HONG KONG CHINA WOMEN SQUAD AND PREVIEW FOR WXV3 MATCH 2

Hong Kong China Women's XVs currently in Dubai
WXV3 second match against Madagascar takes place this Friday (4 October) with matchday squad now confirmed
The top two teams from WXV3 (outside of Fiji) will qualify for the 2025 Rugby World Cup 2025

[ 2 Oct 2024] Hong Kong China 15s

Match Preview: Hong Kong China Women Focused and Ready for Madagascar at WXV3

Hong Kong China Women take on Madagascar this Friday, 4 October (19:00 local / 23:00 HKT) for their second WXV3 2024 fixture, and the game is like a final if the women want to keep their Rugby World Cup 2025 qualification dream alive at the Emirates Stadium in Dubai. The confirmed squad is shown at the bottom of this article.

Following the 38-3 loss to Fiji, Hong Kong China is now ranked 18th according to World Rugby, while Madagascar suffered at the hands of Spain with an 83-0 loss and remain ranked 25th. Hong Kong China know a win would keep them in the running with a final match to play against the Netherlands and Head Coach Andrew Douglas, his captain Pun Wai Yan, and the entire squad are confident and focused on Friday’s match.

The team selection sees Georgia Rivers, Chan Hiu Tung, and Chow Mei Nam come in for So Karen Hoi Ting, Lucia Bolton and Tsang Hoi Laam with some positional changes also in play. For the most part, Douglas has kept faith in the bulk of the squad and has selected what he feels is the best possible team to get a result against the African side, who for the first time ever played outside of Africa against Spain.

He said, “We know we left a lot of opportunities on the field (against Fiji), and we've got a short turnaround for this match. We have to move on and take our lessons from it, but we're excited about Madagascar. It's been a good week, and there's been a bit of soul-searching and some pretty clear messages from the coaching staff and from the team’s leaders, so hopefully that's been absorbed, and we can look forward to Madagascar.”

In terms of the changes to the squad, he added that the fly-half change is intended to keep Madagascar on the back foot and the team will better cope with a Madagascar side that is expected to be a bit more unstructured. Of note, the matchday 23 has two sets of sisters (#5 Micayla Baltazar & #19 Chloe Baltazar, and #10 Georgia Rivers & #12 Gabriella Rivers) which is believed to be a first for Hong Kong China women’s rugby.

Captain Pun Wai Yan (PY) echoed the excitement about the matchup, which will be the first-ever between Hong Kong China and Madagascar. “We know we had a lot of opportunities to attack last week and we have held good sessions this week to prepare. We are all quite excited to play our best this weekend and show how good Hong Kong China can be on the world stage. We know we need to fight for the full 80 minutes, and we can use this week to build up our confidence.”

Veteran front-row forward Tammy Lau Nga Wun, who was part of the squad at Rugby World Cup 2017, is confident the pack can deliver against Madagascar and they have put in time to try and fix the lineout issues they faced against Fiji. “Probably they have bigger-sized players than us, but I think we can beat them with speed and in attack. I'm really looking forward to playing them to see what we can do on the field.”

One of the newer and younger squad members, Sabay Lynam, who will start at fullback again, is appreciative of the positive environment the team is in and of the leadership group that keeps them on their toes. She said of her confidence for the second WXV3 match, “I'm hoping to see us be more lethal on the edges, being able to get the ball wide and have a go at them on the wings, which would really change the tempo of our game. We didn't do it enough against Fiji, so I'm hoping that we can get more chances to do that.

She added, “You learn something new every single day with this group, and PY keeps it light-hearted, but she's been really direct with all of us and is always looking out for the younger girls as well. We're all really determined to get the win this Friday.”

A final word from the coach, was to emphasise, “We believe we are able to chase our World Cup dream, and it is all down to us; how we play and how we enjoy the game this weekend.”

This article was posted in collaboration with our good friends at RugbyAsia247 – check them out for all the latest Asian Rugby news!

WXV3 Format and Fixtures

Each team plays three group matches in the tournament, to determine which two teams will join already qualified Fiji at the Rugby World Cup 2025. After the opening round loss to Fiji, Hong Kong China still need to face Madagascar and the Netherlands, with Spain and Samoa completing the tournament line-up. Hong Kong China matches are available to view live on RugbyPass TV.

Saturday 28 September Fiji 38-3 Hong Kong China
Friday 4 October, 19:00 local (23:00 HKT) – Madagascar vs Hong Kong China (Watch Live)
Saturday 12 October, 18:00 local (22:00 HKT) – Netherlands vs Hong Kong China

Squad – Madagascar vs Hong Kong China

PLAYERS (Club)

1 LAU Nga Wun (Gai Wu)2 DHAR Tanya (Valley)3 HEREWINI Kea (Valley)4 TURNER Roshini (HKFC)5 BALTAZAR Micayla (USRC Tigers)6 PUN Wai Yan © (Gai Wu)7 CHAN Tsz Ching (HKFC)8 FORREST Shanna (Kowloon)9 HO Jessica Wai On (USRC Tigers)10 RIVERS Georgia (Kowloon)11 SMITH Zoe (Valley)12 RIVERS Gabriella (HKFC)13 OLSON-THORNE Natasha (USRC Tigers)14 CHONG Ka Yan (USRC Tigers)15 LYNAM Sabay (Kowloon)16 GOT Fion (HKFC)17 CHAN Hiu Tung18 LEE Ka Shun (Gai Wu)19 BALTAZAR Chloe (USRC Tigers)20 CHOW Mei Nam (Gai Wu)21 WAN Tsz Yau (Gai Wu)22 FUNG Hoi Ching (Gai Wu)23 UEMATSU Haruka (Valley)

TEAM MANAGEMENT (Role)

Dora KWOK (Team Manager)Royce CHAN (Programme Lead)Andrew DOUGLAS (Head Coach)Samuel BEARD (Coach)Lewis WILSON (Coach)Ian BONNET (S&C Coach)Peter NUGENT (S&C Coach)Jake MARTIN (Analyst)Sophie RAINE (Physiotherapist)Jonathan MOSES (Physiotherapist)

Information and photo source : Hong Kong China Rugby