New Zealand was the only wrench in the plans as Hong Kong was dispatched 40-0 by the Kiwis in their second match.

Hong Kong pushed Australia to the limit before bowing out 17-14 in their opening match. It was a well-oiled performance against the Australians as Hong Kong fought back from a 12-0 halftime gap, spurred on by two of the replacement players called up for Tokyo, Tsang Hing Hung and Fan Shun Kei, who made a great impact when coming on off the bench.

Blustery conditions with wind gusts of up to 25 miles per hour today in Tokyo made it hard for Hong Kong to play its style of rugby in the second match against the HSBC Sevens World Series leaders New Zealand who routed the SAR 40-0.

Despite the conditions, Hong Kong coach Dai Rees delivered a stern warning to the team after the loss to New Zealand pointing to a lack of preparation as the reason for the blowout.

"We were not ready to play New Zealand and as individuals we made way too many mistakes. In conditions like this we are not going to be able to move the ball around as we normally like to, so the emphasis becomes more on the contact area. Of course, New Zealand are a physical team but we made too many individual errors that led to conceding three or four tries we shouldn't have."

"If you look at the match against Australia we were ready and we didn't concede the errors we did against New Zealand. As a result we ended up being in with a chance in a three-point match. It was a game that we could easily have won. Against New Zealand, we didn't fire and I think the players may have been looking beyond the match a bit so we had to bring them back down and re-focus on the game versus the USA.

In their final match of the day, Hong Kong continued to prove that they can play at HSBC Sevens World Series core team level, as they ran their second core team opponents, the USA, close once again.

This time, Hong Kong enjoyed an early lead after jumping ahead to a 12-0 lead at the half through tries to captain Rowan Varty and fly-half Jamie Hood with a conversion added by Anthony Haynes. The USA replied with a brace of tries early in the second half, adding two conversions to edge ahead 14-12.

Rowan Varty then added his second try of the match, which was converted by Jamie Hood, to push Hong Kong into the lead at 19-12. Hong Kong held the lead until the final hooter but could not manage to regain possession from the USA to end the match.

The Eagles eventually found a gap in the centre to send Rocco Mauer clear for the match-winning try in the 8th minute. The successful conversion brought the final score to 21-19.

Coach Rees commented on the team's performance today in Tokyo saying, "I think today has proven that Hong Kong can stick with the core teams after running both Australia and the USA close. I am pleased with how the team responded after the loss to New Zealand. The guys are hurting now because we lost a tight game but it was a game we were in, and our loss was the bounce of the ball and not related to our own performance.

"It was a big day for us today. We have always been saying that for us this weekend is about our performance on day 2 and this is still the case. But the guys will be keen to come back out tomorrow and tip one of these matches into the win column. Physically we are in good shape without any injuries and we will have a fresh Keith Robertson back tomorrow. Considering the day's tight results against the top teams in the series I think we are in very good shape for tomorrow's competition."

Australia v Hong Kong Scoring:

New Zealand v Hong Kong Scoring:

USA v Hong Kong Scoring: