Taiwan will field a team in next season's regional club championship which organisers hope will one day also include sides from Asian superpowers Japan and South Korea.
The Taipei Old Boys Rugby Club will join clubs from Hong Kong and China in next year's series. Their entry has come at a cost - politically-correct organisers have changed the name of the tournament from the All-China Inter-city Series to the Asian Dragons Inter-city Series.
'There will be six teams in the competition which is scheduled to be played during October and November. The new club from Taiwan will join three teams from China and two from Hong Kong,' said Allan Payne, Hong Kong Rugby Football Union executive director.
Hong Kong Football Club won the inaugural title last season. The other team from the SAR was Valley. China were represented by PLA Sports Institute, Beijing Agricultural University and the Shanghai Sports Institute.
'There is likely to be a playoff amongst the local clubs at the start of the 2001-02 season to decide which two Hong Kong clubs will play in the competition. The inclusion of the Taiwan club will also mean that this time there will be no byes every weekend,' said Payne.
The long term goal of organisers - the HKRFU and their Chinese counterparts - is to turn the tournament into a genuine club championship in Asia.