Hong Kong coach Leigh Jones has made five changes to the starting 15 that travelled to Japan last weekend ahead of his side's Asia Rugby Championship clash with South Korea at Hong Kong Football Club at 4.30pm on Saturday.

Captain Nick Hewson returns to his position of flanker after starting on the bench last week while lock Paul Dwyer, flanker Toby Fenn, scrum-half Jamie Hood and winger Salom Yiu Kam-shing are all back.

Lex Kaleca and Finlay Field also come in and will start on the bench, with Jack Delaforce, Matt Lamming, Rowan Varty, Tony Wong Ho-yeung, Adam Rolston and Lee Jones making way.

“We’ve been lucky, we’ve got a pretty strong complement to pick from,” Jones said. “We’ve managed to avoid injuries, which says a lot about our preparation, our conditioning and the medical team over the last month. We are looking forward to finishing the competition on a high.”

It will be Field’s first match for Hong Kong if he sees action after returning to Hong Kong for the summer in between his studies at the University of Edinburgh. Field has amassed several age grade honours including representing Hong Kong at the World Rugby Junior Trophy in 2014 and 2015.

His debut has been fast-tracked due to the injury to Delaforce and the 20-year-old, whose father Richard also represented Hong Kong, is excited to get his chance.

“I’m really excited,” Field said. “It was sort of unexpected because I was literally just coming in to get a taste of it. I started training ten days ago or something, so it’s quite unexpected. It’s a massive deal for me and mum and dad.”

Jones is looking forward to seeing what Field brings to the side: “He’s a local Hong Kong lad gone away to university but absolutely keen and delighted to come back and represent his country,” Jones said.

“It bodes well for the future of Hong Kong rugby when guys like Fin drop everything and answer the call.

Hong Kong will be eager to knock off South Korea for the second time in the series after sneaking home 34-27 in the first hit-out between the sides in Incheon. Victory will ensure Hong Kong snare second spot on the ARC table behind victors Japan, while a loss puts them in danger of slipping to third.

Hong Kong will enter the game confident after giving Japan a fright in the opening stages of their match in Tokyo last round.

With no challenge coming from division one winners Malaysia, the top three will remain the same in 2017 allowing Jones to focus on continued development rather than his team’s final ladder position.

“We’re very much in a building, development phase,” Jones said. “We’re in the middle of our first year of professionalism so it is going to take time. It always takes time for professionalism to take hold.”

South Korea’s aggression, size and physicality will put plenty of pressure on a Hong Kong forward pack that has been inconsistent throughout the tournament.

Hong Kong’s set piece work has struggled at times, but Jones knows it can be dangerous when working properly: “If we can get our set piece right, we posed problems for both Korea and Japan, so that’s one area we will focus on this week,” he said. “If we can get parity or some ascendancy in that set piece I’m pretty confident we can play really well.”

South Korea has named a markedly different side to the one that took to the park in the last match between these two sides, although Jones is still expecting a willing encounter.

“They will be desperate to finish on a high and they aren’t too far away, from what I have seen throughout the championship,” he said. “The last thing we want is for them to get it right in Hong Kong. We need to pressure them. We need to get in their face on defence. We have isolated a few of their key players that we need to contain and we need to get them on the ground quickly.”

Hong Kong squad v South Korea (4 June)

1. Benjamin HIGGINS 2. Lachlan CHUBB 3. Jack PARFITT 4. Adrian GRIFFITHS 5. Paul DWYER 6. Nicholas HEWSON © 7. Toby FENN 8. Dan FALVEY 9. Jamie HOOD 10. Ben RIMENE 11. Salom YIU Kam-shing 12. Tyler SPITZ 13. James ROBINSON 14. Ryan MEACHEAM 15. Alex McQUEEN 16. Jamie TSANG 17. Adam FULLGRABE 18. Alex NG Wai Shing 19. Finlay FIELD 20. James CUNNINGHAM 21. Cado LEE Ka-to, 22. Lex KALECA 23. Niall ROWARK