Hong Kong, China, December 7, 2022: The Hong Kong Rugby Union women’s team will play Kazakhstan in a two-test series in Hong Kong on December 10 and 17.
These are the first test matches for Hong Kong since the emergence of the pandemic and the first international games since a tour of Europe in November 2019 when Hong Kong swept the Netherlands.
The games also mark the head coaching debut for Hong Kong women’s rugby stalwart Royce Chan Leong-sze, Hong Kong’s first ever ethnic Chinese head coach of a representative fifteen.
“As a coach I have a mission and a dream that goes past wins and losses. I want to show as a role model how women can deal with different situations and conditions and positively contribute to how women are perceived in the traditionally male dominated sports industry,” said Chan.
“My mission is not only for rugby but for women who are trying to achieve as leaders in the sports community and show that we can be confident and speak up for ourselves. My ambition is to lead Hong Kong back to a Rugby World Cup. If I could represent Hong Kong as a player at a Rugby World Cup and as a coach at a Rugby World Cup in the future, that would be incredible,” said Chan.
Chan is excited about the opportunity to lead the team for the first time at home, saying: “For the entire women’s rugby community this is big. Fifteens has been on and off quite a bit in the past few years due to covid so to have international matches at home means a lot for the bigger picture.”
