As the Hong Kong Rugby Union’s Elite Rugby Programme enters its second year, preparation for the Rugby World Cup 2019 qualification campaign is in full swing.

Key to Hong Kong’s aspirations of reaching the pinnacle tournament in world rugby is the development and retention of emerging Hong Kong talent. This is the inspiration behind the Junior Elite Rugby Programme (JERP), which is grooming Hong Kong’s next generation of high performance players.

Five young players, known colloquially in performance rugby circles as ‘The Fab Five’, are highlighting the programme’s efficacy on the pitch. With the support of the HKRU’s Performance Lifestyle Team, these players are scoring important results in the classroom as well.

Joey Cheung Ho-yin, Mark Coeburgh, Callum McFeat-Smith and Alessandro Nardoni are amongst seven players enlisted in the JERP, which caters to players between the ages of 18 and 23. The fifth member of the Fab Five is opendide flanker Pierce McKinlay-West, who captained Hong Kong at the U20 Junior World Trophy in Zimbabwe, and was fast-tracked as a full-time member of the ERP on a development contract.

Each have advanced through the HKRU’s National Age Grade programmes before being recruited into the ERP fold and jostling with their senior brethren to crack Hong Kong’s senior fifteens team, presently ranked 25^th in the world.

Crucially, these players have returned the commitment of the HKRU as they are amongst the first emerging players to remain in Hong Kong while they continue their education and press their claims as professional athletes. HKRU Head of Elite Player Development Andrew Hall believes that commitment to stay in Hong Kong during what is a crucial phase in a player’s development, is the ultimate indicator that the JERP is delivering on its initial promise:

“Prior to the ERP, we would have lost this talent as they followed the path of many junior players before them in flying the nest for overseas education. The absence of these players during their uni years presents a significant challenge to our development staff to maintain an active influence and oversight of a player’s educational and rugby development.

“That trend is now reversing with the JERP offering a robust career pathway into professional rugby, as well as providing a comprehensive suite of services to assist these young players in furthering their educational and non-rugby career goals paving the way for a transition for life after sport,” Hall added.

Gritty Kowloon flanker Cheung made the first and most prominent breakthrough when he received his first cap after making his senior debut on the tour of Kenya this summer, after figuring prominently in Hong Kong’s previous World Rugby U20 Trophy campaigns. The high-flying forward is studying Airport Operation and Aviation Logistics at City College University while he is enrolled in the JERP.

Coeburgh, a sniping scrumhalf for Bloomberg Hong Kong Scottish, has been a mainstay of the HKRU’s U20s sevens and fifteens programmes, including leading the successful schoolboys sevens side that won the Asian School Sports Federation Sevens tournament before being drafted into the Asia Rugby U20s Sevens side. Coeburgh is currently studying Business Management at City University.

Hall credits the members of the HKRU Performance Lifestyle Team, headed by Performance Lifestyle Manager Mick Stott and Performance Lifestyle Coach Sarah Rees, for acclimating the JERP players to the needs of both high performance sport and academics.

Stott comes to the HKRU after a 29-year military career that saw him rise to the rank of Captain with the Army Physical Training Corps. Many of the specialist programmes developed by Stott are still in use by the military today. Rees comes from a human development background with a diverse professional background that includes stints as a teacher, trainer, PA and manager. She is also a certified Spectrum Performance and Emotional Trainer.

The team is on call for all of the players in the ERP, but is particularly focussed on supporting the JERP athletes in a transitional stage in both their academics and their sport, helping these young players find their footing with bespoke support to balance their education and the demands of performance rugby.

The programme has been further strengthened by a series of collaborations with tertiary education institutions and the offering of associated scholarship schemes, as well as through partnerships with the commercial world, all established by Stott and Rees.

“Through the efforts of Mick and Sarah, a number of relationships with major business interests have been established, affording the players internships and work experience opportunities to strengthen their professional qualifications and help prepare them for life after sport,” Hall added.

The young players have responded positively to the faith shown in them and the opportunities presented by the JERP:

“I wanted to pursue both my rugby and my academics at the highest level possible. The support that I have received through the programme has helped me manage these goals, which I originally thought were incompatible, but I now realise are actually mutually supportive,” said McKinlay-West, who is studying Finance and Economics at Hong Kong University.

McKinlay-West’s experience was shared by the Junior ERP players:

“Enrolling in the programme has been fantastic. With the support we have received from the coaches and performance lifestyle team, I feel like I have a head start on other players my age who are studying overseas, both in my rugby and my professional career” said HKFC prop McFeat-Smith, who is reading Human Resource Management at Baptist University.

The players are quick to recognise the support of the performance lifestyle team:

“I have had a lot of help from the performance lifestyle department in managing my busy schedule and learning how to effectively deal with the stress that can arise from combining the demands of school and high performance sport.

“Sarah and Mick have helped me develop my organisational skills to a sufficient level that I can make the most of my time off the pitch. They understand my individual situation and the importance I put on my educational goals and are hugely supportive of that,” said HK Scottish flanker Nardoni, who is enrolled in the Foundation Degree programme at HKU SPACE