Hong Kong national rugby union team

Hong Kong
Nickname(s) Dragons
Emblem Chinese dragon
Union Hong Kong Rugby Union
Head coach Leigh Jones
Captain Nick Hewson
Most caps David Lewis (55)
Top scorer Rowan Varty (120)
Top try scorer Rowan Varty (24)
Home stadium Hong Kong Football Club Stadium
First colours
Second colours
World Rugby ranking
Current 25 (as of 24 April 2016)
Highest 23 (2015)
Lowest 34 (2010)
First international
Hong Kong 11–5 Australian Universities
(1934)
Biggest win
Hong Kong 164–13 Singapore
(27 October 1994)
Biggest defeat
Japan 94–5 Hong Kong
(22 May 2010)
World Cup
Appearances 0
Website www.hkrugby.com

The Hong Kong national rugby union team, nicknamed the Dragons, represent Hong Kong in international rugby union. Hong Kong is one of the better rugby sides in Asia outside of Japan, and has consistently made the repechages of the Rugby World Cup qualifying. Rugby union in Hong Kong is administered by the Hong Kong Rugby Union since 1952, and competes annually in the Asia Rugby Championship.

Hong Kong has one of the oldest rugby traditions in Asia, having been played there since the 19th century, when British colonists arrived in Hong Kong and brought the sport with them. For a long time, rugby union in Hong Kong was traditionally associated with Hong Kong's British-descended, English-speaking class, but since the 1990s there has been extensive efforts to integrate the game to the Cantonese-speaking community, the first of these players being "Rambo" Leung Yeung Kit. Hong Kong have improved in form recently, having finished in second place in the ARC in 2011, 2014, and 2015, and made it to the repechage of the 2015 Rugby World Cup qualifying, though lost to Uruguay 24 to 3.

History

Early history

According to old newspapers, rugby union in Hong Kong dates back to the late 1870s, which would establish Hong Kong as perhaps the oldest rugby playing nation in Asia. The players during this era were all British sailors and army/navy men, as well as police and merchant men. The first secretary of rugby in Hong Kong was Jock McGregor.[1]

The first fixtures which predate the creation of the modern Hong Kong Rugby Union in 1952 took place from 1924 to 1949. An unofficial interport team from Hong Kong played Shanghai on various dates from 1924 to 1949, both teams being composed entirely of British expatriates living in said port cities; these fixtures ceased after the establishment of Communist rule in mainland China.[2] In 1934, a Hong Kong team played against an Australia Universities team, running out victors 11 to 5.

After the establishment of modern Chinese borders, which before greyed the exact control a union had over territory in China, the Hong Kong Rugby Union was established in 1952; the continuation of British rule in China, as well as the flow of immigrants and capital from the mainland, as well as Hong Kong establishing itself as a major port, allowed the game to flourish, albeit mostly restricted to the white British community.

During this time frame the first official fixtures under the union took place. Hong Kong first received a NZ Universities team in 1958, losing 47 to nil. In 1958, Larry Abel, one of Hong Kong's earliest rugby pioneers, established mini rugby programmes and tournaments, and has been played annually to this day.[3] In 1968, Hong Kong was one of the charter nations of the Asian Rugby Football Union, the others being Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Korea, and Thailand. Hong Kong won its first official fixture against Japan in 1969, by the score of 24 to 22 in Tokyo.

1970s

During the 1970s Hong Kong played against many of its other Asian neighbors which had a rugby history, these nations being Japan, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Singapore. Hong Kong enjoyed and endured mixed success against its neighbors, finishing second in 1972, only to lose to Japan 16 to nil on home soil.

In 1976, the first ever edition of the Hong Kong Sevens was established, which was pivotal in strengthening the sport in Hong Kong. The concept was discussed by business partners Ian Gow and Tokkie Smith, who wanted to promote a viable rugby product in Asia. The first sponsors of this event were Cathay Pacific and Rothmans International, later replaced by The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. The first sides at this competition were Asian, as well as 2 representative sides from Australia and New Zealand. Soon, the competition grew to include teams from around the world before becoming an official part of the Rugby Sevens calendar.[4]

1980s - 1990s

During the 1980s, Hong Kong lagged behind Japan and South Korea in terms of competition; Hong Kong was consistently beating other Asian nations but consistently finished in third places, whereas Japan and Hong Kong were consistently vying for the top crown. Hong Kong officially joined the IRB in 1988, allowing Hong Kong to compete in the Rugby World Cup, though they did not enter the competition to qualify for 1991.

The 1990s proved to be a much more fruitful decade for Hong Kong. Hong Kong played its first ever test match against a non-Asia-Pacific opponent in 1992, losing 16 to 23 to the United States in 1992 in Boxer Stadum, San Francisco. In the same year, Hong Kong finally broke through and reached the final of the Asia Rugby Championship, beating South Korea 20 to 13 before losing to Japan 9 to 37.

Some notable players during the 1990s who represented Hong Kong at the international level include Ashley Billington, David Lewis, Leung Yeung Kit, and Chan Fuk Ping.

Hong Kong participated in its first qualifying tournament for the Rugby World Cup in 1995, being drawn with Thailand and Singapore in its group. Hong Kong lost its opening fixture to South Korea 28 to 17 before beating its other opponents; Hong Kong therefore missed out on a spot at the 1995 Rugby World Cup. An impressive feat achieved during this campaign though was Ashley Billington's 10 tries versus Singapore on November 10, 1994, which is the most tries ever scored in a Rugby World Cup qualifier by a single player.

Through the 1990s, Hong Kong began organizing tests against non-Asian opponents. Opponents that were played were Namibia, Papua New Guinea, the United States, and Canada. Hong Kong recorded some famous victories, beating the USA Eagles on three occasions in the decade, including a victory in San Francisco, and beating Canada in 1998.

Despite major improvement in the 1990s, Hong Kong bottomed out in its qualifying group for the 1999 Rugby World Cup; Hong Kong beat its arch-nemesis South Korea, but lost to Japan and were upset by the Chinese Taipei; they finished fourth and missed on direct qualification and a repechage.

2000 - Present, the New Millennium

In 2000, Hong Kong made history when they played China in 2000; this was the first test Hong Kong played against a team from the Chinese mainland since 1949. The game was played in Shanghai to honor the old rugby matches between Hong Kong and Shanghai. China upset Hong Kong 17 to 15 that day.

Hong Kong struggled somewhat during the early 2000s; In 2001, Hong Kong were once again surprised by China, drawing at 25 points each in Guangzhou. Hong Kong were once again upset by the Chinese Taipei in the 2003 Rugby World Cup qualifiers, losing 20 to 15, although Hong Kong beat China for the first time in that same qualification. Hong Kong lost all its fixtures in the final round of the 2007 Rugby World Cup qualifying campaign, missing out again on repechage or qualification.

The 2011 qualifying campaign was similar; Hong Kong beat both South Korea as well as newcomers Kazakhstan, but lost a crucial fixture to the Arabian Gulf; due to bonus points, Kazakhstan advanced instead of Hong Kong to the repechage.

For the 2015 qualifiers, Hong Kong finally broke through. Hong Kong were drawn into a group including its traditional East Asian rivals Japan and South Korea as well as Sri Lanka and newcomers the Philippines. Hong Kong thrashed South Korea 39 to 6 in Hong Kong, as well as recording a resounding 108 to 0 victory over the Philippines. Hong Kong finished second, and qualified for the repechage as a result. In the repechage versus Uruguay, in Montevideo, Hong Kong held firm for the first half, only trailing 6 to 3; however, Hong Kong indiscipline, coupled with key players not being available meant that Hong Kong collapsed, losing 28 to 3, and bowing out of the qualifiers.

At the end of 2015, Hong Kong hosted the 2015 Cup of Nations, which included 3 other emerging nations: Portugal, Russia, and Zimbabwe. Hong Kong finished second, beating Portugal and Zimbabwe but losing to Russia. In 2016, Hong Kong hired Leigh Jones, Japan's defense coach who played a key role in Japan's epic upset of South Africa in the 2015 Rugby World Cup, to take the role of head coach and high performance in Hong Kong.[5] In order to further build for future success, the HKRU, under the vision of Leigh Jones, launched its first fully professional 15s programme; the goal of the programme is to encourage domestic players to pursue rugby as a profession in Hong Kong, and long-term, create a professional competition akin to Japan's Top League.[6]

Overall

Top 30 rankings as of 1 May 2016[7]
RankChange*TeamPoints
1 Steady New Zealand 96.10
2 Steady Australia89.33
3 Steady South Africa 87.66
4 Steady England 83.98
5 Steady Wales 83.10
6 Steady Argentina 82.59
7 Steady Ireland 80.33
8 Steady France 78.36
9 Steady Scotland 78.32
10 Steady Japan 77.05
11 Steady Fiji 76.96
12 Steady Georgia 72.62
13 Steady Tonga 71.60
14 Steady Italy 70.78
15 Steady Samoa 70.36
16 Steady Romania 67.52
17 Steady United States 65.68
18 Steady Canada 64.27
19 Steady Russia 63.56
20 Steady Uruguay 63.23
21 Steady Namibia 61.75
22 Steady Spain 60.87
23 Steady Belgium 57.94
24 Steady Germany 57.71
25 Steady Hong Kong 57.17
26 Steady South Korea 56.70
27 Increase 1 Kenya 55.89
28 Decrease 1 Chile 55.73
29 Steady Ukraine 55.51
30 Steady Portugal 54.29
*Change from the previous week

Below is table of the representative rugby matches played by a Hong Kong national XV to 1 May 2016.[8][9][10]

Opponent Played Won Lost Drawn Win % For Aga Diff
Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf Arabian Gulf 6 4 2 0 66.66% 101 115 −14
Australia Australian Universities 2 1 0 1 75.00% 14 8 +6
 Belgium 3 2 1 0 66.66% 58 56 +2
 Brazil 1 1 0 0 100.00% 37 3 +34
 Canada 6 1 5 0 16.66% 99 182 −83
 China 5 3 1 1 60.00% 615 65 +59
 Chinese Taipei 18 12 5 1 66.66% 638 278 +360
 Czech Republic 1 0 1 0 0.00% 5 17 −12
 England XV 1 0 1 0 0.00% 0 26 −26
 Fiji 3 0 3 0 0.00% 33 155 −122
 France XV 1 0 1 0 0.00% 6 26 −20
 Germany 2 0 2 0 0.00% 27 58 −41
 Japan 26 5 20 1 23.80% 335 1106 −771
 Japan XV 7 1 6 0 16.66% 74 244 −170
Japan Junior Japan 1 0 1 0 0.00% 5 90 −85
 Kazakhstan 5 4 1 0 80.00% 126 67 +59
 Kenya 1 1 0 0 100.00% 44 17 +27
 South Korea 26 10 16 0 38.46% 546 659 -113
 Malaysia 8 7 0 1 87.50% 329 41 +288
 Netherlands 2 0 1 1 0.00% 10 25 -15
New Zealand New Zealand U–23 1 0 1 0 0.00% 0 47 -47
New Zealand New Zealand Universities 4 0 4 0 0.00% 17 113 -96
 Norway 1 1 0 0 100.00% 59 17 +42
 Papua New Guinea 2 2 0 0 100.00% 28 21 +7
 Portugal 1 1 0 0 100.00% 13 6 +6
 Russia 3 0 3 0 0.00% 51 99 -48
 Scotland XV 1 0 1 0 0.00% 6 42 -36
 Singapore 11 9 2 0 81.81% 506 97 +409
 Sri Lanka 8 8 0 0 100.00% 349 78 +271
 Thailand 8 6 2 0 75.00% 283 87 +196
 Tunisia 2 1 1 0 50.00% 34 41 -7
 United Arab Emirates 5 5 0 0 100.00% 325 65 +285
 Uruguay 1 0 1 0 0.00% 3 28 -25
 United States 7 4 3 0 57.14% 191 152 +39
 Wales XV 1 1 0 0 0.00% 3 57 -54
 Zimbabwe 2 2 0 0 100.00% 52 18 +34
Total 183 92 85 6 50.27% 5022 4206 +916

Tournament history

Rugby World Cup

World Cup record World Cup Qualification record
Year Round P W D L F A P W D L F A
AustraliaNew Zealand 1987Not invited-
United KingdomRepublic of IrelandFrance 1991Did not enterDid not enter
South Africa 1995Did not qualify330135467
Wales 1999Did not qualify31023988
Australia 2003Did not qualify43018142
France 2007Did not qualify420279243
New Zealand 2011Did not qualify420265133
England 2015Did not qualify9504333201
Japan 2019To be determinedTo be determined
Total 0/8 0 0 0 0 0 0 27 16 0 11 951 774

Asian Rugby Championship

Asian Rugby Championship record
Year Round P W D L F A
Hong Kong 1972Runner-up32013522
Sri Lanka 1974Fifth place31024361
Malaysia 1978Fifth place3012926
Taiwan 1980Third place430123151
Singapore 1982Third place43017641
Japan 1984Fifth place31026770
Hong Kong 1988Third place43016176
Sri Lanka 1990Third place42029356
Hong Kong 1992Runners up430115666
Malaysia 1994Third place430135467
Taiwan 1996Third place430129849
Singapore 1998Third place31023988
Japan 2000Forth place300347136
Thailand 2002Third place31025085
Hong Kong 2004Third place21017547
Hong Kong 2006–07Third place2002875
Hong KongJapanKazakhstanQatarSouth KoreaUnited Arab Emirates 2008Third place420296154
Hong KongJapanKazakhstanSingaporeSouth Korea 2009Fourth place4103110126
BahrainHong KongJapanKazakhstanSouth KoreaUnited Arab Emirates 2010Third place420265133
Hong KongJapanKazakhstanSri LankaUnited Arab Emirates 2011Runners-up430115561
Hong KongJapanKazakhstanSouth KoreaUnited Arab Emirates 2012Third place220215998
Hong KongJapanPhilippinesSouth KoreaUnited Arab Emirates 2013Third place4202134108
Hong KongJapanPhilippinesSouth KoreaSri Lanka 2014Runners-up430119665
Hong KongJapanSouth Korea 2015Runners-up411264111
Total 0 titles 83 43 2 38 2618 1872

Players

Current squad

Hong Kong's squad for the 2016 Asian Rugby Championship.[11]

Head Coach: Wales Leigh Jones

Forwards
Player Position Club
Lachlan Chubb Hooker Hong Kong Hong Kong Scottish
Tony Wong Ho-yeung Hooker Hong Kong Valley RFC
Rohan Cook Prop Hong Kong Hong Kong Cricket Club
Jack Parfitt Prop Hong Kong Hong Kong Scottish
Jamie Tsang Prop England University of Worcester
Alex Ng Wai Shing Prop Hong Kong Valley RFC
Leon Wei Hon Sum Prop Hong Kong Valley RFC
Adrian Griffiths Lock Unassinged
Ben Higgins Lock Hong Kong Valley RFC
Jack Delaforce Lock Hong Kong Hong Kong Cricket Club
Paul Dwyer Lock Hong Kong Hong Kong Cricket Club
Henjo van Niekerk Lock Hong Kong USRC Tigers RFC
James Cunningham Flanker Hong Kong Kowloon RFC
Toby Fenn Flanker Hong Kong Valley RFC
Matt Lamming Flanker Hong Kong Hong Kong Cricket Club
Dan Falvey Number eight Hong Kong Hong Kong Football Club
Nick Hewson (c) Number eight Hong Kong Valley RFC

Backs
Player Position Club
Jaime Hood Scrum-half Hong Kong Hong Kong Football Club
Cado Lee Ka-to Scrum-half Hong Kong USRC Tigers RFC
Adam Rolston Scrum-half Hong Kong Valley RFC
Ben Rimene Fly-half Hong Kong Valley RFC
Niall Rowark Fly-half Hong Kong Hong Kong Football Club
Jamie Robinson Centre Hong Kong Hong Kong Cricket Club
Ryan Meachem Centre Hong Kong Hong Kong Cricket Club
Tyler Spitz Centre Hong Kong USRC Tigers RFC
Lex Kaleca Centre Hong Kong USRC Tigers RFC
Lee Jones Wing Hong Kong Valley RFC
Tom McQueen Wing Hong Kong Hong Kong Cricket Club
Salom Yiu Kam Shing Wing Hong Kong Valley RFC
Tom McColl Wing Hong Kong Hong Kong Football Club
Rowan Varty Fullback Hong Kong USRC Tigers RFC
Alex McQueen Fullback Hong Kong Hong Kong Cricket Club

Notable former players

The Hong Kong Rugby Union has inducted 16 players into its Hall of Fame as part of its Roll of Honour. Some of these players include;

See also

References

  1. "Hong Kong Rugby Union". Asia Rugby. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  2. "The History of Sport Played in China's Treaty Ports". http://www.treatyportsport.com. Retrieved 2 May 2016. External link in |website= (help)
  3. "Hong Kong Rugby Roll of Honour". Hong Kong Rugby Union. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  4. Signes, Emil. "History of the Hong Kong Sevens". Rugby7.com. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  5. Porteous, James (18 January 2016). "Leigh Jones helped mastermind Japan’s stunning Rugby World Cup campaign – now he aims to do the same for Hong Kong". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  6. "Hong Kong Rugby Union launches first fully professional 15s programme". hongkong.coconuts.co. Hong Kong cocounuts.co. 24 March 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  7. "World Rankings". World Rugby. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
  8. Hong Kong rugby stats
  9. "Hong Kong International Rugby Results". www.rugbyinternational.net. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
  10. "Hong Kong Results". RugbyData. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
  11. "Three new faces in squad to face Chiefs as Hong Kong prepare for Asian championship". South China Morning Post. 23 April 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.

External links

Awards
Preceded by
Hong Kong national women's table tennis team
Hong Kong Sports Stars Award
Team Only Sport

2004
Succeeded by
Sun Hei
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