The Asia Rugby Men’s Championship 2024 gets underway on 1 June, which will see Hong Kong China Men start their title defence against the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It will be a historic day at home as they play a doubleheader with the Hong Kong China Women playing their final match of the Asia Rugby Women’s Championship against Kazakhstan.

Ticketing Information:

- Sat 1 Jun, 15:30. Hong Kong China Men's XV vs UAE – Hong Kong Football Club (part of a double header with Hong Kong China Women's XV vs Kazakhstan (KO 18:30)
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- Sat 22 Jun, 16:30. Hong Kong China Men's XV vs South Korea – Hong Kong Football Club
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The men’s team have won four consecutive ARMC titles throughout the changes in format of the competition over recent years. 

In 2024, the tournament has been expanded to four teams, with Malaysia and Korea returning, but it also sees the addition of UAE who join Asia’s top-flight for the first time.

The two matches in Hong Kong in last year’s ARMC were the first home test matches for the men’s representative team in over three years and they came out on top of the two fixtures, beating Malaysia convincingly 88-9, and then defeating Korea in the Championship decider 30-10 with both matches played at Hong Kong Football Club.

Hong Kong China Men’s captain, Joshua Hrstich, said of the competition in this year’s Championship, “I think the biggest threat in defending our ARMC title is probably ourselves. The teams in this competition are all dangerous, and if we're not at the top of our game, they will definitely capitalise on that.”

Hrstich missed most of last season’s ARMC through injury and is excited about the upcoming Championship, but was also happy with how the squad performed last year. “I was extremely impressed with the team's performance in getting the job done. We have a lot of depth in our team, and everyone worked incredibly hard in the lead-up to the competition. It was very satisfying to see all that hard work pay off and for us to finish on top once again.”

For the Championship opener, Malaysia are still looking for a first win in the ARMC and the Bunga Raya 15s beat Singapore in an XVs friendly on 11 May 46-7 in preparation.

ARMC 2024 Preparation

In April 2024 Hong Kong China Men’s XVs went to Canberra, Australia for a week-long camp at the Brumbies' top-class facilities as the season changed from domestic to international rugby.

A 29-man squad as well as 10 coaching staff, led by Head Coach Andrew Douglas, explained the purpose of the camp.

“A big part of it was to bring the guys together for a week where we focus just on rugby, get to know each other and enjoy each other's company and to bridge that gap between club rugby and international rugby. We had a pretty young squad there so it was a chance to see what level they're at and we wanted to test them a little bit more at the next level up.”

Hrstich added, “It was an awesome experience as we got to connect as a team, use top-notch facilities, and focus on our goals for the upcoming busy calendar. Taking on a tough Brumbies' side to finish the trip was a great challenge for us and a valuable learning experience for the group.”

Douglas also said the match was a tough lesson but said that the side they faced had thirteen players with Super Rugby and Wallabies experience as well as a couple of Academy players. “The good thing was, when they came off the field, they were hungry for more and understood there's a level they need to go to but we feel confident we can get there.”

In terms of preparation for the three sides Hong Kong China will face, Douglas was pragmatic. It will be his first Asia Rugby Men’s Championship but he has experienced coaches and staff around him. He added:

“With the UAE, we will probably just focus on ourselves because we don't know enough about them, even though we know Malaysia a little better, we'll probably just focus on ourselves for those particular games. 

“With Korea, we can target a few things but we've got enough we want to focus on in terms of our play and getting a few things right around our set piece and attack and defence systems. So our focus is on getting those things right and ensuring it's good enough.”

Hrstich concluded, “We have several promising young players putting their hands up which is a massive positive and going to cause some headaches for the coaching staff. In the forwards, Tyler McNutt was a standout on debut against Germany and followed it up with a strong domestic season. In the backs, PJ Laidler has been impressive for HKU Sandy Bay RFC and had a strong week down in Canberra, so keep an eye on those two.”

2024 Is A Welcome Busy Calendar

The ARMC is the start of the season, but there is also a three-match South American tour after the Championship in July, and Hrstich reiterated “These tours are extremely important for non-professional sports teams to get valuable time together as a squad. As players and coaches, we are competing against each other throughout the domestic season so the opportunity to come together and align is massive.”

Asia Rugby Men’s Championship 2024 Schedule

1 June 2024 – Hong Kong China vs UAE (Hong Kong – Doubleheader with the final Women’s Championship match)

2 June 2024 – Korea vs Malaysia (Incheon, Korea)

8 June 2024 –  Malaysia vs Hong Kong China (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

9th June 2024 – UAE vs Korea (Dubai, UAE)

21st June 2024 – UAE vs Malaysia (Dubai, UAE)

22nd June 2024 – HKCR vs Korea (Hong Kong)

World Rugby Ranking 

(Correct at the time of publishing)

#24 Hong Kong China

#30 Korea

#50 Malaysia

ARMC 2023 Results

Malaysia 3-27 Korea

Hong Kong China 88-9 Malaysia

Hong Kong China 30-10 Korea

ARMC 2022 Results

Korea 55–10 Malaysia

Korea 21–23 Hong Kong China

How To Watch the Asia Rugby Men's Championship 2024

For fans who cannot attend the matches live, both Hong Kong China Men’s home matches will be available live on our YouTube channel.

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