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World Rugby Announces Upcoming Locations of Rugby World Cups

At its Annual Meeting in Dublin, World Rugby confirmed the locations for the next three women’s and two men’s Rugby World Cups:

England to host Rugby World Cup 2025 (women’s)
Australia to host Rugby World Cup 2027 (men’s) and 2029 (women’s)
USA to host Rugby World Cup 2031 (men’s) and 2033 (women’s)

World Rugby also confirmed a new partnership approach towards hosting the Rugby World Cup that looks to as they put it “stimulate the dynamic development of rugby globally and increase investment in the women’s game”. It was also confirmed that the 2025 Women’s World Cup will expand to 16 teams.

After the announcement, World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont said: “Today, we have approved three exceptional Rugby World Cup host nations – England, Australia and USA – providing unprecedented certainty and an unparalleled opportunity to accelerate the growth and impact of rugby globally. It is great for rugby, for fans and for the host nations.”

“Today is a landmark moment for the sport and exciting development for fans. I would like to congratulate everyone involved in making this dream a reality as we look to deliver a truly global sport for all.”

“We are thrilled to be hosting Rugby World Cup 2025, it is going to be incredible,” said RFU Chief Operating Officer, Chief Finance Officer and former England captain Sue Day. “As we have seen from other home World Cups in cricket, hockey and netball, a Rugby World Cup will further advance all women’s sport.”

Rugby Australia Chairman Hamish McLennan said: “This is a historic day for rugby in Australia. We’re beyond thrilled to be welcoming not one, but two Rugby World Cups to our shores. It’s a game-changer for rugby in this country, a once-in-a-generation opportunity to revitalise and secure the future of the sport here and see the game we all love grow and thrive for years to come.”

“I speak for the rugby community and fans across the United States when I express our sincere gratitude to World Rugby for their trust and endorsement of our vision to grow this incredible sport exponentially across our country.” added USA Rugby Chief Executive Ross Young. “USA Rugby will now venture into a new era and ensure the sport’s most treasured event is a springboard for creating lasting, sustainable enthusiasm and passion for rugby from coast to coast.”

The postponed women’s Rugby World Cup 2021 will take place in New Zealand later this year with the final held at the iconic Eden Park in Auckland on xx November 2022.

If readers are interested in news and ticket information about future Rugby World Cups the sign up here www.rugbyworldcup.com/newsletter.

additional reporting, images: World Rugby

European Tour Sevens Squads Announced

Ahead of a two-month-long European Tour the Hong Kong Rugby Union has announced the men’s and women’s Sevens squads.

The tour includes tournaments in England and Portugal, (the squad’s first international competition since last November) and offers HKRU sevens coach Paul John a chance to restart Hong Kong’s rugby journey ahead of a busy international season which includes the Rugby World Cup Sevens in South Africa, the Asian Games (Hangzhou, Sept.), Rugby World Series qualifiers (Aug.), and the Hong Kong Sevens (Nov.).

Training in the United Kingdom also offers the opportunity to enter both squads into two events on the upcoming UK Super Sevens Series and the international sevens warm-up tournament in the Algarve in Portugal.

The squads feature most of Hong Kong’s top sevens players – including Max Woodward, Melody Li, Natasha Olson-Thorne, Max Denmark, Chong Ka-yan and ex-Hong Kong sprinter Hui Manling – as well as uncapped players looking to make an impact.

After months of no rugby, there is an essential need among both squads for warm-up games with international opposition to prepare and get match fit for the demanding upcoming tournament schedule which culminates (hopefully) with Hong Kong Sevens in early November.

HKRU Mens’s Sevens training squad (European Tour, Spring Summer 2022)

HKRU Women’s Sevens training squad (European Tour, Spring Summer 2022)

Additional reporting and images: HKRU, Asia Rugby

Player Welfare-focused Law Trials – Have Your Say

World Rugby is offering everyone involved in the game the chance to have their say on the recent welfare-driven global law trials which have taken place over the last nine months.

An online survey offers fans, players, officials and anyone else with an interest in rugby a chance to be heard. The questionnaire is available until 28 March.

In July 2021, World Rugby announced that a package of law trials, focused on improving the welfare of players, would be trialled across the global game. Those law trials are:

50:22: This law trial is intended to create space via a tactical choice for players to drop out of the defensive line in order to prevent their opponents from kicking for touch, reducing the impact of defensive line speed
Goal-line drop out: This law trial is intended to reduce the number of scrums, reward good defence, encourage counter-attacking and increase the rate of ball in play 
Pre-bound pods of players: Outlawing the practice of pods of three or more players being pre-bound prior to receiving the ball – the sanction will be a penalty kick
Sanctioning the lower limb clear-out: Penalising players who target/drop their weight onto the lower limbs of a jackler – the sanction will be a penalty kick
Tightening law relating to latching: One-player latch to be permitted, but this player has the same responsibilities as a first arriving player (i.e. must stay on feet, enter through gate and not fall to floor) – the sanction will be a penalty kick

The results of the survey will be used alongside detailed data analysis and coach, player, referee and medical feedback to help inform the decision of the Law Review Group (LRG), which will make a final recommendation to the World Rugby High Performance Rugby Committee, before the World Rugby Council considers the recommendations in May. Should the law trials be approved by the Council, they would become full laws of the game in July 2022.

World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont said: “These player welfare-focused law trials have been invaluable and I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in making them such a success. Now it is vital that World Rugby has a complete picture of the impact of these trials for players, fans, medics and officials alike.

“That is why we are calling on everyone in the rugby family to have their say on these law trials and let us know your views, including the key question as to whether each of these trials should be accepted into full rugby law.

“As I said at the beginning of the year, 2022 is the year of player welfare for World Rugby and together with the rugby family we can ensure that this year, the laws of the game are the keeping up with all the developing science in this area.”

The Global Law Trials survey is available in the following languages
a. English https://forms.office.com/r/8mykKAL3Bt
b. French https://forms.office.com/r/bxA0KMj1pY
c. Spanish https://forms.office.com/r/tPgPYi242P
d. Japanese https://forms.office.com/r/2GCfy9PADa

Aditional reporting, images: World Rugby

Women’s Rugby Results – 20 November, 2021

Premiership

Kowloon 10-19 Valley Black
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 18:00

CWB Phoenix 0-58 USRC Tigers
@ Aberdeen Sports Ground, Kick-off: 18:00

HKFC Ice 17-5 Gai Wu Falcons
@ HK Football Club, Kick-off: 18:30

National League 2

Kowloon 7-0 Gai Wu Hawks
@ So Kon Po Recreation Ground, Kick-off: 13:30

Tai Po Dragons 34-0 Revolution Serenity
@ Tai Po Kwong Fuk Park, Kick-off: 15:00

City 14-12 CWB Lammergeier
@ Kowloon Tsai Sports Ground, Kick-off: 15:00

Tin Shui Wai 0-5 Disciplined Services
@ Tin Shui Wai Community Ground, Kick-off: 18:00

Police Sirens 40-0 Typhoons Thunder
@ Police Sports Ground, Kick-off: 18:00

Image: hkrugby

Women’s Rugby Results – 2 October, 2021

Premiership

HKFC Ice 25-10 Kowloon
@ HK Football Club, Kick-off: 13:30

USRC Tigers 14-15 Valley Black
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 18:00

CWB Phoenix 0-61 Gai Wu Falcons
@ So Kon Po, Kick-off: 18:00

National League 2

CWB Lammergeier 0-12 Kowloon
@ So Kon Po, Kick-off: 13:30

Typhoons Thunder 0-40 Gai Wu Hawks
@ Kowloon Tsai Sports Ground, Kick-off: 15:00

City 10-5 Tin Shui Wai
@ Tai Hang Tung, Kick-off: 16:30

Police Sirens 27-0 Revolution Serenity
@ Police Recreation Club, Kick-off: 18:00

Disciplined Services RFC 5-0 Tai Po Dragon
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 18:00

Image: hkrugby

Women’s Rugby Results – 25 September, 2021

Premiership

Gai Wu Falcons 7-18 Valley Black
@ Shek Kip Mei, Kick-off: 18:00

CWB Phoenix 0-50 HKFC Ice
@ So Kon Po, Kick-off: 18:00

USRC Tigers 21-7 Kowloon
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 18:00

Image: hkrugby

Hong Kong Women’s Rugby Results – 18 September, 2021

Premiership

Gai Wu Falcons 0-22 USRC Tigers
@ Shek Kip Mei, Kick-off: 18:00

Kowloon 55-0 CWB Phoenix
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 18:00

Valley Black 12-11 HKFC Ice
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 18:00

Image: hkrugby

Aggie Poon Takes Charge

As a former 110 metre hurdler, Aggie Poon had the pace and the quick feet that made her perfectly suited to playing on the wing or at full-back.

Having debuted as a 20-year-old, Poon was a stalwart of the Hong Kong women’s team, in sevens and 15s and played at Rugby World Cup 2017 and three Asian Games and was Hong Kong’s Women’s Sevens Player of the Year in 2016.

A meniscus injury to her left knee, however, was one physical barrier Poon was unable to overcome and she was forced to retire in 2017, aged just 27, with 13 caps to her name.

Rather than limping away from the sport, the professional personal trainer used her knowledge of fitness and conditioning to get her knee right again and embark on a career in officiating.

“Some friends asked me why I did not go into coaching. It wasn’t the easiest decision to make between being a coach or a referee,” she admitted.

“I chose the latter because it would be difficult for me to balance the duties as a coach with my other commitments. Refereeing fitted into my schedule better.

“Also, every team player has her own personality and strengths. It’d require a lot of effort as a coach to design a programme that caters for every single team member.

“As a referee, it is just my problem, to prepare well and be better. I cannot put the blame on other people.”

Learning the Laws

Poon isn’t afraid to admit she did not know all the laws of the game while she was playing and continues to strive to get better.

“I thought that refereeing can enrich my understanding of the laws while learning a new skill. I probably knew 60 per cent when I was playing,” she said candidly.

“Doing the set-piece, which includes scrum and lineout, is harder than I expected because the positions I used to play were winger and full-back instead of scrum-half or forward.

“You never stop learning; you should always try and understand the laws of the game otherwise you will pay the price. When you know more and learn more you will be more confident on the pitch.

“I hope to help the players to be more familiar with the laws as well, as having a better understanding of how the game works will help them to improve their performance straight away.”

Poon was appointed to the Asia Rugby refereeing panel this year and says the Amsterdam Sevens is the most prestigious tournament she has refereed to date.

The 31-year-old was part of the Hong Kong women’s sevens team that got to the Rio 2016 repechage only to fall short of making it to the big event.

Tokyo came too soon in her referee development – she only took up the whistle just over three years ago – but Paris 2024 is a realistic aim.

“Refereeing at the Olympics and games at a global level is my goal. It’s a long-term aim as well as a long shot, and I have been equipping myself for it,” she said.

“I have been inspired by Gabriel Lee and Matthew Rodden as they were the two referees who represented Hong Kong at the world level. I know it is an ambitious goal but I’m trying my best to achieve it.”

Additional reporting, image: World Rugby