MATCH PREVIEW AND SQUAD – HONG KONG CHINA VS SRI LANKA

Asia Rugby Emirates Men’s Championship 2025 – All Fixtures

• Friday 13 June: Sri Lanka 34-38 Korea (Colombo, Sri Lanka)
• Saturday 14 June: United Arab Emirates 10-43 Hong Kong China (Dubai, UAE) 
• Friday 21 June: Korea vs UAE (Incheon, Korea)
• Sunday 22 June: Hong Kong China vs Sri Lanka (Kai Tak Youth Sports Ground, Hong Kong) – Tickets
• Friday 4 July: Sri Lanka vs UAE (Colombo, Sri Lanka)
• Saturday 5 July: Korea vs Hong Kong China (Incheon, Korea)

Hong Kong China Men’s XVs Set for Home Clash Against Sri Lanka

Hong Kong China Men’s XVs continue their journey to try and reach a maiden Rugby World Cup by hosting the Sri Lankan Tuskers in our only home game of the Asia Rugby Emirates Men’s Championship 2025 on Sunday 22 June at the Kai Tak Youth Sports Ground (KO 4:30PM). Tickets are priced at HK $100 for adults and HK $50 for children and can be bought online here.

Our men came off a well-deserved bonus point 43-10 win in Dubai against the UAE last weekend, while the Sri Lankans, who are back in the top flight of Asian rugby for the first time in a decade, gave a good account of themselves against Korea but ultimately lost 34-38 in Colombo.

The opening round of fixtures means that Hong Kong China and Korea are joint top of the table with bonus point wins, while Sri Lanka picked up two points in their loss, with the UAE yet to record a championship point. After the second round of matches all teams will take a weekend off before the tournament concludes in the first weekend of July, with Hong Kong China travelling to play Korea in a potential tournament decider on Saturday 5 July.

Hong Kong China Squad Vs Sri Lanka

Player (Club):

1. Sunia FAMEITAU (HKU Sandy Bay) 
2. Calum SCOTT (London Scottish)
3. Zacceus CINNAMOND (HKU Sandy Bay) 
4. Mark PRIOR (HKU Sandy Bay)
5. Callum McCULLOUGH (Hong Kong Football Club) 
6. Joshua HRSTICH © (Hong Kong Football Club) 
7. James SAWYER (Valley) 
8. Luke VAN DER SMIT (Valley) 
9. Jack COMBES (USRC Tigers) 
10. Nathan DE THIERRY (Hunter Wildfires)
11. Harry SAYERS (Valley) 
12. Thomas HILL (Hong Kong Football Club) 
13. Ben AXTEN-BURRETT (Hong Kong Football Club)
14. Paul ALTIER (SOC Rugby)
15. Matt WORLEY (Bedford Blues RFC)
16. Alexander POST (Richmond)
17. Rory CINNAMOND (HKU Sandy Bay) 
18. Faizal SOLOMONA PENESA (HK Scottish) 
19. Patrick JENKINSON (Hong Kong Football Club) 
20. Pierce MACKINLAY WEST (Hong Kong Football Club)
21. James CHRISTIE (HK Scottish) 
22. Joseph BARKER (Kowloon)
23. Alessandro NARDONI (HK Scottish) * 

*Potential debutant for Hong Kong China 15s

Team Management: 

Andrew DOUGLAS (Head Coach) 
Lewis EVANS (Coach) 
Logan ASPLIN (Coach) 
Marno MEYER (Coach) 
Alex ALLAN (Coach)
Pete NUGENT (S&C Coach) 
Ian BONNET (S&C Coach) 
Andy YUEN (Analyst) 
Henry ELLIOTT (Physiotherapist) 
Jonathan MOSES (Physiotherapist) 
Charles CHEUNG (Team Manager) 

Match Preview

The last time Hong Kong China faced Sri Lanka was nearly a decade ago, on 3 May 2014 (emerging 41-10 victors), and Sri Lanka last visited Hong Kong back in 2006. This weekend’s matchup will be the 5th time the two sides will have faced each other with the Tuskers yet to beat Hong Kong China. Hong Kong China Men are currently ranked 23rd in World Rugby’s global rankings, and Sri Lanka are 40th.

The Sri Lankans managed to score five tries against the Koreans and they showed plenty of running rugby with some dangerous backs, but ultimately their pack was undone by the strong Korean scrum which proved pivotal in the match.

Prior to the Asia Rugby Emirates Men’s Championship starting, the Tuskers Head Coach, Sanath Martis, left his role and New Zealander Rodney Gibbs was brought in temporarily as Head Coach to oversee the campaign. They also lost the services of the regular captain Nigel Ratwatte due to illness (chikungunya virus) and inside centre Tarinda Ratwatte was named as captain.

As Hong Kong China Men's XVs chase a sixth consecutive Asia Rugby title and a spot at Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia, Head Coach Andrew Douglas has made some positional and matchday changes to utilise the wider squad. 

Douglas said before the Championship got underway that they had watched the footage of the Sri Lankans playing the NZ U85kg team and the Malaysian game which they won 59-19 in the Asia Rugby Emirates Championship Playoff in April. 

In the mid-week preparation Douglas explained that there would be changes to the team “For this is the type of game against Sri Lanka, we probably need to put a bit more bang against and there's still a lot of support on the bench. But the changes are not for the sake of change, but more to suit the style of play that Sri Lanka will bring.”

He also admitted there were some nerves last weekend but he's hoping the team have now worked their way through that. “We started off pretty well against UAE but I think there were a lot of nerves on Saturday for the start of this campaign and hopefully we've got that out of our system. We sort of played a bit within ourselves, and I feel we were quite constrained, and that's not our style.

“Saying that, Sri Lanka loves their unstructured stuff, so we don't want to get caught in that trap of trying to play to their strengths.”

Following the win over the UAE last weekend, Coach Lewis Evans added that the team had work-on areas but they were looking forward to playing Sri Lanka, and looking for areas where they can impose themselves in front of a home crowd.

On Sunday, Calum Scott starts with Alexander Post moving to the bench (both hookers were try scorers against the UAE), Zacceus Cinnamond, Callum McCullough, James Sawyer, Paul Altier all are in the starting XV, with Pierce Mackinlay West and Patrick Jenkinson moving to the bench. Altier on the right wing is the only change in the backline.

Two matchday squad changes see the powerful Luke Van Der Smit start at 8 and prop Faizal Solomona Penesa secure a spot among the reserves. That means that captain Josh Hrstich moves from number 8 last week to flank this week. Alessandro Nardoni who is an experienced Sevens campaigner will also be in the reserves to potentially earn his first 15s cap.

Rotated out of the matchday squad are Keelan Chapman, Tyler McNutt, Max Denmark who all started last weekend.

The runner-up of the AREMC 2025 will be given a second chance to qualify via a repechage route. This comprises an Asia/Africa Play-off match for a place at a Final Qualification Tournament. The team finishing bottom will play a play-off with the team finishing top of the next tier (Division 1) in a Championship Playoff fixture.

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