“When you have a two-day tournament of back-to-back games, you have to learn from your mistakes quickly,” Chan explains. “We have 10-15 minutes to cool down after a match, then maybe an hour before the next one. We have to park our feelings and turn our disappointment into motivation.”

And with just six other people on the team and all that space on the rugby pitch, dealing with mistakes is a part of the game, Woodward explains. “You have to leave your ego out of it as much as possible... let it go and do what you need to do next.”

So, what motivates these players? Why do they choose to push their bodies to the limit day in and day out? No, it’s not the vacation days they get to enjoy after a big tournament (though they already have those planned – Lee will be heading to Japan, Woodward to Stockholm, and Chan to Boston a little later in the year). It’s having the privilege to travel the world for their job; playing against some of the world’s greatest teams, including Fiji, New Zealand and Australia, in tournaments such as the HSBC SVNS Series and the Asian Games. Though, they emphasise, nothing can match playing in front of a home crowd at the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens tournament.

“It’s unlike anywhere else we play,” says Lee. “It’s just crazy. You go out there and find that extra 10 per cent from the energy of the crowd. The mistakes don’t matter as much; you know you can go again – that's how we won the shield last year.”