Hong Kong turn to New Zealand-born captain to lead bid for 2023 World Cup spot
- No 8 Josh Hrstich named new skipper as squad prepare to face South Korea in Asia Rugby Championship, with winner to play Tonga in World Cup qualifying play-off
- Hrstich ‘leads from the front’ and will be a choice ‘accepted by everyone’, Hong Kong head coach Lewis Evans says
Having captained Football Club to the Dettol Men’s Premiership title last season, Josh Hrstich has been presented with a new challenge: leading Hong Kong’s bid for a place at the 2023 World Cup.
The New Zealand-born No 8 has been named as skipper for the Asia Rugby Championship (ARC) clash against South Korea in less than two weeks, with Glyn Hughes and James Cunningham his vice-captains.
Victory in that game would set up a World Cup qualifier against Tonga in Australia on July 24, with the winners getting a ticket to the tournament in Paris, and the losers progressing to a four-team repechage in November.
New Hong Kong head coach Lewis Evans said he had settled on Hrstich as his first captain because he believed he was “the guy who is going to epitomise us going forwards”.
“He’s just got those standard leadership qualities,” Evans said. “He leads from the front, he doesn’t say too much, but whatever he does say commands that respect.”
Not only is Hrstich making his debut as captain, he is also one of four new faces in the Hong Kong squad that will fly to South Korea on Friday ahead of the ARC game on July 9. The other three are John McCormick-Houston, Hrstich’s Football Club teammate, David Tang Man-chun, of USRC Tigers, and Jack Combes, one of a number of overseas players named in the squad.
