​TWO SPECIAL CAPPINGS!​

26th Jul 2017

When long-time HKRU member Chris Howarth got in touch with the Union to let them know that a friend coming into town was the son of one of the first ever Hong Kong international rugby tour party from 1952, he helped put in a motion events that have so far led to two "cappings" of '52 veterans...and hopefully we might find a few more!

Nigel Talamo, son of Mike, reported that his father was alive and well and still held fond memories of his trip to Japan with the "All Hong Kong" team, which in fact pre-dated the official formation of the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union. Nigel was presented with a Colony cap to take back to UK, and after the Union subsequently posted a photo on social media of Mike proudly wearing his new head gear a message was received from the son of one of Mike's team mates! Neil Hopkins' father, D.R.Hopkins, is also in fine fettle back in Wales and was able to send through a copy of the programme from their game against the "All Kwansai Kushu Select", while in return he too received his Colony cap.

The Hong Kong tour party was led by future HKRFU President Gerry Forsgate, although a broken hand meant he wasn't able to actually play in the fixtures. Whilst the official Union history book doesn't mention the actual match scores, it notes that Hong Kong beat all of the Japanese competition including Meiji, Kansai and Kanto Universities but lost against an expat team based in Japan. The trip was partly financed by grants from the British armed forces rugby unions, and there was a strong representation of servicemen in the touring party along with members of HKFC; it seems that these games may well have marked the first official representative sporting interaction between Great Britain and Japan in the post-war period.

A few months later the HKRFU was founded, and the history books show the first official Union fixture took place on 8th October against Oxford University, but there will always be a special page reserved for Messrs Talamo, Hopkins and those other pioneers of the Japanese tour! Download HERE

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