Hong Kong vow to grab Rugby World Cup spot and avoid repechage roller-coaster
Ben Axten-Burrett spurred on by memories of Hong Kong’s past missed opportunities to qualify
Having the opportunity to qualify for a Rugby World Cup is not a new scenario for Hong Kong’s men – being this close to the promised land is.
Saturday’s equation is frighteningly simple: beat South Korea in the final round of the Asia Rugby Emirates Men’s Championship and they will be part of the 2027 tournament in Australia. It would be the first time the city’s men had ever reached such heights, after the women did so in 2017.
Given Hong Kong’s utter domination of the competition since 2018, and their two emphatic victories this time around against the United Arab Emirates and Sri Lanka, they go into the game in Incheon as clear favourites, sitting first in the standings.
Their hosts, in contrast, have been less than convincing in narrowly beating Sri Lanka in Colombo and conspiring to lose at home to the UAE.
Still, just three points separate them from the top of the table, and the Koreans could yet snatch a qualifying berth that has had Hong Kong’s name on it almost from the moment World Rugby expanded the global tournament to 24 teams and assigned Asia an extra spot.