‘Heavyweight’ test awaits Hong Kong in Cup of Nations opener against Zimbabwe

Hong Kong head coach Andy Hall has cast his net far and wide to assemble his strongest possible squad for the week-long Hong Kong Cup of Nations tournament which begins Friday with a “heavyweight” clash for the hosts.

Five players in the starting line-up will be making their test debut when Hong Kong take on Zimbabwe (19:00 at HKFC), with three more newbies on the bench. One of those players has travelled to Hong Kong from his base in Germany.

And although the squad got together for their first full training session only this week, skipper Nick Hewson said the new players bring plenty of experience and skill to the party – and all know what’s expected of them against the African visitors.

“Zimbabwe have a very heavy forward pack and our first order of business is to combat that,” he said. “ We needed to exert a lot of effort to stop the momentum of their heavy ball-carrying forwards.”

Hong Kong, currently ranked 24th in the world, won 22-7 in their only previous meeting with Zimbabwe (world number 26) in Dubai three years ago but Hewson, a veteran of that 2012 encounter, played down any lingering psychological advantage the host team might have.

“That result was a long while ago, so we aren’t looking too much at that game,” he said. “They won the African Cup in 2014 and played Russia in the Rugby World Cup repêchage and competed well, so we are under no illusions about their quality. They will be a tough test.

“Our big focus is on making sure we have our own processes right and denying them the opportunities to bring their strengths into the game,” said Hewson, who has been encouraged by the new players joining the squad.

“Some of the form players from the [Hong Kong] Premiership have come into the squad and they have definitely brought some new energy into the training environment,” he said.

“There is some nice talent coming through and they now have an opportunity to stake their claim and establish themselves in the team, which enhances the competitiveness of the squad as a whole.”

Hewson will captain the team from number eight with Alex Harris at hooker, prop Jack Parfitt, locks Jack Delaforce and Adrian Griffiths, and Matt Lamming rounding out the pack alongside Cook and Cunningham.

Marshall and fly-half Ben Rimene will anchor the midfield, with Kaleca and Tyler Spitz providing a hard-nosed centre pairing. Ed Rolston gets the start at fullback with Charlie Higson-Smith joining Raper on the wings.

Ahead of the Hong Kong-Zimbabwe match, the Cup of Nations’ top-ranked and bottom-ranked teams – Russia (world number 22) and Portugal (world number 28) – will get tournament proceedings under way at 16:00.

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The European heavyweights are familiar with each other, having played on 17 previous occasions, and Russia have the upper hand with 11 wins to Portugal’s five, plus one draw. Despite the Russian’s favourable record, however, the average margin of victory across all the matches has been just seven points.

Russia swept Hong Kong twice last year and enter the Cup of Nations as the team to beat, but their opponents could have a window of opportunity with a number of the team’s first-choice players on European Rugby Challenge Cup duties with Siberian club Enisei-STM.

The Hong Kong Cup of Nations will be played as a full round-robin competition across three match days, 13, 17 and 21 November at HKFC. Admission is free.

Hong Kong squad v Zimbabwe

1. Rohan Cook*, 2. Alex Harris, 3. Jack Parfitt, 4. Jack Delaforce, 5. Adrian Griffiths, 6. James Cunningham*, 7. Matt Lamming, 8. Nick Hewson (c), 9. Tom Marshall, 10. Ben Rimene, 11. Brad Raper*, 12. Lex Kaleca*, 13. Tyler Spitz, 14. Charles Higson-Smith, 15. Edmund Rolston

Replacements: 16. Alex Ng Wai-shing, 17. Jamie Tsang*, 18. Jamie Pincott*, 19. Paul Dwyer, 20. Toby Fenn, 21. Charles Cheung Ho-ning, 22. Niall Rowark, 23. Jamie Robinson*

* New Hong Kong cap.