Asia Rugby Championship: Hong Kong begin title defence with new captain and some Sevens stars for Malaysia clash
- Tom Hill will lead the side on Saturday at Hong Kong Football Club with Patrick Jenkinson named vice-captain
- Sevens stars Seb Brien and Callum McCullough named in starting 15, with Harry Sayers and Pierce MacKinlay-West among the replacements
Hong Kong will begin the defence of their Asia Rugby Championship title against Malaysia on Saturday with a new captain, but without a host of players who took part in the team’s World Cup campaign last year.
Gone through injury, retirement or in the case of others such as Bedford wing Matt Worley an inability to make the trip, head coach Lewis Evans is missing some 15 players with international experience, including the likes of influential forwards Josh Hrstich, James Cunningham and Mark Prior, and backs Jack Neville and Jack Combes.
In their absence, however, the Welshman has been able to call on the services of some of the city’s Sevens stars, with Sebastian Brien taking Worley’s place on the wing, and forward Callum McCullough coming into the second row.
With skipper Hrstich out injured, and little indication of how long he maybe missing for, Tom Hill has been given the task of leading the team at Hong Kong Football Club, with Patrick Jenkinson his vice-captain.
“Tom has been massive in every game he’s played for Hong Kong,” Evans said. “He was inspirational in the [World Cup] repechage [in Dubai] and always leads from the front. He is a phenomenal professional and a phenomenal person; we know he will do everything he can to ensure we are in a good place for a repechage in 2027.”
Still, 14 members of the squad that won the ARC last year and featured against the likes of the USA, Portugal and Kenya in Dubai in November are in the 23-man match-day squad, and front row David Tang Man-chung is the only debutant.
