How women are leading a rugby renaissance in Laos, with the help of Hong Kong

There are 40,000 stories being told in Hong Kong Stadium this weekend and not all are soaked in booze. They just don’t make for quite a compelling photo op and it’s only natural to gravitate towards the pageantry and revelry if you come from a country where rugby is alien.

One of those countries would most certainly be Laos. However, if you want to find the true soul of this game then look no further than this landlocked country in the middle of the Indochinese peninsula.

Roughly the same size as the state of Oregon, it’s population is less than Hong Kong at a shade under seven million people. The remote and mountainous northern province of Xiangkhouang is the most rural of rural regions and of the 270 million bombs that were dropped on Laos during the Vietnam war, the majority were in this province.

The remnants of many are still live and lingering and while they may not have electricity and proper health services in many areas, thanks to determined work by a few young women they do have rugby.

American Megan Knight is a rugby player who has been in the country for eight years and is an adviser with the Lao Rugby Federation Partnerships and Development. Not only is she quick on the pitch, she is also quick to give credit for the growth of rugby in the country to the locals. People like the diminutive Lao Khang, who hails from Xiangkhouang. “She’s an absolute inspiration to all the women in her village,” Knight said.