PUBLISHED ON 03 OCT 2026
[Hong Kong, 3 October 2026]: Hong Kong China Rugby (HKCR) lost its first match of the World Rugby U20 Challenger Cup to hosts Chile in a weather delayed fixture in stormy Santiago last night, 83-19.
Hong Kong China were under the pump early on in a penalty-strewn first half that saw the hosts posts five tries, four conversions and two penalties as they made the visitors pay for poor discipline in the first half. Hong Kong finished the half trailing 49-7, and down a man after flanker Fritz Mahn was deemed to be the last of too many HKCR offenders in the opening stanza, and was sent to the sin bin after HKCR conceded a try shortly before the break.
The bright spots for the visitors came from a solid driving maul attack on the occasions that Hong Kong could set up a lineout platform deep inside the Chile half. The first came after 25 minutes with No.8 Kai Tiltman finishing a nice bit of recycling on the Chile tryline. Tiltman eventually found the space to cross over with Jack Joyce slotting a fine conversion from out wide to put Hong Kong on the board, trailing 22-7.
Hong Kong conceded a penally at the restart, allowing an immediate reply from Chile as they pushed the margin back to 25-7, a gap that further widened in the final stages of the half to 39-7, with Chile securing the bonus point for scoring more than four tries before half-time.
The second half saw improvement but also more of the same as HKCR conceded another off-sides penalty in the first minute of play to gift Chile three points to start the second stanza, as the lead grew to 42-7. Chile scored their sixth try five minutes later to push the score to 49-7 before a storm enforced delay halted the proceedings for over 30 minutes.
While Hong Kong managed to shore up their defensive effort after the delay - and halved their first half penalty count down the stretch - they never really threatened the scoreline.
Hong Kong’s best attack of the second half came on the hour marker when scrumhalf Gabe Horberry created a nice line break and offloaded to Fritz Mahn to bring Hong Kong deep into Chile’s half and force the defence to concede a penalty.
HKCR set up three driving mauls from the lineout - with Chile repeatedly infringing - before Sam Blackburn crossed the line for Hong Kong’s second score. Chile picked up a yellow card for repeated infringements after that try, as Hong Kong pulled back to 54-14 after Joyce’s second conversion.
But Chile put the game away with three tries in a five minute space to push out to a commanding 71-14 lead before Blackburn collected his second score of the day from phase play off of another attacking lineout platform. That try closed the gap to 71-19 and gave HKCR tantalising hopes of scoring a crucial bonus point for four tries or more, but they could not add to the margin down the stretch with Chile running out 83-19 winners.
“Obviously, coming to Chile and playing in front of the home crowd we knew that was going to be a tough way to start. Fair play to Chile; the boys were clinical and capitalised on our mistakes. We just need to work on our mistakes and back up for our next game. We are playing for our home, so we need a bit of pride and to believe in ourselves and trust in each other and fight as hard as we can,” said No.8 Kai Tiltman.
Hosts Chile are joined by Hong Kong China, Brazil and Romania in Pool A, while Pool B features Canada, Namibia, Belgium and Portugal. In other Pool A results, Romania beat Brazil by a single point Hong Kong will play Brazil on Friday 9 October at 0200 Hong Kong time. Matches are available o watch on RugbyPass TV.
Travelling Squad: FORWARDS: Sam BLACKBURN; Jake CROW; Andrew DURANT; CHIU Yat Fu Davy; Milo GUILDFORD; Liam GORDON; Morgan HANSON; LAU Kin Lok Nixon; LEUNG Kun Hei Austin; LI Tin Bob, LU Ho Sun Jeremy; Fritz MAHN; PANG Ho Man William; Hugo POOLE; Noah REID; Andrew STRATTON; Kai TILTMAN; WONG Siu Long Hugo BACKS: Leonardo CHURCH; Tivizio DEPOID; Oliver FISHER; Gabriel HORBERRY; Liam JORDAN; Jack JOYCE; LIU Cong Sum Kurtis; Benjamin MCKELLAR; Ciarán POLLARD; Max REED; James STANTON; WONG Ka Yiu Kyle
STAFF: Siân MOORE Head Coach; Sam BEARD Senior Assistant Coach; Kevin WEST Assistant Coach; Lane PROCTER S&C Coach; Maisie BRYMER Analyst; Christopher TONG Physiotherapist; Debby SHIH Physiotherapist; Katrina ROSZYNSKI Team Manager
