Hong Kong’s World Cup prep steps up

The tour comes 18 months after Hong Kong’s first visit to the country, which at the time was the national team’s first tour outside of Asia. The squad includes 14 returning members from that tour.  On that occasion, Hong Kong lost both matches, giving coach Jo Hull an important benchmark against which to gauge her side’s development ahead of the Women’s Rugby World Cup in July.

“Our first tour to Spain was a real eye-opener for the team to play at that level against a World Cup calibre team.

“We chose Spain for that reason. They’re a mid-tier World Cup team, they aren’t in our pool and they will definitely give us a good match. They play a sevens-style game but also are strong in contact and in the offload. They’re very similar to what we can expect from the teams in our pool at the World Cup,” said Hull.

The squad on the trip includes 14 forwards, eight of whom are returning to Spain and 12 backs, six of whom were included in the 2015 tour.

Five of the squad are in line to mark their Hong Kong senior debuts, including four forwards: flanker Agnes Chan Tsz-ching, locks Eunice Lai Ming-yan and Tsang Sin-yan and prop Pun Wai-yan, with wing/centre Laurel Chor Lik-fung the only debutant in the back line.

The backs feature several of the Hong Kong Women’s Sevens squad including Poon Pak-yan, Natasha Olson-Thorne, Colleen Tjosvold, Kwong Sau-yan, Lee Tsz-ting and Lindsay Varty.

Also included is Rebecca Thompson who has come through the HKRU’s National Age Grade structure and made her senior squad debut on the 2015 tour to Spain.

Hull can also count on experienced fly half Rose Hopewell-Fong, a former England Academy representative with 11 Hong Kong caps, who was unavailable for the 2015 tour.

Among the players making their first trip outside of Asia with the side are former Hong Kong U18s captain and scrumhalf, Jessica Ho, Chor, inside centre Ho Hoi-lam and sevens squad member and fly-half Lee Tsz-ting.

The forwards’ feature some highly experienced players including No.8 Amelie Seure, with 25 senior fifteens caps to her credit - the most in the squad, and a seasoned front row trio of hooker Royce Chan (22 caps), and props Lee Ka-shun (16 caps) and Lau Nga-wun (13 caps).

First time tourists to Spain include prop Cheung Shuk-han, Eunice Lai Ming-yan, Pun Wai-yan, Tsang Sin-yan and Chan Tsz-ching.  Second row forward Chow Mei-nam will captain the side on Tour.

Spain are a very experienced side, regularly competing in European competition and frequently playing teams from the Women’s Six Nations competition.  They edged Scotland to qualify for the Women’s Rugby World Cup.

“We are under no illusions ahead of this tour,” said Hull, “Spain have a mature programme that has been running for a long time now and is clearly successful in both sevens and fifteens. We know that they will come at us hard, which is absolutely what we want out of this tour.”

The coaching team have some clear objectives for the Tour: “The biggest thing is to continue to implement what we have been working on in training, especially our efforts to play a higher-tempo game. We managed that a bit against Fiji and Japan in the World Cup qualifiers last December and are looking for the team to make strides in this area in Spain.

“We’ve been working hard on our fitness and our efficiency at the set piece and that is what we will be putting to the test in Spain.”

With some key cogs left out of the Tour, including sevens captain Christy Cheng Ka-chi and hard-tackling centre Adrienne Garvey, Hull noted that the selection for Spain is another important opportunity to look at the players in the wider training squad.

“The door isn’t closed for the World Cup from this selection. We’re using Spain as another opportunity to look at several players to see what they can offer. Across the squad, we’re looking for those multi-functional players who are able to play more than one position to get the best players on the pitch at the same time.

For Hull, the tour provides an excellent opportunity to prepare for the even bigger challenges that await at the 12-team World Cup where Hong Kong is pooled with Canada, New Zealand and Wales.

“The biggest thing for us is to get to the World Cup having been able to say that we’ve done everything we could in terms of our build-up, both in games and training, with a focus on quality and not just quantity.

“We’ll continue to assess as we go, with an aim of trying to stretch our players as much as we can. We aren’t expecting or demanding a complete performance by any means. Spain is another step on our journey to the World Cup,” added Hull.

Hong Kong squad for Spain

Forwards: CHOW Mei-nam (Captain), Royce CHAN Leong-sze, CHAN Tsz-ching*, CHENG Ching-to, CHEUNG Shuk-han, HO Hoi-lam, Lai Ming-yan*, LAU Nga-wun, LEE Ka-shun, PUN Wai-yan*, Amelie SEURE, Winnie SIU Wing-ni, Karen SO Hoi-ting, TSANG Sin-yan*. Backs: CHONG Ka-yan, Laurel CHOR Lik-fung*, Jessica HO Wai-on, Rose HOPEWELL-FONG Siu-lan, KWONG Sau-yan, LEE Tsz-ting, MAK Ho-yee, Natasha OLSON-THORNE, POON Pak-yan, Rebecca THOMPSON, Colleen TJOSVOLD, Lindsay Varty.

* Potential first caps