tries from Salom Yiu Kam-shing, Raef Morrison and Kane Boucaut fired Hong Kong to a 17-14 win over Chile after trailing by 14 points in their semi-final. They edged Uganda 10-7 in the quarter-finals thanks to two Jack Neville tries.

Germany beat Japan 12-5 in their semi.

"Overall, we are pleased with our progress," John said.

"We finished second and reached the final, which is one of our goals at every tournament, but we suffered a second loss in a final, which is frustrating," he added, referring to the defeat to South Korea in the Olympic qualifiers which denied Hong Kong an outright slot at the Tokyo Games.

"It was not a great final. I thought it was very flat and we didn't play our best. We started very poorly and fell off some tackles ... Still, we are right in the mix now to finish near the top of the two tournaments."

Hong Kong and six other teams in the Challenger Series will play at the Olympic repechage in France in June where one Tokyo Games slot will be at stake.

The Challenger Series results will determine the seedings for the World Series qualifying tournament at October's Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.