Hong Kong China hosts Sri Lanka on Sunday, 22 June at the Kai Tak Youth Sports Ground, which is the defending champions’ only home match of the 2025 Asia Rugby Emirates Men’s Championship, and Head Coach Andrew Douglas has made some positional and matchday squad changes for a Tuskers team that nearly shocked Korea last week.
The Sri Lankans were leading the Koreans at halftime in Colombo before falling narrowly 34-38, so they have provided plenty of warning of their intent with the ball as they ran in 5 tries in their defeat. Hong Kong China, hoping to be buoyed by some good crowd support, will be targeting the Tuskers upfront as the pack performed well against UAE, and the Sri Lankans conceded several penalties to the dominant Korean scrum.
The last time HKCR faced Sri Lanka was more than a decade ago, on 3 May 2014, when the men from Hong Kong were 41-10 victors, and this weekend’s matchup will be the 5th time the two sides have faced each other. Sri Lanka has yet to secure a win over Hong Kong China, and this will be the 9th matchup. This will be their first meeting in Hong Kong since the home side ran out 45-15 winners in May 2006.
Head Coach Andrew Douglas said via HKCR, “For this type of game against Sri Lanka, we probably need to bring a bit more bang against them, and there’s still a lot of support on the bench. But the changes are not for the sake of change, but more to suit the style of play that Sri Lanka will bring”.
Calum Scott starts with Zacceus Cinnamond, Callum McCullough, James Sawyer, Paul Altier all in the starting XV, and Alex Post, Pierce Mackinlay West and Patrick Jenkinson all start on the bench. Altier on the right wing is the only change in the backline.
Coming into the matchday squad are Luke Van Der Smit starting at 8 and prop Faizal Solomona Penesa securing a spot among the reserves. Keelan Chapman, Tyler McNutt, and Max Denmark, who all started last weekend, are rested.
Alessandro Nardoni, an experienced Sevens campaigner, is among the reserves and can potentially earn his first 15s cap for Hong Kong China.
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