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PUBLISHED ON 23 MAY 2025
Hong Kong China Women’s XVs will play the Asia Rugby Emirates Women’s Championship 2025 title decider against Japan on Sunday May 24 in Fukuoka, with Head Coach Lewis Wilson making several positional and starting changes to the matchday squad (see the full squad below). Fans can watch the action live on Sunday via the Asia Rugby YouTube Channel (KO 13:00 local / 12:00 HK).
Hong Kong China have played Japan 18 times in history, and only beaten them on one occasion. The Sakura 15s will be favourites for the contest at home at the Japan Base in Fukuoka; however, in the same fixture last year, the match was a tight contest with Japan eventually winning 29-12.
According to the latest World Rugby Rankings, Hong Kong China are ranked 17th, while Japan are ranked 11th, but the Japanese are six-time winners of the Rugby Asia Women’s Championship. Both sides beat Kazakhstan in the respective opening matches to set up the finale on Sunday.
For our women, this weekend is only the 13th test in total post-pandemic (W7, L5). The girls beat Kazakhstan on Tuesday thanks to five tries, with four of the try scorers, Kea Herewini, Shanna Forrest, Jessica Eden, and Grace Hood, keeping their places in the matchday squad to play Japan. Forrest was the player of the match for her performance in the 29-12 win.
19-year-old Naomi Peeters, who made her debut when she came off the bench, is among the replacements, as is the youngest player in the squad, 18-year-old Haruka Uematsu.
Lewis Wilson, who is acting as interim Head Coach for the campaign, said of the Japan game, "Tactically, not much is going to change for us. If we do the same things really well that we tried (against Kazakhstan), it's going to be successful versus any team, even teams with a style such as Japan’s. So we will internally focus on ourselves. There's a lot of belief in a group that we will succeed on the next match day.
"We had a physical and well-organised defence. Our attack coach will be looking at us being a bit more direct, as we tended to drift a little bit in the last match. I think when we are direct, we have a lot of impact. We've got some really dangerous players on the edges, so we will be potentially trying to get them in the game a bit more and more often."
The backline has seen a reshuffle. Chong Ka Yan is the most experienced back in the squad with 22 caps and moves from right to left wing, Jessica Eden shifts from wing to centre to partner Grace Hood, and Zoe Smith starts on the right wing. In youthful squad only three of the 12 backs on tour have caps exceeding double figures.
Lam Tim Yeung starts at hooker and Lee Ka Shun starts at prop in two changes to the front row. Ka Shun is the Hong Kong China record cap holder and will earn her 37th cap, while fellow front rower Lau Nga Wun will win her 34th cap.
The loose forwards have also seen changes with captain Pun Wai Yan moving from 7 to 6, while Siu Wing Ni Winnie, who captains the USRC Tigers domestically, starts at flanker.
Pun Wai Yan added, "Japan will put a lot of pressure on us, so we need to make sure we execute our game plan, play our game right, then play that tempo we want."
Confirmed Squad
Team Management:
Royce CHAN (Programme Lead)
Lewis WILSON (Head Coach)
Tumua IOANE (Coach)
Conor JOYCE (Coach)
Bella MILO (Coach)
Kevin MOGGRIDGE (Coach)
Ian BONNET (S&C Coach)
Jake MARTIN (Analyst)
Sophie RAINE (Physiotherapist)
Suzzen CHONG (Sports Rehabilitator)
Dora KWOK (Team Manager)
Players:
- LAU Nga Wun
- LAM Tim Yeung Iris
- LEE Ka Shun
- CHOW Mei Nam
- Roshini TURNER
- PUN Wai Yan ©
- SIU Wing Ni Winnie
- Shanna FORREST
- AU King To
- LO Wing Yin
- CHONG Ka Yan
- Jessica EDEN
- Grace HOOD
- Zoe SMITH
- POON Hoi Yan
- GOT Fion
- NG Ki Sum
- Kea HEREWINI
- Naomi PEETERS
- AU YEUNG Sin Yi
- WAN Tsz Yau
- LEE Tsz Ting
- Haruka UEMATSU
This article was posted in collaboration with our good friends at RugbyAsia247 – check them out for all the latest Asia Rugby news!
