‘Chaotic and high speed’: South China Tigers unveil diverse roster for Global Rapid Rugby
- A Fijian, Englishman and two Chinese nationals are named as part of the squad’s marquee players
- The Tigers will kick off the condensed 2019 season in three weeks against the Western Force in Perth
The South China Tigers definitely got the diversity memo. The men’s professional rugby squad on Tuesday unveiled a number of marquee players to compete in Andrew Forrest’s Global Rapid Rugby series.
The bulk of the team will be made up of Hong Kong national 15-a-side players, but also features Fiji Olympic gold medallist Samisoni Viriviri, English premiership’s all-time leading try scorer, Tom Varndell, and Chinese national players Ma Chong and Liu Junkui.
The new competition will kick off with a condensed 2019 “showcase series” as the first full season has been pushed back to 2020. The Tigers will play four games, starting on March 29 against the Western Force in Perth. They will then play the Asia Pacific Dragons on April 21 at the Aberdeen Sports Ground.
Scrum half and co-captain Liam Slatem, who is a national 15-a-side member, said it will be interesting pulling all the different players from various walks of life together in three short weeks.
“That’s the first challenge, trying to find out what everyone will buy into,” said Slatem. “There’s a lot of different cultures. It’s about finding the vibe of the team.”