HKRU Women’s Premiership 2021-22 season preview: coaches and captains hungry to return to normality

With fresh faces and early preseasons, all six teams are lining up for the league’s most competitive campaign yet

Players highlight added motivation from new promotion-relegation rules and inaugural Premiership Stadium Series

Reading Time:5 minutes

Team captains and representatives at the HKRU Dettol Women's Premiership 2021-2022 season launch at Hong Kong Football Club in Causeway Bay in September. Photo: Ike Images

Published: 5:17pm, 17 Sep 2021Updated: 5:17pm, 17 Sep 2021

The Dettol Hong Kong Women’s Premiership 2021-22 season kicks off on September 18 after another stop-start campaign last season. Players and coaches are naturally raring to go as organisers and fans hope for a smooth transition as the city works its way to normality.

In what was their first non-intra-club games for many months, the teams shook off some rust at the Valley’s Fast, Femme and Furious preseason event last month – enhanced hygiene protocols and all. Those who tuned into the Hong Kong Rugby Union’s (HKRU) women and girl rugby conference talks with pros will likewise be re-inspired.

All six teams will be returning with new faces to bolster existing squads ahead of a bumper season. For the first time in local women’s rugby, there will be a total of four leagues, the newest addition being the Championship.

New rules will pit the winner of the Championship against the bottom-placed Premiership side in a one-off promotion-relegation match at the end of the season.

In another exciting twist, the inaugural Premiership Stadium Series to be held at the Hong Kong Stadium from October to November, will double up as an operational trial for the returning Hong Kong Sevens next year.

With the Asia Rugby Women’s Sevens Series in Dubai in November, and the postponed 2021 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand and the Asia Rugby Championship next year, Hong Kong-eligible players will be looking to impress for a national team place.

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