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Patrick Blennerhassett

As coronavirus restrictions begin to ease across the world, athletes find themselves inching towards the ultimate goal – a return to play and competition.
Hong Kong’s men’s 15s squad, who have their sights set on the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, have been training together for a few weeks since the Hong Kong government relaxed its social distancing measures. Liam Slatem, who co-captains the team with James Cunningham, said they are working out indoors in groups of six.
Slatem said some of the pictures taken during those first sessions tell a compelling story.
“As you can see by the smiles, we are very happy to be back training,” said the 31-year-old scrum half, who plays his club rugby for Sandy Bay. “The boys really missed the training and of course the social interaction and camaraderie, so being able to come in and train, albeit with smaller groups, is much more motivating.”

Slatem broke down the rules they are following, as the team is split into groups of six, coming in and out of the South China Athletic Association separately. He said outside the usual precautions such as temperature checks and wiping down equipment, the Hong Kong Rugby Union is helping the squad with additional measures in relation to Covid-19 recommendations.
“We are also not sharing water bottles and supplements to maintain that form of distancing.”
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When the team went into partial lockdown with the rest of the city in April, Slatem said they were able to act fast, which in turn proved beneficial to staying in shape.
“When we were told we would go into lockdown quite a few boys were able to take weights home so most guys still got workout sessions done … the boys also managed to get some cardio done by themselves, too.
“I think numerous flights of stairs were run over that time, as well as a few trail runs and hikes. We managed to still get decent enough exercise done to maintain fitness and physical conditioning.”
There were also regular physio sessions and Zoom calls to stay in touch and talk strategy, and Slatem said the only downside was some of the larger players on the team weren’t physically able to maintain their regular training regimes.

“Some of the bigger boys are not pushing light weights, so for them to find 200 kilograms would not have been possible.”
Head coach Andrew Hall said the primary focus at the start has been on “baseline measures” in terms of where each player is at, as well as rekindling some hand-eye coordination skills.
“There’s only so many Zoom quizzes you can do,” said Hall about the digital stopgaps they used to stay in touch. “To have the players back, albeit in smaller groups, has been great and the energy and effort to date has been superb.”

The 15s squad also got some good news from World Rugby in the announcement about how they can qualify for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France. Eight spots remain for the tournament (12 have already qualified) and Hong Kong will have to first win the Asia Rugby Men’s Championship in 2021 over South Korea and Malaysia, which would set up a home and away play-off with the winner of the Oceania Cup 2021.
If Hong Kong win that play-off, which could be against Tonga or Samoa, they will book a spot in France, but if they come second they will get seeded into a final repechage tournament. Hong Kong came within a win of qualifying for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, losing to Canada in a repechage in France.
Slatem said being one of the first national teams in the world to return to somewhat of a normal training routine is a credit to the city’s handling of the virus, from which only four people have died. “Obviously, credit to the way (the coronavirus) has been handled in Hong Kong.”


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Sport

Rugby


The men’s squad are back training in groups of six, rebuilding their bodies and camaraderie as Hong Kong emerges from unprecedented global pandemic
Co-captain Liam Slatem says the players are elated to be mingling with each other again while adhering to extensive public health and safety protocols



The men’s squad are back training in groups of six, rebuilding their bodies and camaraderie as Hong Kong emerges from unprecedented global pandemic.


Rugby World Cup 2019

Coronavirus pandemic