City must invest more for women’s rugby to improve, says HKFC Natixis Ice’s Roshini Turner ahead of Tradition Hong Kong 10s
- The 10-a-side curtain raiser to the Hong Kong Sevens returns with five new teams in the 12-strong men’s tournament
- In the eight-team women’s competition, three new sides join holders RKS Legal Samurai and four other returning outfits
Hong Kong rugby teams need to keep investing in the women’s side of the game or risk getting left behind as the sport continues to progress by leaps and bounds, one of the city’s stars has warned.
“A lot of clubs started investing in their women’s programme last season; clubs are recognising that there’s a lot of sponsorship available within the women’s sport,” HKFC Natixis Ice lock Roshini Turner said.
“Rugby is growing. If you don’t invest, you’re going to fall behind.”
Turner made the comments on the eve of the Tradition Hong Kong 10s, the curtain raiser to Hong Kong Sevens 2024, which starts on Friday.
This year, the 10-a-side rugby tournament will feature five new teams in the men’s competition (taking the total to 12), while the women’s tournament has grown from five in its debut year in 2023 to eight this time around.
Turner highlighted how Hong Kong Football Club – with whom she is also employed as a commercial liaison manager – has increased their women’s rugby budget annually for the past three years.
“It’s allowed us to remain competitive – we play in a league with six teams and five of those could beat anyone on their day.”
Last season, HKFC won the league when they finished above rivals Societe Generale Valley RFC by two points.
HKFC Natixis Ice is the club’s women’s team, and returning with them to the Hong Kong 10s are defending champions RKS Legal Samurai, Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix, Find Rugby Now and Haywards Tropics.
The new additions this year are China Five Stars Women, Papua New Guinea Women and Shandong Rugby Club.
Tokyo Sankyu Phoenix boasts several players who represented Japan at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2021 Rugby World Cup.
Turner added that exposing Hong Kong’s female rugby athletes to a high calibre of competition – whether it is domestically or internationally – has also been a driving force behind the progression of women’s rugby in recent years.
“We move the ball way better now.
“We know that there a lot of teams that are physically bigger than us, so if we’re always absorbing tackles as a defensive team, we’re just going to get really tired,” she added.
“But if we can basically get at their ankles, get in their face and stop them, then we can force these good teams into poor decisions and we can start moving the ball around.”
Turner added that the recent progress in women’s rugby over the past few years means that Hong Kong should be challenging for a spot at the 2025 World Cup in England.
“There are 16 teams [that can qualify] and our peak global ranking was 15 at one point, so we have got to be in the mix.”
However, when it comes to domestic progression the goal is not as straightforward.
“There’s a need across all the clubs to drive specific sponsors towards it so that you can continue to support athletes in what is a dual career,” Turner said.
“Most people can sustain a full-time job [while playing professional rugby] but for it to keep progressing, we need rugby to be at least a part-time job.”
