Hong Kong Football Club have named New Zealander Logan Asplin as their new rugby head coach. The defending Dettol Men’s Premiership champions had been seeking a replacement for Jack Wiggins, who left the club in January to join MLR side San Diego Legion as an assistant coach. Asplin, who has 10 years of elite coaching experience under his belt having worked with the likes of Waikato Rugby Union and Kubota Spears in Japan, takes over with immediate effect and has some big shoes to fill. Under Wiggins, HKFC won a hat-trick of league titles and also completed the domestic treble in the 2019-20 season. But the 34-year-old Kiwi is ready for the “exciting opportunity” that lies ahead. “When looking into this role I often heard about what a privilege it is to be associated with the Hong Kong Football Club, and although I am a Kiwi from the other side of the globe, the club is prestigious, highly respected and well documented in local rugby circles,” he said. “We are extremely excited and honoured to have Logan and his family joining us at HKFC,” Cameron McIntosh, the club’s director of rugby, said. “His knowledge, dedication and drive as a coach are clear, but most importantly to us he is a fantastic human being that we look forward to leading the section to new heights in the years to come.” In a statement, the club said Asplin’s previous experience made him “uniquely suited” to overseeing all of its rugby teams, from youth through to the men’s and women’s Premiership sides. “I have spent 10 years coaching rugby in the secondary school premier 1st XV level of New Zealand rugby, along with multiple age-grade representative teams,” Asplin said. “As an educator, I have worked in developing coaches and pathways for progressing young athletes through to transition to the professional game. “I pride myself in developing an inclusive culture within team environments to help young players uncover their identities as a team and individuals to forge together to succeed on and off the field.”
