The Hong Kong women's sevens team will have a new coach in time for the Hangzhou Asian Games, after Andrew Vilk was appointed to the job following a stint at the Italian rugby federation.
Vilk, 42, takes over from Paul John, who has been filling in since the departure of Iain Monaghan for Canada.
"We are delighted to have an individual of the caliber of Andy join our Sevens program. He brings a wealth of experience from his time with England and Italy," said Robbie McRobbie, CEO of Hong Kong China Rugby. "It's an exciting time with the Asian Games just around the corner, and we have high hopes of medals for both our women's and men's teams in Hangzhou."
The Games will be held from September 23 to October 8.
Vilk has performed at the highest levels for Premiership clubs in the UK and had represented - as well as captained - the England sevens team.
Before moving to Hong Kong, he was the assistant high performance and development coach, and consultant to Italy's sevens team. Vilk also served as the head coach of Italy's sevens team for almost a decade.
With Vilk joining in, John will revert full-time to his role as sevens head coach. Both Vilk and men's sevens coach Jevon Groves will be reporting to him.
John hands over a side that finished fourth in the Asia Sevens Series in 2022 and secured qualification to the Challenger Series in Cape Town in late April.
"I firmly believe that Andy will bring along invaluable high-performance experience to the team and train more local talent to enrich our talent pool in Hong Kong," John said.
Andy Vilk
