PUBLISHED ON 16 DEC 2025
Hong Kong China Men's U20s travelled to Singapore to play at Jurong West Stadium on Tuesday (16 December) in a one-off international friendly and ran out comfortable 52-0 winners, scoring four tries in each half in wet and humid conditions. Fans can view the match photo gallery and also watch the full match back via the Singapore Rugby YouTube channel.
The Hong Kong China Men’s U20s will now return to Hong Kong and play a final match before the Christmas break. They will take on a Hong Kong China Dragons Select side at King's Park Sports Ground on Sunday (21 December) at 7PM. The Clubhouse will be open for food and drinks, with free entry for all (no ticket required).
Men's U20s Head Coach Sam Beard said, “A first hit out was always going to be a slightly slow start whilst players found their feet. We had a lot of possession and were playing all the rugby, showing some good intent, but lacked patience in those earlier parts of the game, especially with the conditions.
"The positive thing is that we settled into the game nicely, and the group started to make the adjustments required. I was pleased with some of our physicality defensively, and we showed some dangerous counterattack play, which was exciting to see from our back three.
"It has been good to see the group able to spend time together and grow over this short time period, and it has been evident how important these campaigns are for their development. Their keenness to learn and keep moving forwards is impressive.”
It took a good 15 minutes before the game came to life. Hong Kong China kicked off and had good ball retention to start with. There were also some good individual carries, but players became isolated, and Singapore won deserved turnovers.
The first scrum tested out both young packs in the opening five minutes - with the Hong Kong China squad, for the most part, having been together for just over a month, but game time is different. The scrappy opening quarter of an hour was punctuated by both sides trying to build some rhythm and cohesion.
Unfortunately, co-captain Kai Tiltman came off early in what was an attritional, although largely muted start to the game.
The wet conditions led to some tough handling of the ball, and our boys started to build some scrum ascendancy and placed the hosts under pressure, forcing them to kick to exit. One of those fell to left wing Sam Nicolle, who had had a great run down the touchline to beat a handful of defenders before offloading to scrumhalf Gabriel Horberry, who dotted down and opened the scoring in the 19th minute with flyhalf Jack Joyce converting the first of his six successful kicks from eight tries.
A couple of chances on the left edge were created, but the final passes were inaccurate. It was another incisive run by fullback Freddie Brown who carved open the defence, and flanker #7 Nicholas Dingley benefited from his teammates' good work to score under the posts in the 24th minute.
The Hong Kong China forwards put in a massive shift three minutes later from a lineout, mauling several metres to score our third try and lead 19-0 via co-captain and hooker Craig McSheaffrey.
In the first chance in which we really defended in our own 22 metre line, Singapore had a quick tap and attempted to dart over on the half-hour mark, but our boys did well to win a penalty and keep a clean sheet.
Brown made some serious metres with the ball in hand and gave us front-foot attacking opportunities when we needed them most. Another attacking lineout after the hooter saw lock Liam Gordon score from close range for a 26-0 lead at the break.
The second period mirrored the start of the game as it was all a bit scrappy, with both sides probing, however handling errors stopped the flow of the game.
A good kick behind from our scrumhalf and excellent follow-up work by right wing Huw Hand saw us score the first points of the half via Jordy Bland, 15 minutes into the period.
The scrumhalf nearly turned from provider to scorer moments later but was just denied. On the hour mark, the pack got moving again and controlled the ball well to score a second from a driving maul off a lineout to lead 38-0, and the hooker bagged a brace.
An odd defensive play from a lineout by Singapore saw Hong Kong China score unopposed, with Liam Gordon also securing his second score and extending the lead to 45-0. There was time for one more as a replacement, Omar Sharif, crashed over for a converted try with seven minutes left.
Singapore were camped on the visitors line in the closing minutes, but the group showed great composure to hold them at bay and hold a Singapore player up over the line. They had to repel a series of attacks, but the boys dug deep, defending on the try line, battling hard in the scrums - that effort was as impressive as the eight tries scored, considering the game was well won.
Scrumhalf Gabriel Horberry (who studies at Loughborough University) said, “In the first 20 minutes, we were getting used to the conditions and playing together for the first time. As the game went on, our confident running game in open space really shone through, and we went into the first half with a convincing lead.
"We discussed some key points involving our kick chase and connection going into a strong second half. I thought the lads pulling on the jersey for the first time really stepped up, and the boys led from the front well.
"We want to also say a big thank you to Singapore for hosting us and giving us a great experience here!”
This article was posted in collaboration with our good friends at RugbyAsia247 – check them out for all the latest Asia Rugby news!
.jpg)