Hong Kong's men stumbled to a second straight defeat at Hong Kong Stadium on Saturday, losing 33-12 to Great Britain despite taking an early lead through a bursting run from Max Denmark.

The noise levels inside the ground rose to a crescendo for this encounter and they went up a notch further when Denmark crossed the line on the right of the posts.

In a furiously exciting and at times physical game, Hong Kong defended stoutly for a while but the tide began to turn when Robbie Ferguson touched down for GB, who were able to build a comfortable lead with further tries before and after the break.

Hong Kong pulled one back with two minutes to go through Seb Brien, adding to his two scores against France on Friday night, but another try from Kaleem Baretto put GB out of sight.

Hong Kong were due to face Uruguay in their final Pool B match at around 5:45pm. The South American side narrowly lost to Great Britain on Friday and to France on Saturday.

After the disappointment against Great Britain, Brien said there was frustration at Hong Kong's results so far but that they would pick themselves up for the next match.

"We really want to be at the level where we're winning matches," he said. "We know there's a lot more we can do as a team and another level we can get to, which hopefully we can show."

A short while later, Hong Kong's women were back in action as they faced Spain in a knockout match in the race for ninth place overall.

A memorable try from Julia Mba-Oyana kept Hong Kong in the match at half-time, with Spain leading 12-5. However, the Spaniards pulled away in the second half and it finished 24-5.

Meanwhile, the women's cup quarter-finals – due to get underway at 7:37pm on Saturday – were confirmed as Australia vs Ireland, France vs Great Britain, Fiji vs USA and New Zealand vs Canada.
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Last updated: 2023-04-01 HKT 15:52