“I feel lucky to be involved in the culture of this team day-to-day, and I love seeing the lads around me develop,” he said. “I probably am not as physically spry as I was four years ago, but I am tougher mentally and I want to put things right.
“I am really excited to have a go now, because I probably won’t be here in another four years.”
Hong Kong are the top seeds in Pool B, and will take on the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Thailand on Saturday. Hosts Japan head a tough Pool A with South Korea, China and India.
Sunday’s winners of the men’s and women’s competitions advance directly to next year’s Summer Olympics in Paris, while the second and third place teams will proceed to the international repechage next spring.
After missing out four years ago, when the pressure of a tight final got to some of the Hong Kong side, captain and coaches have been keen to lower the temperature.
“We have a bit more of an understanding of what we are good at as a team, and what our strengths are, and we know how to combat certain opposition and to focus on what we do well,” Woodward said on Friday, after the captain’s run at the J-Green Sankai grounds in Osaka.
“Our approach is a bit different. We are trying to take the pressure off of the outcomes a bit. If we were concerned about thinking how good Paris would be, we couldn’t get there. So we are just reminding the guys that we have won before at this level, and that this is just another game of sevens this weekend, and encouraging them to go out there and back themselves.”
But Woodward also pointed out that region’s teams had also progressed since 2019, and while the Asian Games title made Hong Kong favourites, there were no guarantees any more.
“We were talking about the competition earlier,” he said. “The top four now are almost interchangeable and everyone can and does beat everyone else, so the pools really make a difference.
“The usual ‘we-meet-Japan in the final’ is no longer a foregone conclusion. I think in our pool things will likely go to form with us and UAE strong in our group, but the semi-final will be interesting.
“I don’t think anyone knows what will happen in the other group, but no one every knows now group games can go either way.”
Ultimately for Woodward, this weekend’s results come down to paving not just the road to Paris, but the future of rugby in Hong Kong.
“That is the big thing for us,” the captain said. “With the Asian Games gold we know as a group that we are securing funding for the programme and the development of rugby in Hong Kong for the 18 and 19 year olds in the programme and in the academy back home.
“To see the young guys coming into the programme and realising that they have the chance to do all of this cool stuff – to go to the Asian Games and win medals and put themselves in position to qualify for the Olympics and World Series in the next four years, eight years, all because of what this group has done, that is for me a really amazing thing.”
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