HK WOMEN FACE THEIR FIRST TESTS IN 3 YEARS

Kazakhstan to take on local side this month with Royce Chan making history as the first Chinese head coach of a city representative 15s squad

Hong Kong women’s team are to play their first international matches since before the pandemic when they face Kazakhstan on consecutive weekends this month – and they will do so with the city’s first Chinese head coach in rugby.

The home matches on December 10 and 17 will be the team’s first outings since a tour of Europe in November 2019.

Their hiatus included having to withdraw from qualifiers for the World Cup tournament, that was held recently in New Zealand, because of travel restrictions, social-distancing rules that hampered preparation and closure of city sports facilities.

Their return to the field will be overseen for the first time by local stalwart Royce Chan Leong-sze, the first Chinese coach to take charge of a Hong Kong representative 15.

Chan, who previously captained the Hong Kong 15-a-side and sevens teams, has been involved in the coaching set-up for the 15s since 2018.

“As a coach I have a mission and a dream that goes past wins and losses,” she said of her rise to the top job. “I want to show as a role model how women can deal with different situations and conditions and positively contribute to how women are perceived in the traditionally male-dominated sports industry.

“My mission is not only for rugby but for women who are trying to achieve as leaders in the sports community and show that we can be confident and speak up for ourselves.

“My ambition is to lead Hong Kong back to a Rugby World Cup. If I could represent Hong Kong as a player at a World Cup and as a coach at a World Cup in the future, that would be incredible.”

Before missing out on this year’s World Cup, the women’s team, including Chan, did play in the 2017 tournament, and remain the only Hong Kong side to have reached a 15s World Cup.

The men’s team last month fell short of qualifying for the tournament in France next year in the final repechage matches for a second edition in a row.

The series with Kazakhstan comes with Hong Kong in a rebuilding phase and will help Chan to gauge their progress.

“For the entire women’s rugby community, this is big,” she said. “Fifteens has been on and off quite a bit in the past few years due to Covid, so to have international matches at home means a lot for the bigger picture.

“This is a new generation of players and I look forward to some new caps and having a really fruitful result. We have lost a few players overseas during Covid, but we sustained a core group and also managed to identify some new players and the clubs have been very helpful in this.”

A number of sevens players are expected to join the camp in the coming days following the Asia Rugby Sevens Series, in which Hong Kong finished fourth overall.

After bringing in more than 40 players for a trial, excluding the sevens players, the group is being whittled down to a final squad for the two matches. The players have trained with the Hong Kong men’s under-19 team, who are preparing for the Asia Rugby Under-19 Championship this month in Malaysia.

A camp this weekend is the final hurdle for players before Chan picks a 30-strong squad for the tests on December 10, at 3pm at Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground, and December 17, at 6.15pm at Hong Kong Football Club.

As a coach I have a mission and a dream that goes past wins and losses

ROYCE CHAN, HK WOMEN’S 15s COACH