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Paul McNamara

On the first placement of her veterinary technology degree, Sabay Lynam found herself patrolling the “domestic reptile ward”.
“There were lizards, turtles and snakes,” she said. “Lots of snakes.”
Slight of stature, Lynam is a fast and fearless fullback for the Hong Kong women’s 15s team.
She is home from Australia, the country she left for Hong Kong at four, and where she now studies at the University of Queensland, for the WXV Global Series Challenger tournament.
In the battle for a World Cup spot in 2029, nothing about Sunday’s opponents Brazil, nor Fiji or Samoa, Hong Kong’s opponents over the following fortnight, is likely to frighten Lynam, who has been playing for Wests Bulldogs in Queensland Premier Rugby.

Going into the “snake ward”, however, she had to “put on my brave face”.
“I was a bit scared of snakes,” Lynam said. “But they’re such amazing creatures. The main reasons people don’t like them are the way they look, and the way they strike. But if you learn to respect them, keep your distance and don’t poke them, they’re fine. They’re just like anyone else.”
Having studied part-time to accommodate rugby, Lynam will soon have to commit to a full timetable for her “big placement year” working alongside a veterinary surgeon.
She is talking to her university counsellor and international coaches to design a plan that stops her losing ground in the sporting sphere.
Lynam’s parents, Glen and Susanna, brought their young family to Hong Kong from Australia 18 years ago.
“They were working for an NGO based in China, and my mum was flying there every couple of weeks,” Lynam said. “She had four little kids at the time, so they decided to relocate.
“They originally said, ‘We’ll go for a year and see how it goes’, but they loved it.”
As a pupil at YMCA of Hong Kong Christian College, Lynam played “a bit of football” and competed over 200m, 400m and in the long jump.
Still, after beginning to play for Flying Kukris in Tuen Mun around the age of eight, the oval ball took precedence.
“Whenever I told people I played rugby, they’d say, ‘Oh, that’s a bit of a rough sport’, but my parents were very supportive,” said Lynam, who will turn 23 on September 15.
“They loved us getting into rugby, and I really enjoyed it, so I never bothered about people’s opinions on that.”
While older sister Christina played volleyball but now focuses on her job in education, and older brother Callan, a musician, is a lapsed rugby player, younger sister Ella has also embraced rugby and could make her Hong Kong debut against Brazil.
“It’s amazing that we can play together; it never happened when we were growing up because she was the year beneath me,” Sabay Lynam said.
“We’ve always been competitive, but in rugby we’re very supportive of each other. It’s a blessing in disguise that we play the same position; we help each other out with what we’re missing.”
A dinner table argument over who is the most talented member of the family could extend until daybreak.

Lynam’s mother, Susanna, is a children’s author and teacher librarian at International College Hong Kong.
Performing under the name Glen Alfred, her father is a solo musician who last year toured Europe and is now poised to travel to America to record his next album.
In Sabay, Glen and Susanna chose an exceptionally rare name for their third child.
“My mum was visiting the grave of a relative [in Australia] and she saw the name on a gravestone,” Lynam said. “There was a picture of the lady, and my mum said she was beautiful. She thought it was a pretty name, so she kept it in her mind.”
The star local turn at last year’s Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, when she top scored with five tries in the hosts’ successful Melrose Claymores campaign, Lynam “always strove for the highest [in rugby] but never saw myself playing at this level”.
“I was keen on going to university, but I got this opportunity and loved it,” she said, having joined the Hong Kong sevens programme straight out of school.
“I enjoyed going in so young, and I had a lot of friends around me I’d played with since youth rugby.”
It was to the more seasoned contingent that Lynam turned for advice as she began to grapple with juggling rugby and studying on another continent.

“The biggest challenge is being away from the team, but some of the older girls who’ve done the same told me that, with our support system, it would be fine,” she said.
“I chat all the time with the strength and conditioning team about what they’re doing in Hong Kong and I mirror that in Australia as best I can. They get updates about what I’m doing with my rugby over there, and they’re happy with it.”
In the Queensland competition, Lynam has encountered “bigger bodies and girls who play quickly”.
“It forces me to be better and compete with others in my position who might be bigger,” said Lynam, who is deliberating over whether to add some bulk to her wispy frame.
“With balancing university, it’s hard to manage your weight if you want to fill out,” she said.
“In my position, as long as you’re fast and able to make your tackles, your size doesn’t matter. It doesn’t faze me; I’m comfortable with how I am.”
A non-passport holder, and therefore ineligible for this month’s Asian Games, Lynam has been in Hong Kong for more than two weeks preparing for the forthcoming matches at Kai Tak Youth Sports Ground.
“Showing up for the team is a big thing that gets me going,” she said. “I see girls who show up to train after eight hours at work. They’re doing their conditioning and reviews, and getting their fuel in. That really motivates me to want to become better for them.”
Keen to begin her veterinary career in a wildlife hospital, Lynam expects to stay down under immediately after graduation, with a medium-term plan to relocate to Hong Kong.
Rewinding to her first “hands-on” placement, Lynam recalled the new experience of having an animal’s “life in your hands”.
“The degree teaches you the right way to do things, but the first time you monitor a patient by yourself, or put an animal under, it’s nerve-racking,” she said.
“The first thing I did was to give medications to wild birds: to magpies, cockatoos, rainbow lorikeets. I’ve treated koalas, possums and kangaroo joeys. My parents always had animals and, from very young, I knew I wanted a career helping them.”


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Sport

Rugby

Hong Kong Rugby Union

Fifteens

Sabay Lynam balancing veterinary technology degree from University of Queensland with burgeoning international career


Sabay Lynam balancing veterinary technology degree from University of Queensland with burgeoning international career.


Women’s Rugby

After stint in snake ward, rugby opponents hold no fear for Hong Kong’s fly-in fullback

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Sabay Lynam balancing veterinary technology degree from University of Queensland with burgeoning international career

Sabay Lynam balancing veterinary technology degree from University of Queensland with burgeoning international career