PUBLISHED ON 13 SEP 2026
[HONG KONG, 13 September 2026]: The host Hong Kong China Rugby (HKCR) women’s XV beat Brazil, 29-24, to delight the home crowds as part of an exciting triple header of world-class women’s rugby today in the first round of the World Rugby WXV Global Series Challenger 2026 at the Kai Tak Youth Sports Ground. In the other matches, Fiji marked their first ever win over Spain 38-32 as they came from behind to win in equally dramatic fashion. Tonight’s finale saw the Netherlands advance past Samoa, 70-0.
The first home game for HKCR’s women’s XV in two years was greeted by thousands of fans today. The opening half was a tale of two sin bins with Brazil jumping out to an early lead after a penalty try was awarded against hooker Tanya Dhar, who was sent to the sin bin for infringing the Brazil attack on her try-line. HKCR defended well, but eventually ran out of defenders to allow Brazil to cross for a second score before returning to full strength, as the visitors lead 14-0.
Dhar earned a measure of revenge later in the half after Brazil captain Luiza Campos was penalised for a high tackle against the hometown front rower, with the skipper sent to the sin bin. The hooker went on to score twice with Campos in the bin to claw her side back to 12-14 down after Zoe Smith’s conversion. Brazil were next to strike as they pushed their lead to 19-12 at half-time.
A seesaw battle ensued in the second half. HKCR looked to have worked the ball into one of its best scoring positions of the half on the hour marker, but the last ball found a Brazilian hand and led to an intercept try for Brazil 99-metres on the other end, as the visitors widened the lead to 24-12 inside the final quarter.
But Hong Kong refused to quit. Fuelled by two quickfire tries from Hong Kong China Rugby’s most capped female fifteens player, Lee Ka Shun, (marking her 40th cap today) in the 67th and 77th minutes, HKCR found itself within two after the missed second conversion, trailing 22-24 with time ticking away.
With the crowd vocal in support, a ‘relentless’ Hong Kong China side intensified the attack in the final stretches, turning the tables and forcing the visitors into a professional foul on their line and conceding a penalty try to give Hong Kong the dramatic 29-24 win.
An ecstatic Women’s XV lead coach Tumua Ioane was effusive about his team’s performance saying: “I’m incredibly proud of them to be down late, and to stay in the fight and work through their processes and stack moments like that, it is a huge testament to the resilience and togetherness in the group to bring ourselves back.”
Hong Kong China will now take on Fiji in round two.
“Fiji are a very physical side, so we can look after our ball a bit better and win a few more moments in terms of the contact space, that'll probably be where they will challenge us,” said Ioane, who also paid tribute to the fans in the crowd.
“The support is amazing. A big part of our campaign is around legacy. Honouring what's come before us, adding something to the jersey and seeing what's in behind us in terms of the support that was here today. Throughout the game, the support was immense,” he added.
“We speak about being relentless all of the time,” said HKCR co-captain Lara Schats. “That was 23 sisters right there showing that when we work together, we can do cool things. It is extra special for us to do it at home. We don't play at home very often, so to play with such a big crowd is incredible. We don't take it for granted; we're making sure that when we put this jersey on, we go 100% and we leave it in a better place for when these young ones come and take it off our hands,” added Schats, who was named player of the match this afternoon.
In the opening game, Fiji beat Spain, 38-31 in a ten-try thriller that saw four lead changes before half-time. Spain had the advantage at the break, 20-19, and pushed that margin with 12 unanswered points to open the second half lead to 32-19, before Fiji clawed back with a try to 32-24 inside the final ten minutes.
Adi Sailote Nailolo was the hero with her game-winner coming in the 77th minute off of a great individual effort as she sold the dummy and stepped inside a second defender to score beneath the posts from 22-metres out to give Fiji the lead 33-32. A last second intercept try added insult to injury as Fiji pushed their winning margin to 38-32 before the final hooter.
“We made it hard for ourselves, but we're really happy that the girls stuck with it for the full 80,” said Fiji coach Mike Legge; “We didn't shut up shop, but we made it really hard for ourselves. We just had to make sure that we stuck to our processes. That was the biggest thing, and the biggest message at halftime. We did that in patches, but again, we made it quite hard for ourselves.”
The highest ranked side coming into the tournament at 13th in the world, Fiji now have a first win over Spain to build from as they face hosts Hong Kong in round two next Saturday.
Legge hailed that momentum saying “It is massive. Obviously, everyone here is building towards the next World Cup and qualifying for that, this is where the momentum starts, from here. We have got to make sure that we jump on that and carry it through the rest of the tournament. There is a lot of history with Fijian rugby in Hong Kong, so it's just good to put on a performance like that here.”
The 17th-ranked Netherlands disrupted the formbook early on when they beat Samoa (ranked 15th coming into Hong Kong), 70-0. Kika Mulling led the charge with two first half tries, including the game opener after just two minutes as Netherlands lead 39-0 at the break. The winger collected two more in the second stanza with captain Linde van der Velden and lock Gwen van der Schoot adding two tries each, alongside four other try scorers.
There was much drama when these teams met in WXV3 in Dubai but not much on this occasion.
“Very surprising,” said Netherlands skipper van der Velden post-match. “Obviously, we had the game against Samoa in Dubai at the back of our head. We prepped really well, but then to come out like this is not anything we expected. But it's just so nice that we put a lot of hard work into this, and then for those things to then actually work on the pitch and come to life like that, we're really happy.
“Very validating. There's been times in the past where we could be a bit one-dimensional, or maybe we were a bit more power with the forwards, using our backs less, but I think we showed today that we have multiple threats on the pitch, and we were very much capable of using them.
“In that second half you could feel the energy of Samoa coming back, so I was really proud of the team that we were finding solutions, working together, and capable of keeping that zero, because they made it really hard to keep that zero,” added the captain.
Netherlands, Fiji and Hong Kong China lead the table on five points four for the win and the bonus point for tries, while Spain and Brazil are on two points with the try bonus while Samoa are on one point with round two upcoming on Saturday.
Spain will play Samoa at noon (HKG time), Fiji will play HKCR at 15.30 and Netherlands will play Brazil at 19.00 next Saturday, 19 September.
The World Rugby WXV Challenger Hong Kong 2026 is proud of being an “M” Mark event that helps enhance the image of Hong Kong as Asia’s sports event capital. The “M” Mark awarded by the Major Sports Events Committee, symbolising intense, spectacular and signature event in the territory sports calendar.
