Busy 2024 for Hong Kong rugby but World Cup announcement overshadows on-field news
Hong Kong women 2025 World Cup bid fell short, while in sevens both city teams could not replicate continental success on bigger stage
In a year when Hong Kong’s men embarked on a groundbreaking South American tour, and the women made their WXV3 debut, the most significant development for rugby in the city unfolded in a block of understated Dublin offices.
It was in World Rugby’s Irish headquarters, in August, that the go-ahead was given to grant next year’s Asia Rugby Championship (ARC) winners a place in the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
Hong Kong’s men breezed to a fifth straight ARC title in June and it would count as a major shock if Andrew Douglas’s team do not make it six in a row in 2025.
Assuming events unfold as expected, Hong Kong must race against time to ready their part-time players for the elite physicality of top-tier rugby nations.
Head coach Douglas has acknowledged the six-team local Premiership is not a natural breeding ground for elite talent and mooted the possibility of Hong Kong fielding a team in Japan’s top division.
The subject of parachuting a side into a domestic franchise came up before Hong Kong’s opening South American clash, against Chile, who made their World Cup debut in 2023 after entering a side in the Super Rugby Americas championship.
