Hong Kong to field 2 debutants against Brazil as build-up to 2027 Rugby World Cup begins

Hong Kong will hand debuts to Sunai Fameitau and Max Threlkeld in the first Test against Brazil on Saturday, when the starting gun will be fired on the race to qualify for the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

Threlkeld starts in the centres alongside Ben Axten-Burrett, while prop Fameitau – who recently completed his five-year residency in the city – will provide cover off the bench for a front row that includes hooker Calum Scott, who like Threkeld is among a number of overseas players in the squad.

Expecting a tough battle upfront against a team that “loves the physicality of rugby”, head coach Andrew Douglas has named six forwards on his bench, with Jack Combes and Guy Spanton the only support for a backline that has Jamie Lauder and Nathan de Thierry resuming their partnership at scrum-half and fly-half.

Josh Hrstich will again captain the side from the forwards, but there is no place for Tommy Hill in the match-day squad. The experienced centre has been rested while Douglas tries a different combination.

The winners of next year’s Asia Rugby Championship will earn the right to compete alongside the game’s best teams, giving a greater context to the weekend’s match at Football Club and a second encounter at Kai Tak Youth Sports Ground seven days later.

And while Douglas acknowledged he “would be lying if I said nobody’s talked about that”, his main job was to look at the bigger picture “over the next five years, not just the next game”.

“I want the players to focus on one game at a time, and we’ve got a very good leadership group in our team who have been very good at that,” Douglas said. “We haven’t talked about anything about ARC or World Cup qualification during this past week.”