Women’s Rugby World Cup place justifies gutting sevens squad, Hong Kong chief says ahead of ARC clash with Japan
- Hong Kong women begin their Asia Rugby Championship campaign against Japan at King’s Park on Wednesday
- Kazakhstan also feature in competition, with winners qualifying for Rugby World Cup, and runners-up remaining in contention
Hong Kong had to throw all their major talent at the Asia Rugby Championship (ARC) or risk losing relevance on the international stage, officials said ahead of the women’s tournament starting on Wednesday.
With the sevens team also on duty, bosses opted to gut that squad of the likes of skipper Natash Olson-Thorne and try-scoring machine Chong Ka-yan, in favour of the 15s side’s opening encounter with Japan at King’s Park.
But Jo Hull, the local governing body’s general manager of rugby performance, said the “huge implications” of the Asian competition justified the move.
A diminished sevens team, which was already out of the running for a spot at the qualifying tournament for the World Series, finished 11th in the closing Challenger Series leg in Poland last weekend.
In contrast, the winners of the ARC, which also features Kazakhstan, qualify directly for next year’s Rugby World Cup, as well as this year’s WXV2, the second-tier of the new annual competition for the world’s 18 leading teams. The ARC runners-up qualify for WXV3, where World Cup qualification is up for grabs.
“The rate at which the women’s game is accelerating, we have a small window of opportunity to keep up, and it is now,” Hull said.
