One of the joys of Rugby Week is that it embraces and unites HongKongers without fear or favour of who you are, where you work or what colour your skin is.
A packed King’s Park saw players from across the globe and of every age play rugby, enjoy life, make new friends and enjoy an excellent bacon butty!
At the Kowloon Rugby Fest, there were winners, but no losers!
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Tickets for the Hong Kong Sevens go on sale today from 10am. The tournament, 5-7 April 2024, will be the 30th and last at the Hong Kong Stadium before the event moves to the new Kai Tak Sports Park in 2025.
Hong Kong Sevens
Date: 5-7 April, 2024
Venue: HK Stadium
Tickets: $1,950
More info: www.HKsevens.com
After four amazing quarter-finals last weekend, the Rugby World Cup continued today with the first of the semi-finals at the Stade de France.
While it would have been too much to hope for that the semi might approach the heights of skill and attacking rugby of the quarters! The New Zealand All Blacks barely had to get out of second gear to trash Argentina – whose performances have been perhaps the biggest disappointment of the tournament.
Having started slowly, the All Blacks appear to be hitting top form as the final approaches. Who will they face, South Africa or England?
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All images copyright © of simon durrant / bc magazine
This picture is of a Toulouse taxi driver stealing my bag and passport! As a traveller, there are few things worse than watching someone steal your passport and see it disappear into the distance.
I had flown into the city to watch the Rugby World Cup match between Japan and Samoa it’s a ‘pretty’ city. Lots of wide tree-lined streets decorated with cafes offering outdoor seating – vastly different in feel and look to narrow streets of Hong Kong. A pleasant change of pace.
The rugby has been great, the atmosphere at stadiums passionate and friendly as fans from across the globe have flown in to support their teams.
To-steal though applies across the city, and the country for that matter. The lovely hostel I stayed at is ‘proud’ she only raised her rates by 10 per cent. When other hotels were doubling or tripling theirs. (In Marseille, some hostels had increased 6fold – charging between 115 and 300Euro (HK$950 -HK$2,450)for a dormitory bed!
Many of the bars and restaurants in cities hosting games have local prices and ‘rugby fan’ prices as they hope you won’t notice the difference… And for a country that prides itself on the quality of its food and wine that they still allow smoking and vaping in restaurants and cafes is ‘disappointing’. To have the flavours of your tasty, and not cheap, meal or the notes of a glass of wine destroyed by a cloud of cigarette or vape smoke gets frustrating fast.
As much as I hate their exploitative policies Uber has thrived because their drivers have in many countries made using a ‘taxi service’ an enjoyable and stress-free experience.
The many bad apples among taxi drivers, sadly including Hong Kong, having destroyed the simple convenience of using a taxi years ago
At To-steal airport I showed the driver my hotel, he quoted 15 Euros. Set the amount in the meter and drove off. Less than 100m later he was telling he wanted an extra 35 Euros (HK$350).
I told him to stop the car and let me off. And started to video his demands for more money. Whereupon he stopped the car sharply, turning around and punched me in the face as he tried to grab my phone and stop me filming. My phone flew across the car as he started driving again screaming in French.
He stopped the taxi again screaming get out, and fearful of being attacked again. I got out and went to the back to get my bag, only to have him drive off into the distance with my passport and bag.
The French police found my bag and passport. The city itself seems to have no regulation or complaint mechanisms as according to the city office they are private companies.
The rugby and the overseas fans have been great, but France, can go fuck itself!
The Rugby World Cup continued at the Stadium de Toulouse today as Japan faced up to the Samoan Siva Tau and a fierce Samoan flurry in the last quarter to clinch a hard-fought victory.
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All images copyright © of simon durrant / bc magazine
The Rugby World Cup 2023 kicked off tonight with hosts France beating New Zealand 27-13. At the Place de la Concorde fans from across the globe gathered to watch the game at the Rugby Village.
The action started a little earlier than planned with French police discovering and then blowing up a suspect package close to the rugby village. Which had expanded across the roads to accommodate the expected 40,000 fans.
As kick-off approached a noisy and expectant throng proudly sang their national anthems only to fall almost deathly quiet as New Zealand scored a quick opening try…
Test your power on the scrum machine.
Fans proudly sing La Marseillaise
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The Rugby World Cup 2023 begins in Paris today, but you’d be hard pressed to know it. The tournament appears invisible in a city preparing for the 2024 Olympics.
Walking down the iconic Champs-Élysées – which has a fair incline that is not apparent when watching the Tour de France cyclists race along it at 50mph – the Rugby World Cup doesn’t appear to exist. bc approached several people and asked if they knew the World Cup was starting today, sadly none did.
Why are the banners on the Champs-Élysées lampposts promoting Paris’s IT week not the World Cup?
The only obvious indication of the tournament’s presence in the city is the doubling of hotel and hostel prices and bars and restaurants increasing their prices for game day.
There is a Rugby Village at the Place de la Concorde but it doesn’t open until this afternoon (and only on select days afterwards) so there really is nowhere for visiting or local or new fans to gather and meet up.
A big part of rugby is the social camaraderie between fans, yet the tournament organisers seem to have done nothing to build awareness and interest in the game among new fans . It feels like a missed opportunity, especially as the recent women’s football World Cup showed how a country can be transformed by a tournament.
The Hong Kong Rugby Union announced the men’s XV to face South Korea in the finale of the 2023 Asia Rugby Championship at Hong Kong Football Club (kick off at 17.00). It is a largely settled squad with only two changes to the starting line-up that hammered Malaysia in last week’s opener 88-9.
“Consistency is key. Last week, players from 1 to 15 all performed, and there were some real selection headaches this week as we expected. Certain guys really stood up against Malaysia but there are also other guys we wanted to see more of as well,” said Hong Kong China coach Lewis Evans.
With both Hong Kong and South Korea returning heavy wins over Malaysia, the preamble to Saturday’s fixture has left little for observers to rely on when judging form.
“Expect the unexpected is what we told the team,” added Evans. “We are coming in confident, and have things in place to combat what South Korea can offer, but ultimately it comes down to us backing up our performance and getting consistency in our game.”
That desire for consistency has left the starting XV largely unchanged from that against Malaysia. Captain Tom Hill retains his spot at inside centre while his vice-captain and club teammate Patrick Jenkinson reclaims his second-row starting spot from Malaysia.
Prop forward Ash Hyde has dropped out of the matchday 23 after struggling with illness in the conditions against Malaysia, with veteran Ben Higgins earning the start on his 25th appearance. It is the only change in the starting pack with Higgins joined by Alex Post (who scored a natural brace versus Malaysia) and Fai Solomona in the front row. Jenkinson will again partner with sevens squad member Callum McCullough in the locks, with an unchanged back row of Luke van der Smit at No.8 and Sam Tsoi Kin-san and James Sawyer on the flanks.
In the backline, fullback Paul Altier is forced to make way for utility back Nate DeThierry after picking up a red card in the game versus Malaysia.
“Paul was really good under the high ball against Malaysia and we expect to see a lot of that from South Korea. Nate is a very confident player and is comfortable at 15 having played there for us during the repechage,” said Evans.
DeThierry started in the centres last week. His vacated outside centre spot will be occupied by Harry Sayers who started last week’s tie on the bench. Jamie Lauder and Gregor McNeish resume their half-back pairing with Seb Brien and Charles Higson-Smith retaining their spots on the wings after combining for six tries against Malaysia.
Despite the successful performance against Malaysia, Evans has opted to give opportunities to more new players in the reserves. With a strong forwards battle expected against South Korea, the bench has a 5-3 forwards to backs split with two potential first caps waiting in the wings in front rower Matt Keay and back Dylan White.
White moves into the matchday 23 with a chance at collecting his first Hong Kong China cap and provides added depth at fly-half and fullback, while Bryn Phillips and Will Panday also retain their places in the 23-man squad for the South Korea test.
“With the likes of Dylan and some of the other players we are starting a slow transition into that environment. Come November, players like that will need bigger opportunities and we want to start getting them involved now in the international environment, so that when they get the call up to start which probably comes in the next 12 or 18 months, they will be ready,” Evans added.
Keay, Keelan Chapman and Zac Cinnamond add to a deep supply of front rowers while former Hong Kong captain Josh Hrstich is also returning to international action after suffering a calf strain in May. He will start off the bench providing back-row support alongside Pierce Mackinlay-West, who scored one of Hong Kong’s 13 tries last week after coming on in the second half.
“Josh is back in form and having him back in training has had a huge impact on the squad. He has completed his fitness tests and is confident and capable to play international rugby this week. Our back row combination played really well and made this a difficult selection, but with strong players like Josh and Pierce coming off the bench we can maintain that intensity and physicality we are after in the second half against Korea,” noted Evans.
“The coaches were really proud of the way the boys conducted themselves versus Malaysia. South Korea are a different beast and we know that. We need to manage them in the set piece and at the contact area and they have a very strong kicking game that we will need to deal with as well. But we are entering this game with confidence and have had a really good week of training. The boys look sharp. They are ready,” said Evans.
Can’t stand the rain? Watch the live stream on HKRU TV.
Hong Kong, China squad versus South Korea, HKFC 17.00 17 June 2023:
Hong Kong v South Korea
Asia Rugby Championship 2023
Date: 5pm, 17 June, 2023
Venue: Hong Kong Football Club
Tickets: tbc
Additional reporting, images: Asia Rugby, HKrugby
