Hot on the heels of Hong Kong China’s impressive victory at the Asia Rugby U19 Championship, age-grade rugby makes a stylish comeback with the highly anticipated 56th annual New Year's Day Youth Rugby Tournament.

The annual New Year’s Day Rugby Youth Tournament has been a major date on the local rugby calendar for more than five decades, offering a showcase for the best of the community’s youth talent to demonstrate their prowess, and give spectators a glimpse of the future stars of the sport. Many of those who pulled on their boots in this tournament have gone on to represent Hong Kong China and indeed other unions at international level, with notable alumni including Graeme Morrison who went on to win 35 caps for Scotland.

Regardless of whether they go on to such lofty heights of representative rugby, participating in the New Year's Day Tournament is an unforgettable experience for every young player and being a part of this historic event is a source of great pride. The 2024 tournament, hosted at its traditional home of Hong Kong Football Club, will feature four thrilling matches for U19 and U16 boys and girls. The action-packed day will begin at 12:30 with the Naylor Wright Cup for U16 girls, followed by the George White Trophy for U16 boys at 13:50. Next on the festive menu is the Lassies Quaich for U19 girls at 15:10, and the Middlesex Cup for U19 boys will conclude the tournament at 16:40.

The Boys U19 match holds special significance as it provides an additional opportunity for Hong Kong's coaches to identify talented players as they look ahead to next year’s World Rugby U20 Trophy, the 8 time Hong Kong China will have participated, and a number of the members of the team that won last week’s Asia Rugby U19 Championship will also be back in action on New Year’s Day.

Like the young stars of the show, the competition has shown impressive resilience to bounce back robustly from the challenges of recent years with an incredible 210 players being nominated for selection by local clubs along with 110 overseas applications to participate across the four age groupings.  

Preparations began earlier this month with trial sessions at King’s Park, where a group of 18 selectors made up of HKCR Performance staff, coaches and senior representative players helped whittle down the numbers.

For those who made the cut, HKCR assembled an experienced group of 20 coaches including a number from the representative programmes, who have been working hard to ensure the teams are ready to show their silky skills on the day.  

Sian Moore, Head of Performance Pathways at HKCR, has been particularly excited to see a number of promising young players from the recently established Hysan HKCR Academy make it onto the team rosters for New Year’s Day; “It’s great to see our investment in the Academy already bearing fruit, and I’d like to thank Hysan for their invaluable support with this initiative.  Keep your eyes on the likes of Elise Hulme(Girls U19), Eleanor Bubble(Girls U16), Andrew Durante( Boys U19) and Joshua Chuchen(Boys U16) who I anticipate will be lighting up Football Club with some electric rugby on 1st January!”

A figure who has attended more than a few NYD tournaments over the years is HKCR Director Tony Karton, and he is looking forward to another great day of action; “After the very strong performances of our boys at the Asia Rugby U19 Championship, I’m anticipating some really high quality games this year, and it’s exciting to welcome back our overseas-based youngsters and see how their rugby is progressing.  It’s always a great day, and I can think of no better way to kick-off 2024!”.

New Year’s Day Youth Rugby Tournament 2024

1230 Under 16 Girls:  Hong Kong Dragons vs Oversea Lions 

        Presentation of Naylor Wright Cup

1350 Under 16 Boys: Hong Kong Dragons vs Oversea Lions

       Presentation of White Trophy

1510 Under 19 Girls:  Hong Kong Dragons vs Oversea Lions

       Presentation of Lassies Quaich

1640 Under 19 Boys: Hong Kong Dragons vs Oversea Lions

        Presentation of Middlesex Cup

1810 Presentation of the Larry Abel Trophy

The Hong Kong China Rugby New Year’s Day Youth Rugby Tournament 2024 is sponsored by Hysan Development. Attendance at Hong Kong Football Club is free to all. Public entrance is through the Hong Kong Jockey Club entrance to Happy Valley.

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