ASIA RUGBY MEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP 2024

The Asia Rugby Men’s Championship 2024 gets underway on 1 June, which will see Hong Kong China Men start their title defence against the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It will be a historic day at home as they play a doubleheader with the Hong Kong China Women playing their final match of the Asia Rugby Women’s Championship against Kazakhstan.

Hong Kong China Men’s players and Head Coach admitted beforehand that they didn't know what to expect in their Asia Rugby Men’s Championship opener against newly promoted UAE, but aside from two tricky periods of play, there was a lot to be happy about in their rain-soaked 52-5 win.

On Saturday 8 June Hong Kong China men secured a 70-6 bonus point win in this year's Asia Rugby Men’s Championship against Malaysia to set up a likely final-day decider with Korea back in Hong Kong in two weeks time.

On Saturday 22 June, on a scorching hot and humid afternoon, Hong Kong China Men secured another bonus point win and an eighth win on the trot to lift their fifth straight Asia Rugby Men’s Championship at the Hong Kong Football Club.

The win means Hong Kong China will remain 24th in the World Rugby rankings and Head Coach Andrew Douglas said after the match, “You have to be proud of that effort, especially in the first half where we put them under a lot of pressure. We knew that if we could get them down early it would be hard for them to get out of that hole, especially in these warm conditions.”

HKCR eight-man Luke Van Der Smit scored a hat trick and commented, “I am happy with that. We can always be better but I am proud of the boys as we stuck it out at times when we were a man down. I'm happy with my own performance too but there are always a couple of things to work on.