WAITING TO POUNCE
Watch out Hong Kong: you may be a major rugby hub of Asia but there is a quiet revolution building elsewhere in the region.
That's the message from Singapore as it prepares for July's World Club Challenge, which it hopes will be a springboard for the growth of the sport in the island nation.
English Premiership clubs Gloucester and Saracens, France's Perpignan and Australian Super 14 franchise Western Force have committed to the tournament, potentially attracting international stars including Matt Giteau, Mike Tindall and Carlos Spencer.
It's a bold concept devised by former England and Lions hooker Phil Greening, who has been based in Singapore for the past three years.
'It's a stepping stone that could one day help Singapore host a major rugby international, just like Hong Kong,' said Greening, referring to last November's showdown between the All Blacks and Australia at Hong Kong Stadium.
'Singapore has many things to offer and is a vibrant market with lots of potential, so why not? It wants to be a centre for all major sports, including rugby.'
The World Club Challenge will stage four matches at Singapore Cricket Club on the Padang, in the heart of the city, in a tournament that will the first of its kind in the sport. The event is planned for at least the next five years and organisers hope to invite the champions of Super 14 and Europe for future editions.
It will bring top-class rugby to Singapore for the first time since 2006 when it lost its leg of the IRB Sevens World Series.
After Hong Kong rugby bosses this month ruled out an Ireland-South Africa international in November because of economic factors, the Singapore matches will take on greater regional importance.
'With the Sevens and the Bledisloe Cup, Hong Kong has been at the forefront of rugby's development in Asia, but Singapore wants to try to get involved as well,' says Greening, who has won the Hong Kong Sevens four times for England - twice as a player and twice as part of the coaching staff. 'If there's a friendly rivalry between us where we push each other no matter what we do, I think that is great.'
But Ian Bremner, chief executive of Singapore Rugby, predicted it would be 'a long time' before Singapore could realistically challenge Hong Kong for the mantle as an Asian capital of the sport.
'Hong Kong has had a pretty good start on us,' he said. 'This isn't the start of any conflict with neighbouring Asian countries over events. We're just looking for niche activity that we can build on.'
Bremner added that Singapore's lack of a large venue to compete with Hong Kong was also holding back its growth. The old Singapore National Stadium is closing down and a new 55,000-capacity arena within the ambitious Singapore Sports Hub isn't expected to be completed for another four years when it hosts the 2013 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.
Temporary grandstands and seating will be constructed at the Singapore Cricket Club for the World Club Challenge, allowing a capacity crowd of less than 7,000.
'On many levels, we're still some years behind Hong Kong,' Bremner said. 'We've looked at what Hong Kong has achieved by hosting internationals with interest and a bit of envy. We've studied the Hong Kong model and what they've done to grow over the past decade. We won't slavishly follow them but have taken the best of it and are having a look at it.'
Singapore's sporting profile has risen in recent months with its inaugural Formula One Grand Prix last September and hosting a stop last month in yachting's Volvo Ocean Race.
Rugby officials are hoping to maximise the impact of the World Club Challenge by staging a series of sporting seminars and related events that local athletes plus members of the public could attend. The visiting teams will be in Singapore for 12 days, playing four games on two different nights.
Youth development is also expected to benefit with plans for an age-group tournament involving regional teams over the same period, creating an unofficial festival of rugby in Singapore.
'It's perfect timing for the northern hemisphere clubs as quality pre-season games are hard to come by,' said former hooker Greening, who won 24 caps for England and finished his career at London Wasps. 'They will have good facilities here and a great experience.'
Greening added he was hopeful Perpignan's injured All Blacks' flyhalf Dan Carter would still make the trip as the tournament's special guest.
'Otherwise all the clubs will be sending full-strength squads and the Lions players for South Africa will be there, although they won't play,' he said. 'This is a landmark event and everyone is very excited about it.'
Other stars expected to take part - international commitments permitting - include Nathan Sharpe, Cameron Shepherd and Drew Mitchell (Australia), Olly Barkley, Iain Balshaw and Andy Hazel (England), dual international Lesley Vainikolo (England and New Zealand) plus Michael Owen and Matthew Watkins (Wales).
'It's all about Asia becoming a rugby continent whether big matches are staged in Hong Kong or Singapore,' Greening said. 'There doesn't have to be one king of the region.'
Singapore also hopes to win back its leg of the IRB Sevens World Series by 2011 with the Australian city of Adelaide elbowing the equatorial city off the calendar three years ago.
But Greening predicted the greatest growth for the sport in Singapore - plus in Hong Kong and across the rest of the region - will happen when an Asian nation like Japan is awarded the right to host the Rugby World Cup.
'Japan was unlucky to miss out last time but the IRB knows what it is doing,' Greening said. 'Once Japan gets the chance to host it could have an effect on rugby similar to the boom we saw in football after the 1994 Fifa World Cup in the United States exposed that sport to different markets.'
Room for growth
Until Singapore's 55,000-seater National Stadium is complete, the crowd at the World Club challenge is limited to: 7,000
Full house
The capacity of Hong Kong Stadium, which is full to the rafters at Sevens weekend and sold out this year in just two hours: 40,000