Co-captain Natasha Olson-Thorne is one of just two players on the Hong Kong women’s rugby sevens team who have ever played in the National Games, but the veteran is confident that preparation, team chemistry and home field advantage will lead them to a podium finish in the upcoming competition starting next Friday.

“We have a cheer: we go ‘as one’! So whenever we're doing we're doing it together. We're doing it as one,” Olson-Thorne explained.

Her team last took part in the National Game 12 years ago, and the only other player left is Melody Li.

Still, Olson-Thorne says experience is only part of the winning formula, and her team is united and ready for a strong showing in front of their home crowd.

“We're going into this and we're going for a medal,” she said. “We want to hit the ground running, we want to play hard, we want to show what we can do and prove to our home crowd and to ourselves that we've got it in us.”

Her team, Olson-Thorne said, have been spending more time together on and off the field than with their own families, as they ramp up their training ahead of the tournament.

While the basics such as ball presentation, catch pass accuracy and one-on-one tackles all make up part of their training regime, the team has been focusing on improving their stamina.

That's because the National Games adhere to a different set of rules with each half lasting nine minutes instead of seven at international competitions.

“We've done all the physical prep, we've done all the technical tactical prep going into this tournament… It's going to be about our mindset,” Olson-Thorne said.

“So making sure that everyone is hitting the ground on the same page, mentally ready.

“It's going to be tough. A rugby game isn't easy,” she added.

Co-captain Chloe Chan shared Olson-Thorne’s confidence that the squad will be ready once they step onto the pitch – once they get into the right frame of mind.

“In the changing room, we always like try and sing a song,” said Chan.

“It could be Taylor Swift or whatever that gets us going and like a song that we all know the words to and just to like smile and enjoy and get all the nerves out before we run out to a stadium.”

The SAR team's medal journey begins on November 12 at Kai Tak Stadium, where they face the powerhouse province of Shandong.

Chan know it’s going to be an uphill battle right from the start.

“We’ve played them before, so we kind of know what their tactics are and what their players are like. So we're just really going to focus on us and try and play our system and, yeah, out-fit them basically,” she said.

Hong Kong are in Pool D with Shandong, Shanghai and Sichuan.

Both the women's and men's tournaments culminate on November 14, when the champions will be crowned.