Hong Kong women’s coach Jo Hull picks experienced squad for shortened Asian campaign

Hong Kong head coach Jo Hull on Wednesday named a 28-member squad loaded with players from the HKRU Premiership’s top two clubs as preparations heat up for the truncated 2016 Women’s Asia Rugby Championship (WARC) which kicks off this weekend.

This year’s regional Top Three competition will involve only Hong Kong and Japan – playing a home-and-away series – after perennial contenders Kazakhstan withdrew from the competition for reasons which are still unclear.

The Hong Kong women kick-off their campaign against Japan as the hosts at Hong Kong Football Club on Saturday (13:30), the same venue and day as the men’s ARC test match (16:30) also involving Hong Kong and Japan.

Hull has placed a premium on experience – 18 of the 28 players were in the Hong Kong side which toured Spain last December, six come from league and play-off champions Societe Generale Valley Black Ladies, and 12 play for Grand Championship runners-up CPM Gai Wu Falcons.

Kazakhstan’s WARC withdrawal has made the experience gained from Hong Kong’s two-test tour to Spain even more valuable, according to Hull.

“I think now is when we’re going to see the pay-off from the Spain tour. We have pretty much been working non-stop since we came back with the group and the players have had time to reflect on the tour and the physicality and skill level required in the elite women’s game,” she said.

Five of the 10 players who were not in Spain come from the national sevens set-up with rising stars Nam Ka-man and Lee Tsz-ting joining experienced campaigners Christine Gordon, Lai Pou-fan and Lindsay Varty.

Also among the 13 regular national sevens players in the squad are captain Natasha Olson-Thorne and the influential Rose Fong Siu-lan, who is returning from a lengthy injury absence and could be a massive addition to the side.