Hong Kong women's national rugby union team

The Hong Kong women's national rugby union team represents Hong Kong in women's rugby union. They played their first international match in 1998 against Japan. They made their Rugby World Cup debut in 2017 in Ireland.

Hong Kong
UnionHong Kong Rugby Union
Head coachRoyce Chan
First colours
World Rugby ranking
Current17 (as of 4 September 2023)
First international
 Hong Kong 14–42 Japan 
(Kumagaya, Japan 8 April 1998)
Biggest win
 Hong Kong 81–0 Malaysia 
(Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 18 December 2010)
Biggest defeat
 New Zealand 121–0 Hong Kong 
(Dublin, Ireland 13 August 2017)
World Cup
Appearances1 (First in 2017)
Best result12 (2017)

History edit

Hong Kong made their World Cup debut at the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup.[1][2][3][4] Hong Kong competed at the 2019 Asia Pacific Championship in Fiji. They played in a round-robin competition against Fiji and Samoa. They defeated Fiji 29–10 and lost to Samoa 34–12.[5][6] Samoa won the Championship after beating Fiji 15–12.[7]

They withdrew from the 2021 Rugby World Cup qualifier that was to be held in Dubai due to travel restrictions linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.[8][9][10]

In 2022, Hong Kong defeated Kazakhstan twice; they made a come back in the first test to win 31–17, and won the second test 14–12.[11][12] They made a huge climb in rankings after jumping up four places from 18th to their current rank of 15th.[11][12]

Records edit

Overall edit

Top 20 rankings as of 15 April 2024[13]
Rank Change* Team Points
1     England 096.18
2     New Zealand 090.56
3     France 088.00
4     Canada 086.27
5     Australia 081.61
6  1   Scotland 077.17
7  1   Italy 075.13
8     Wales 073.41
9     United States 072.57
10     Ireland 072.35
11     Japan 069.38
12     South Africa 065.17
13     Spain 065.15
14     Russia 061.10
15     Samoa 059.57
16     Netherlands 058.98
17     Fiji 058.65
18     Hong Kong 058.31
19     Kazakhstan 055.97
20     Sweden 052.72
*Change from the previous week

(Full internationals only)

Rugby: Hong Kong internationals 1998-
Opponent First game Played Won Drawn Lost Percentage
  Canada 2017 1 0 0 1 0%
  China 2006 2 1 0 1 50%
  Fiji 2016 2 2 0 0 100%
  Japan 1998 17 1 0 16 5.88%
  Kazakhstan 2009 6 2 0 4 33.33%
  Kyrgyzstan 2008 1 1 0 0 100%
  Malaysia 2010 1 1 0 0 100%
  Netherlands 2019 3 2 0 1 66.67%
  New Zealand 2017 1 0 0 1 0%
  Samoa 2019 1 0 0 1 0%
  Singapore 2006 12 10 1 1 83.33%
  Spain 2015 4 0 0 4 0.00%
  Sweden 2023 1 1 0 0 100%
  Thailand 2005 1 0 0 1 0%
  Uzbekistan 2008 1 0 0 1 0%
  Wales 2017 2 0 0 2 0%
Summary 1998 56 21 1 34 37.50%

Rugby World Cup edit

Year Round Position GP W D L PF PA
Hong Kong was not invited to any of the Rugby World Cups between 1991–1998
  2002 Did not qualify
  2006
  2010
  2014
  2017 11th place playoff 12th 5 0 0 5 27 333
  2021 Withdrew due to COVID-19 pandemic
Total 1/9 12th 5 0 0 5 27 333

Players edit

Recent squad edit

23-player squad that faced Kazakhstan in the 2023 Asia Rugby Women's Championship:[14]

# Player Position
1 Ball NG Ki-sum Prop
2 Iris LAM Tim-yeung Hooker
3 LEE Ka-shun (co-captain) Prop
4 Roshini TURNER Lock
5 CHOW Mei-nam Lock
6 Wai Yan PUN Flanker
7 Nim Yan Melody Blessing LI Flanker
8 Duc LAM Tsz-yan No. 8
9 Jess HO Wai-on Scrum-half
10 Aileen RYAN Fly-half
11 Ka Yan CHONG Wing
12 Jiayu QIAN Centre
13 Natasha OLSON-THORNE Centre
14 Ka Man NAM Wing
15 Rosanna Jean WRIGHT Fullback
16 Fion GOT Yuei Tein
17 Hiu Tung CHAN
18 Megan Rachel RICHARDSON
19 Chloe BALTAZAR
20 Maggie AU YEUNG Sin-yi
21 King To AU
22 Hoi Ching FUNG
23 Zoe SMITH

Previous squads edit

Award winners edit

The following Hong Kong players have been recognised at the World Rugby Awards since 2001:[15]

Coaching staff edit

  • Manager – Yuk Lin KWOK
  • Coach – Royce CHAN LEONG SZE
  • Asst Coach – Sam BEARD
  • Asst Coach – Sam HOCKING
  • S&C – lan BONNET
  • Physio – Sophie RAINE
  • Doctor – Jonathan Mitchell MOSES
  • Analyst – Andy YUEN KIN HO

References edit

  1. ^ "HK Women's Rugby World Cup Debut - The birth of a legacy". Third Culture. 2017-08-18. Retrieved 2017-09-23.
  2. ^ "Hong Kong out to end Women's Rugby World Cup debut on a high note". www.hkrugby.com. 25 August 2017. Retrieved 2017-09-23.
  3. ^ "Womens Rugby World Cup 2017". www.rwcwomens.com. 2017-08-09. Retrieved 2017-09-23.
  4. ^ "Hong Kong Squad Selected For Women's World Cup Debut". Irish Rugby.ie. 22 July 2017. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  5. ^ "Hong Kong win in Fiji". 2019-10-28. Archived from the original on 2019-10-28. Retrieved 2022-05-15.
  6. ^ "Samoa shock Hong Kong at Asia Pacific". 2019-10-28. Archived from the original on 2019-10-28. Retrieved 2022-05-15.
  7. ^ "Samoa win Asia Pacific". 2019-06-03. Archived from the original on 2019-06-03. Retrieved 2022-05-15.
  8. ^ "Samoa, Hong Kong women out of World Cup qualification due to COVID-19". Reuters. 2022-01-21. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  9. ^ "HKRU withdraws Women's XV from Rugby World…". Hong Kong Rugby Union. 2022-01-22. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  10. ^ "Omicron restrictions force Hong Kong's women to end Rugby World Cup dream". South China Morning Post. 2022-01-21. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  11. ^ a b "New-look Hong Kong at record high in World Rugby Women's Rankings powered by Capgemini". www.world.rugby. 2022-12-12. Retrieved 2022-12-21.
  12. ^ a b "2022 in Review: World Rugby Women's Rankings powered by Capgemini". www.world.rugby. 2022-12-19. Retrieved 2022-12-21.
  13. ^ "Women's World Rankings". World Rugby. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
  14. ^ "Kazakhstan & Hong Kong, China Kick-off Asia Rugby Women's Championship". Asia Rugby. 2023-05-23. Retrieved 2023-05-28.
  15. ^ "Awards Roll of Honour - World Rugby". www.world.rugby. Retrieved 16 March 2024.

External links edit