bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Patrick Blennerhassett

Elizabeth Musgrove cooked up the perfect training regime for her eventual rugby career.
The 22-year-old Hong Kong Football Club Ice star, who hails from just outside Edinburgh in Scotland, first got into judo when she was six years old. Musgrove said she fell in love with the physicality instantaneously.
“They had a demonstration at school and I took the leaflet home and said, ‘Mom, I want to do this.’ And it was perfect because it was both physical and mental.”
Musgrove loved judo so much she competed until she was 17 all over the UK.
In 2013, she sustained a wrist injury and kept competing but found the pain too much.
“It’s not much fun when you’re sore all the time, so I started doing athletics on the side to kind of take the pressure off of judo.
“And then I quickly realised that I really enjoyed sprinting. Within a year I had transitioned out of judo and was just sprinting.”

Hong Kong Rugby Union: Fin Field and the national team’s youth movement
Musgrove represented Scotland as part of the U18 athletics team in the 400 metres, and then headed off to Edinburgh University to complete a degree in Applied Sport Science.
It was here she found another love – rugby. In her third year of university in September of 2016, Musgrove sustained a hamstring injury and approached the women’s rugby coach, who was also one of her university professors.
“A week after I started I was playing in a varsity match at BT Murrayfield Stadium (in Edinburgh), so within seven days I was kind of playing my first match. So thrown into the deep end a bit.”
Hong Kong rugby writer Lindsay Varty plays with words while also playing rough
By the summer of 2017, Musgrove had already earned her first sevens cap for Scotland in the Rugby Europe Sevens Trophy in Ostrava, Czech Republic. To cap that off, she scored a try in her first game. Then in the winter of 2017, she got her first cap for the 15-aside in the Six Nations Championship, held all over the UK.
Musgrove said at times it was a bit overwhelming.
“There were a few moments where I was like, ‘This has all got really serious, really quickly.’ Which is what I did not want to happen, because athletics was supposed to be something fun for judo and then that got really serious really quickly.
“And rugby was meant to be something fun for athletics and that got serious really quickly. But it is a really good sport to be in.”
Rugby player gets support on and off the field from teammates during mother’s cancer battle

Former windsurfer runs like the wind for Hong Kong rugby
Having graduated from university last year, Musgrove said she was looking for a different opportunity and settled on Hong Kong after being noticed by the Hong Kong Rugby Union brass while competing for Scotland. She works for Little Legends Sports and coaches the U19 girls’ team at HKFC.
Musgrove will possibly don a Scotland jersey in Hong Kong during the sevens in April, which she said might be a bit strange. Regardless, she said she had fallen in love with rugby and did not anticipate switching to another sport any time soon.

Teammate Royce Chan Leong-sze said Musgrove brought an “X factor” to the team in the women’s premiership given her ability to make technically sound yet punishing tackles as well as pace with the ball.
“She just has that enthusiasm, both on and off the field,” Chan said.
Musgrove noted her background in sports seems to have come full circle, given her speed from athletics and the technique of her first love.
“If you run at someone and judo throw them, it’s pretty much rugby.”


Rugby World Cup 2027: can Hong Kong close gap before facing Wallabies, All Blacks?

2027 Rugby World Cup draw: Hong Kong welcome clashes with Australia, New Zealand

2027 Rugby World Cup draw: when is it, how do I watch, who could Hong Kong play?

Hong Kong rugby players eye differing World Cup road maps as club season resumes

Hong Kong China Rugby

From judo to athletics to rugby: how a Scot found her way to Hong Kong Football Club

Elizabeth Musgrove brings both a judo and track and field background to her rugby game. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Elizabeth Musgrove (right), of Hong Kong Football Club (#13 in pink and blue) at a match against Plastic Free Seas City Sparkle in Happy Valley. 12JAN19 SCMP / Xiaomei Chen

Elizabeth Musgrove.

Sport

Rugby


Scot Elizabeth Musgrove brings physicality to the Hong Kong Football Club Ice team
It is only natural given she competed in judo for 11 years



Scot Elizabeth Musgrove brings physicality to the Hong Kong Football Club Ice team


From judo to athletics to rugby: how a Scot found her way to Hong Kong Football Club

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Scot Elizabeth Musgrove brings physicality to the Hong Kong Football Club Ice team It is only natural given she competed in judo for 11 years

Scot Elizabeth Musgrove brings physicality to the Hong Kong Football Club Ice team

It is only natural given she competed in judo for 11 years