Hong Kong to take on Kazakhstan on Saturday
April 30, 2008

Talismanic fullback Rowan Varty will be hoping his “lucky” streak continues when Hong Kong takes on Kazakhstan in the second week of action in the HSBC Asian Five Nations on Saturday.

Varty, Hong Kong’s 2007-08 Player-of-the-Year, has never played in a losing team on the international field and he wants that winning run to continue at the Hong Kong Football Club against the little-known visitors from Central Asia.

“I have played six games for Hong Kong in 15s and luckily we have never lost a game. I don’t want things to change,” said the 22-year-old Varty who made his 15s debut in 2004.

But Varty has had to cope with changes on the field with Hong Kong coach John Walters asking him to switch from wing to fullback against the Arabian Gulf last week in Al Ain. It proved a success as Varty was involved on both occasions, setting up the tries for wingers Ricky Cheuk Ming-yin and Simon Smith in Hong Kong’s 20-12 victory in their opening match.

“Playing at fullback is similar to playing sevens. There is so much more room and I enjoyed my first stint for Hong Kong in this position. I like playing as a sweeper in sevens and this role just suits me fine,” Varty said.

Varty, whose excellent performance at this year’s Hong Kong Sevens also earned him a call to play for the Penguins at the Rome Sevens in June, will once again man the last line of defence against Kazakhstan.

Walters has made two changes to the team which started against the Gulf, bringing in winger Andrew Wong Kee and openside flanker Kris Marin into the side.

“I don’t like to make too many changes, especially to a winning side, but both Wong Kee and Marin were unavailable last week for the Gulf,” said Walters who will be looking for a much-improved performance from his forwards to counter Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan won a weakened Asian Championship last November in Colombo, Sri Lanka – Asia’s top teams Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea stayed away – to book their place in the elite tier at this inaugural competition.

“We don’t know much about them, but I expect them to be physical side who will be very good in the set pieces,” said Walters predicting a tight battle between the two packs.

Hong Kong will once again miss captain and No.8 Semi Iafeta who is still recovering from a hamstring injury. But flanker Nigel Clarke, who deputised in the Gulf game, took on the responsibility admirably and he will be expected to lead from the front once again.

In the other game this weekend, Arabian Gulf travel to Osaka where they will take on Asian powerhouse Japan. The Japanese began their campaign with a 39-17 win over South Korea last week and are expected to win easily again.

Hong Kong squad:

1-Pete Spizzirri, 2-Wayne Whitney, 3-Nigel Hobler, 4-Laurence Denvir, 5-Ivan Zenovic, 6-Nigel Clarke, 7-Kris Marin, 8-Simon Leung, 9-Jon Elliott, 10-Justin Temara, 11-Andrew Wong Kee, 12-Simon Hempel, 13-Gavin Hadley, 14-Ricky Cheuk Ming-yin/Simon Smith, 15-Rowan Varty.

Replacements: 16-Jon Abel, 17-Alex Ng Wai-shing, 18-Nick Hurrell, 19-Renaud Chavanis, 20-Will Wong Wai-kong, 21-Kenzo Pannell, 22-Simon Smith/Ricky Cheuk.