What a draw… In their first World Cup, Hong Kong will face New Zealand, Australia and Chile in Pool A at the Men’s Rugby World Cup Australia 2027
Category: feature
Counting Frames – David Bordwell
In memory of David Bordwell, a well-known film historian and Hong Kong film confidant who passed away in early 2024, the Hong Kong Film Critics Society has organised a commemorative exhibition, How Not to Be Crazy – Bordwell Sees Hong Kong Cinema and a podcast Movies Dare to Feel That. The event runs from November 18, 2025 to January 20, 2026.
A combination of film nerd and academic, the author of Planet Hong Kong: Popular Cinema and the Art of Entertainment, Bordwell had a unique eye for Hong Kong cinema. The festival features twelve classic Hong Kong films that Bordwell appreciated and analysed in detail, plus post-screening talks.
Films featured include: The Blood of Heroes (1989) and Dao Ma Dan (1986) both of which premiered in Hong Kong. The rarely exhibited The Grandmaster 3D (2013) and 無間道 Infernal Affairs, 忠烈圖 The Valiant Ones, 金枝玉葉 He’s a Woman She’s a Man, 十八般武藝 Legendary Weapons of China…
Counting Frames – David Bordwell on Hong Kong Cinema
Date: 6 December 2025 – 14 January 2026
Venue: Broadway Cinematheque, Premiere Elements
Tickets: $95
Hong Kong 1-1 Bangladesh
Hong Kong conceded a late equaliser as Bangladesh grabbed a share of the points at the Kai Tak Stadium in front of over 45,000 fans.
Matt Orr scored for Hong Kong, who remain top of the group after 4 games.
Hong Kong v Bangladesh – AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers
Date: 8pm, 14 October, 2025
Venue: Kai Tak Stadium, Hong Kong
images: HKFA
Bar Leone Named World’s Best Bar…
At an event in Hong Kong, sponsored by the Hong Kong Tourist Board, “The World’s 50 Best Bars” this week announced Hong Kong’s Bar Leone as the World’s Best Bar in 2025.
Bar Leone is certainly a good bar – sadly now to be drowned in people wanting to say they’ve ‘drunk in the World’s Best Bar’! – but is it the World’s Best? Sadly, The World’s 50 Best Bars website doesn’t list any criteria to support the award.
What constitutes ‘best’ is apparently left to the judgment of 800 “drinks experts”. Each voter casts eight votes based on their best bar experiences of the previous 18 months, with a maximum of five bars in their own country. The list is the result of a simple vote count – no totals are released. No breakdown of where the ‘experts’ are from or how many are based in each country/region.
So congratulations to Bar Leone and the other bars on the list, but take the list with a large pinch of salt and get out and explore different bars to find those you enjoy.
Bar Leone
11-15 Bridges Street
Central
Hong Kong
Open: Tuesday-Sunday 17:00-late
No Reservations
images: The World’s 50 Best Bars
Bangladesh 3-4 Hong Kong
Raphaël Merkies completed his hat-trick in the 11th minute of added time to give Hong Kong all three points with a 4-3 victory over Bangladesh in the AFC Asian Cup qualification game in Dhaka.
Bangladesh v Hong Kong – AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers
Date: 8pm, 9 October, 2025
Venue: Bangladesh National Stadium, Dhaka
images: HKFA
RWC2025 Semi-Final: Canada v New Zealand
The Black Ferns came into the RWC2025 Semi-Final as defending World Champions and on a massive unbeaten run… Canada, who crowdfunded their World Cup campaign, played a sublime game and handed New Zealand rugby its second thrashing of the week.
Ahead of the game fans and pundits alike expected a close game… Canada dominated in all areas of the pitch and although New Zealand scored a couple of tries midway through the second half to narrow the scoreboard the final score of 34-19 understated Canada’s dominance. Canada head to the final at a sold-out Twickenham on 27 September.
Watch the highlights here
Photos: copyright Simon Durrant/bcmagazine
WXV Global Series Announced
The popularity, both in-person and among TV viewers, of the ongoing Women’s World Cup has seen World Rugby announce the launch of a new WXV Global Series.
World Rugby, national member unions and the International Rugby Players Association hope the new WXV Global Series will transform the global women’s rugby calendar.
The WXV Global Series introduces a new format featuring the top 18 national teams in the world and looks to increase “meaningful competition and calendar harmony, driving long-term performance and commercial sustainability in the women’s game”.
The top 12-ranked teams (Australia, Canada, England, France, Italy, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, USA, Wales) will compete in a home-and-away, cross-regional touring model within a new September – October international window.
Meanwhile, teams 13-18 (Brazil, Fiji, Hong Kong China, Netherlands, Samoa, Spain) will play their fixtures in a single destination in 2026 and 2028, funded by World Rugby. Rankings to determine positions in the Series were set at the end of WXV 2024 and teams will remain fixed in these through the 2026–28 cycle, as agreed with participating unions.
The structure of the 2027 season will allow teams to face new opponents, with additional fixtures for unions not involved in the British and Irish Lions Women’s Tour to New Zealand.
WXV Global Series overview
- 18 national teams across two competitions
- Top 12 teams to play in a home-and-away cross-regional model from 2026–28
- Teams will play between four and six fixtures annually within the new September–October test window
- Teams 13-18 to compete in a funded, centralised annual tournament hosted at a single destination
- Cross-over fixtures to take place in 2027 around the British and Irish Lions Women’s Tour
- Over 100 international matches to be played across the three-year cycle
- Touring unions retain commercial rights to home fixtures
- Integrated into the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2029 qualification pathway
Women’s World Cup 2029 Australia Qualification
Qualification for Women’s Rugby World Cup 2029 in Australia will be determined through a combination of: RWC 2025 standings (with Canada, England, France and New Zealand having qualified after making the semi-finals), eight teams through 2027 regional competition results, two teams through world rankings at the end of the 2027 Global Competition Window, and one final spot decided by the WXV Global Series 2028 centrally hosted competition for teams 13-18, which will function as a Final Qualification Tournament (FQT).
World Rugby Chair Brett Robinson said: “The launch of the WXV Global Series marks another landmark moment for the women’s game, following what will be an era-defining Women’s Rugby World Cup in England, that will change the global landscape for women’s rugby.”
“It delivers on our commitment to raise standards, provide consistent and competitive fixtures, a clear international calendar that prioritises welfare, and create sustainable commercial outcomes for the women’s game globally. Working closely with players and unions, this model creates the platform for women’s rugby to reach its full potential on and off the field.”
Images: Simon Durrant/ bc magazine
Additional reporting: World Rugby
The Law Protecting Fair Trials: An Obituary by Tim Hamlett
Readers may be fed up with me complaining about the erosion of the laws restricting the reporting of upcoming court cases. Well, some good news. The erosion has now reached the stage where there is nothing left. I shall not need to return to this topic again.
The law involved is rather unhelpfully labelled “strict liability contempt of court”. The “contempt of court” part means that your conduct is deemed to disturb the administration of justice. The “strict liability” bit indicates that the prosecution does not have to prove that you meant it, only that your publication could have affected the subsequent trial. Its purpose is to ensure that trials are fair….
Read Tim Hamlett’s full article here