Asia Rugby Championship: Hong Kong have 2 priorities as they start title defence against Malaysia
- Head coach Lewis Evans targets retaining ARC crown and building for next World Cup campaign
- Welshman leading Hong Kong at home in a Test match for first time since taking charge
Hong Kong go into this weekend’s Asia Rugby Championship clash against Malaysia with two goals in mind: defending their title and looking ahead to the next World Cup in four years’ time.
Saturday’s match should be the easier of two encounters Lewis Evans’ men face over the next fortnight, with South Korea likely to provide a far sterner test in a game expected to decide who wins the competition this year.
South Korea beat Malaysia 27-3 last weekend in a rain-soaked affair, and will be looking to avenge their last-minute defeat at home to Hong Kong in the championship decider in 2022, which sent Evans’ side on the way to a World Cup qualifier against Tonga.
Despite being in charge for Hong Kong’s past five tests, Evans is leading the team for the first time at home, and has assembled a squad that mixes youth with the experience of the likes of Tom Hill, Patrick Jenkinson and Gregor McNeish, who kicked the game-winning penalty in Incheon last year.
“We have a really good blend of old and new players in the final squad, including some of our sevens players,” Evans said. “There are also six players arriving from overseas, so we are going into the ARC with a lot of confidence.
“It’s a new Rugby World Cup qualification cycle and we want to get fresh faces involved for the long term, but we also have a short-term goal of winning the ARC – that is our priority. We are confident that this is a good group of players for both goals.”
The matches will be Hong Kong’s first since the disappointment of the World Cup repechage tournament in Dubai last November, and Evans said that, although that experience had been tough on the squad, they had recovered.
“This team is a different animal because the players have had a chance to refresh, and we have a longer-term ambition for the next repechage and making sure that that group of players can compete against the likes of Portugal, Germany or USA.”
The team began preparing in April with a match against a global XV of leading non-Hong Kong eligible domestic players, in a bid to throw the net as wide as possible in the hunt for new talent.
“It enabled us to gather as many Hong Kong-qualified boys together as we could, some of whom are not even regular Premiership players,” Evans said. “Exposing them to those standards and seeing how they react was important.
“The coaches were pleased with that performance and it gave us a good foundation to build on for the ARC. These are the guys we want to invest in longer-term.”
The 23-man squad he will invest in for the opening game will be announced on Friday.
“Certainly we are not going to disrespect Malaysia, but we want to win, absolutely, and we are in a much better place than we were last year for this tournament,” Evans said.
“Our build-up games were not perfect, but we liked what we saw in attack. If we do the basics well, we should see a good performance.”
