ARMC 2023: Hong Kong 88-9 Malaysia

Hong Kong men’s XV marked its first home match since June 2019 with an emphatic 88-9 win over Malaysia in the Asia Men’s Rugby Championship at a packed-out Hong Kong Football Club.

Seb Brien paced all scorers with five tries while Hong Kong scored 13 tries in total to push a 45-6 lead at the break into the final 79-point margin in front of over 1,200 fans.

“We are delighted to mark the return of men’s international rugby to Hong Kong for the first time since June 2019,” said Chris Brooke, Chairman of the Hong Kong Rugby Union after the match.

“This is another milestone in Hong Kong rugby’s recovery from the pandemic. Today was a great celebration and the support from the rugby community throughout what has been a challenging period has been incredible. The team has picked up right where it left off and I am sure that next week will be an electric finale for the Asia Rugby Championship,” added Brooke.

 

Hong Kong’s first men’s home test in four years brought out a reaction in the squad as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead after 90 seconds through a penalty from fly-half Gregor McNeish, currently playing for VPC Andorra. That lead soon ballooned to 31 points by the half-hour marker as scrumhalf Jamie Lauder, Brien and No.8 Luke van der Smith added first quarter tries before Malaysia fly-half Fairuz Ab Rahman notched his side’s first points with a penalty after 17 minutes to make the score 24-3.

Poor kicking from hand and general indecision plagued Malaysia throughout as they continued to serve up possession for Hong Kong. The visitors could only muster one further foray in to the Hong Kong half in the early going when fullback Paul Altier, currently playing for Stade Olympique Chamberien in France, was sin-binned for an intentional knock-on, foiling a dangerous intercept attack from Malaysia.

Hong Kong would score two short-handed tries despite their opponents’ numerical advantage with McNeish crossing the whitewash followed by lock Callum McCullough, who alongside Seb Brien and Pierce Mackinlay-West was one of three sevens athletes to score today. McNeish’s fifth conversion brought the score to 38-6 before a relieved Altier exited the bin.

A moment of panic by the Malaysian winger with the ball in his own dead ball area set the stage for Hong Kong’s sixth score as a great rush defence produced ball for Brien’s second score and gave Hong Kong, China a 45-6 advantage at the break.

Seb Brien dots down one of his 5 tries against Malaysia

Malaysia’s hopes of stabilizing were dashed at the restart when van der Smit nearly ran the ball back for another rapid-fire score from the kick-off. He was clawed down at the line but Brien popped up with ball in hand shortly thereafter to complete his hat trick as Hong Kong passed 52-6.

Richmond hooker Alex Post then scored back-to-back tries at the base of Hong Kong’s driving maul, capping a highly efficient day for the forwards who also stole two lineouts from Malaysia this afternoon.

Post’s second try brought the score to 62-6 after McNeish missed his first conversions of the day, going eight for eight from the tee until that moment. Coach Lewis Evans then emptied his bench down the final stretch with forward Tang Man-chung earning his first senior cap for Hong Kong, China.

In the final quarter, Altier was shown a red card for a poor challenge in the ruck leaving his side a man down for the remainder. Hong Kong didn’t look any worse for wear as they added a third short-handed try from close to the line with another sevens athlete, Pierce Mackinlay-West, scoring to push the lead to 67-6.

Brien then collected back-to-back tries to run his personal tally to five and bring the lead to 81-6 before Malaysia’s Nazvi Fitri slotted a penalty to bring the score to 81-9. Reserve scrumhalf Bryn Phillips added an exclamation point to Hong Kong’s big win with Hong Kong’s 13th try of the game at the hooter pushing the final score to 88-9 after a conversion from Nate DeThierry.

“That was so much fun,” said a delighted Brien post-match. “It’s really nice to get back to fifteens rugby in Hong Kong and it was an awesome team performance today, which was exactly what we wanted. Sometimes games like that can get off script, but we just kept building that momentum for next week. We have quite a new squad so to have a performance like that ahead of next week is huge,” he added.

It was also an excellent debut as captain for centre Tom Hill in only his fifth appearance for Hong Kong: “That was a really pleasing performance,” said Hill.

“It is awesome to be playing rugby again in Hong Kong in front of our home crowd and it is a huge honour to captain this team. We’re just looking forward to next week now. The Asia Rugby Championship is really important. We have won it the last few years and we want to keep winning it and go on to the next level,” added Hill.

Today also marked the debut home test for coach Lewis Evans who was equally complimentary about his side’s performance saying: “It was a very comprehensive performance. We were focused on that more than the win and the boys delivered.

“We knew Malaysia would come out with intent and energy and I think we controlled that and took our chances well. So very positive and very pleased with that result. There will be a lot of headaches for selection against South Korea coming our way,” he added.

Additional reporting and images: HKRU

Asia Rugby Championship 2023

The 12th edition of the Asia Rugby Women’s Championship kicks off in Almaty, Kazakhstan on 23 May, with Japan, Hong Kong, and Kazakhstan competing for the title of Champions of Asia. The winner and runner-up will earn qualification for the new World Rugby three-tier annual global women’s international 15s competition WXV.

The Asia Rugby Women’s Championship began in 2006 with hosts China winning the inaugural tournament in Kunming. Since then, Kazakhstan has won five times, Japan four times, and China and Hong Kong China once each.

This year’s Asia Rugby Champion will qualify for WXV2 in 2023, and the runner-up will compete in WXV3. Additionally, WXV will provide a pathway to Rugby World Cup 2025, with at least the top five non-qualified teams at the end of WXV 2024 earning qualification for the tournament.

The first match on May 23rd will feature Hong Kong (ranked 15th) taking on hosts Kazakhstan (ranked 19th) at the Almaty Sports Training Complex, Abaya Almaty at 16:00 (+6 GMT) the winner will face Japan in the final on May 28th at the same venue at 15:00 local time.

The Asia Rugby Women’s Championship 2023 will be live-streamed on Asia Rugby’s Facebook page and YouTube channel, AsiaRugbyLive.

Asia Rugby Women’s Championship 2023 -2

WXV 2

Asia Rugby Women’s Champion will compete in the WXV 2 competition which will consist of six teams, playing in a cross-pool format. Participating teams for 2023 will include two teams from Europe, the fourth-placed team from the Pacific Four Series, alongside one team from Oceania, Asia and Africa.

The sixth-placed regional position in the WXV 2 competition at the end of each season will be relegated to WXV 3.

WXV 3

Runner-up of the competition we play in WXV 3 which will also be played as a cross-pool format, made up of six teams: two from Europe and one from Asia, Oceania, Africa and South America. The regional position of the winner of WXV 3 will be promoted to WXV 2 and the bottom team will play off against the next best-ranked side, according to the World Rugby Women’s Rankings powered by Capgemini on the Monday after the final match of WXV that year.

Asia Rugby Women’s Championship 2023

23rd May
Game 1  Hong Kong China v Kazakhstan   Live  Link 
KO 16:00 (2pm HK time)

28th May -Final
Final: Japan v (Winner of Game 1)  Live  Link 
KO 15:00

Hong Kong v Kazakhstan
Asia Rugby Championship 2023
Date:
4pm, 23 May, 2023
Venue: Almaty, Kazakhstan

Additional reporting: Asia Rugby
Images: HKrugby

Beautiful!!!

Beautiful!!!
Hong Kong’s women’s 7s team runout at the Hong Kong Sevens for the first time!!

Brilliant!!!
Agnes Tse scores a historic first try for Hong Kong on their Seven’s World Series debut.

image: Takumi Photography

HK Sevens
Date: 31 March – 2 April, 2023
Venue: HK Stadium
Tickets: $1,950
More info: www.HKsevens.com

Samurai RFC Win Inaugural Women’s HK10s

Unbeaten over the two days, Samurai RFC beat Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix 14-12 in the final to win a fiercely competitive and entertaining inaugural Women’s HK10s.

Samurai’s ex-England International Rocky Clarke MBE posted on twitter after the final “To say I’m over the moon is an understatement. To pull on the Samurai jersey and win the HKFC10s is amazing. Thank you for the belief in me and memories we’ve created. You’ve made an old girl very happy. Thank you for the amazing experience”

Rocky Clark MBE

Ashbury Tropics won the plate final against hosts HKFC Ice

Ashbury Tropics Plate winners HK10s 2023

HK10s Women's pool standings 2023

Hong Kong Tens
When: 29-30 March, 2023
Where: Hong Kong Football Club
How much: $120
More info: www.hkfc10s.com

Additional reporting and images: HK10s

Tradition YCAC Win Men’s HK10s 2023

In a close and competitive men’s final Tradition YCAC beat Samurai RFC 7-0 to win the 2023 HKFC10s

Hong Kong Tens
When: 29-30 March, 2023
Where: Hong Kong Football Club
How much: $120
More info: www.hkfc10s.com

Additional reporting and images: HK10s

Harry Harrison Designed Charity Rugby Balls

300 limited edition Harry Harrison-designed rugby balls have gone on sale to support local charity Rugby For Good.

A renowned local satirical cartoonist, Harrison’s balls feature a dragon and the Hong Kong Stadium and cost $300, order one here.harrys balls 2023

HK Sevens
Date: 31 March – 2 April, 2023
Venue: HK Stadium
Tickets: $1,950
More info: www.HKsevens.com