Poor handling cost Taiwan on the opening day of the Asian Rugby Sevens Series in Hong Kong yesterday.
Taiwan started their campaign against Sri Lanka in poor fashion, their defense allowing four first-half tries to all but end the contest. Hsieh Pin-yi barged his way over for a try and Ho Ming-hsien added a try and a conversion while Sri Lanka were down to six men after a yellow card, but Ho missed the conversion to Hsieh’s score from a few meters to the right of the posts and Sri Lanka exploited some slow defenders on the flanks to take the final score to 43-12.
Taiwan’s scrum shoved Sri Lanka off their own ball in the first pack-down of the match, but atrocious handling, lazy passing and poor execution after the numerous restarts they had to wait under put them well behind the eight ball.
Photo: Michael Lee - Taiwan Mike Photography - KLC fotos
It got no easier in their second game, although Taiwan showed improvement against Hong Kong. They were denied possession by the hosts and kicked it away when they got it in a 47-0 hiding.
A third loss, 14-7 against Malaysia, earned Taiwan a date with a below-strength Japan today in the Plate competition, while China provided a few surprises, booking a Cup semi against Sri Lanka. South Korea face Hong Kong in the other Cup semi.
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