‘Focus is on Hong Kong now’

Japan may have cruised to a highly-dominant 111-0 triumph at 7he Sevens ground with a characteristically polished performance that saw them clinch the Asian Five Nations (A5N) trophy.

But, having drawn away to Sri Lanka (13-13) and beaten Kazakhstan at home (24-10), the Hong Kong fixture was always going to take precedence over the game against Japan from the UAE's two remaining run-outs as they look to secure second place in the Top Five.

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“Our preparation from now – and all of our attention – turns to Hong Kong,” Birtwistle commented.

“We've got two training sessions before we hop on a plane and go there and we'll obviously be looking at giving a pretty good account of ourselves in Hong Kong.

“We're disappointed with the way we played, but it was a rather spectacular Japanese performance. “They probably had a couple of rusty performances in the first two games, but they certainly turned on a wonderful display.

“The speed and accuracy of their attack was sublime, the quality of their clean-out was spot-on and they're a pretty hard team to defend against when you're chasing shadows. We weren't able to really make contact in our tackles in the first 20 to 25 minutes, such was their attack.

“We've reflected on that quickly, but the huddle was about turning our attentions to Hong Kong.”

Cox-Hill echoed his coach's sentiments, adding that all was far from lost in spite of the demoralising defeat at the weekend.

“That's something we have to take stock of and then look at the big picture here,” he explained. “We've had a great start to this campaign. We always knew that Japan was going to be a big ask and we wanted to close the gap on them.

“Maybe one of our three objectives wasn't achieved in terms of closing the gap from last year.

“But, in terms of the first two, our primary objectives have been – firstly and foremost – to consolidate our position in the A5N Top Five and, secondly, to stay in second place and be classified as the best amateur side in Asia.

“We have all that to play for next week in Hong Kong. It's a winner-takes-all showdown and the camaraderie, understanding and game plan is all there.

“We can absolutely bounce back. The full focus now is Hong Kong. What's gone is gone. The next impact is Hong Kong and that's all our focus will be from here on in.”

alex@khaleejtimes.com

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