Asia Rugby Championship: Hong Kong begin title defence with new captain and some Sevens stars for Malaysia clash
- Tom Hill will lead the side on Saturday at Hong Kong Football Club with Patrick Jenkinson named vice-captain
- Sevens stars Seb Brien and Callum McCullough named in starting 15, with Harry Sayers and Pierce MacKinlay-West among the replacements
Hong Kong will begin the defence of their Asia Rugby Championship title against Malaysia on Saturday with a new captain, but without a host of players who took part in the team’s World Cup campaign last year.
Gone through injury, retirement or in the case of others such as Bedford wing Matt Worley an inability to make the trip, head coach Lewis Evans is missing some 15 players with international experience, including the likes of influential forwards Josh Hrstich, James Cunningham and Mark Prior, and backs Jack Neville and Jack Combes.
In their absence, however, the Welshman has been able to call on the services of some of the city’s Sevens stars, with Sebastian Brien taking Worley’s place on the wing, and forward Callum McCullough coming into the second row.
With skipper Hrstich out injured, and little indication of how long he maybe missing for, Tom Hill has been given the task of leading the team at Hong Kong Football Club, with Patrick Jenkinson his vice-captain.
“Tom has been massive in every game he’s played for Hong Kong,” Evans said. “He was inspirational in the [World Cup] repechage [in Dubai] and always leads from the front. He is a phenomenal professional and a phenomenal person; we know he will do everything he can to ensure we are in a good place for a repechage in 2027.”
Still, 14 members of the squad that won the ARC last year and featured against the likes of the USA, Portugal and Kenya in Dubai in November are in the 23-man match-day squad, and front row David Tang Man-chung is the only debutant.
“We have been working together now for eight to 10 weeks,” Evans said. “People have been coming in and out but we are pretty settled. We have a plan that we believe will counter what Malaysia and South Korea are putting across.”
Gregor McNeish, Alex Post, Paul Altier, and Ben Higgins have all returned from overseas, as has Nathan De Thierry, who comes in at outside centre, with Altier starting at full-back.
Aside from Brien and McCullough there is a strong Sevens influence on the bench, with Harry Sayers and Pierce MacKinlay-West among the replacements.
The starting pack is largely Hong Kong-based, aside from Post who plays his club rugby for Richmond in the UK, and he will anchor a front row between Sandy Bay’s Ashton Hyde and Valley’s Faizal Solomona.
Kowloon’s Sam Tsoi Kin-san gets his first start at flanker alongside James Sawyer with Valley’s Luke van der Smit at No 8.
Assistant coach Joe Barker acknowledged that while Hong Kong would be expected to win their opening game, Malaysia should not be underestimated, despite their 27-3 defeat at the hands of South Korea last weekend.
“There was an awful lot of stop, start in that game but Malaysia put in a good performance physically,” Barker said. “They have good experience in the forwards, and a big back row.
“They were strong in the defensive breakdown and had quite a lot of possession because of that, so we must be ready for that individual physicality and for them threatening at the breakdown.
“Malaysia can rattle you, they rattled South Korea in the first half. We need to be aware of that and defensively to be aggressive and to keep hold of the ball in attack. It’s international rugby and decision making under pressure is the key.”
Hong Kong squad: 15-Paul Altier, 14-Charles Higson-Smith, 13-Nathan De Thierry, 12 Tom Hill (capt), 11-Seb Brien, 10-Gregor McNeish, 9-Jamie Lauder. 1-Ashton Hyde, 2-Alex Post, 3-Faizal Solomona Penesa, 4-Callum McCullough, 5-Patrick Jenkinson, 6-Sam Tsoi Kin-san, 7-James Sawyer, 8-Luke van der Smit. Replacements: 16-David Tang Man-chung, 17-Ben Higgins, 18-Keelan Chapman, 19-Jamie Pincott, 20-Pierce MacKinlay-West, 21-Bryn Phillips, 22-Harry Sayers, 23-Will Panday.
