The Hong Kong national rugby league team represents Hong Kong in the sport of rugby league.
Team information | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nickname | Thunder | |||||
Governing body | Hong Kong Rugby League | |||||
Region | Asia Pacific | |||||
Head coach | Matthew Jones | |||||
Captain | Jason Chung Kan Yip | |||||
Most caps | Toby Lei (7) Gus Spence (7) | |||||
Top try-scorer | Ben Ryan (5) | |||||
Top point-scorer | Richard Lindsay (30) | |||||
IRL ranking | 50th | |||||
Uniforms | ||||||
| ||||||
Team results | ||||||
First international | ||||||
Hong Kong 22-24 Japan (Kowloon, Hong Kong; 4 November 2017) | ||||||
Biggest win | ||||||
Japan 20-32 Hong Kong (Inagi, Tokyo; 16 June 2018) | ||||||
Biggest defeat | ||||||
Hong Kong 6-62 Poland (St Mary's Stadium, Australia; 4 October 2018) | ||||||
World Cup | ||||||
Appearances | 0 |
History
editThe Hong Kong Rugby League (HKRL) was formed in December 2014, with the first official rugby league matches in Hong Kong being played in 2015[1] and the inaugural Hong Kong Super League being contested in 2017.[2]
Hong Kong made its Test debut in November 2017, losing to Japan in Kowloon.[3] Hong Kong plays Japan for a trophy called the East Asia Cup.
Hong Kong was included in the RLIF world rankings for the first time in December 2017.[4] Hong Kong is currently ranked 45th in the world.[5]
Ben Ryan scored the first try for Hong Kong during their debut international against Japan. He also told fellow international Rugby League player Latrel Mitchell about it in Port Macquarie.
After a 6 year hiatus due to COVID - HKRL will be returning to the International scene with a East Asia Cup game vs Japan in October 2024.
Current squad
editSquad selected for 2024 East Asia Cup
- Andrew Welling
- Au Chi Wai
- Blake Atherton
- Callum Man
- Conan Freeman
- Dan Chui
- Gus Spence
- Doug O’Donnell
- Jason Yip
- Kenta Brown
- Matthew Jones
- Nelson Chan
- Tommy Lee
- Toby Lei
- Tommy Wong
- Hogan Toomalatai
IRL Rankings
editOfficial rankings as of 30 June 2024 | |||
Rank | Change | Team | Pts % |
1 | Australia | 100 | |
2 | New Zealand | 82 | |
3 | England | 80 | |
4 | Samoa | 67 | |
5 | Tonga | 49 | |
6 | 1 | Fiji | 47 |
7 | 1 | Papua New Guinea | 46 |
8 | France | 28 | |
9 | Lebanon | 22 | |
10 | Cook Islands | 20 | |
11 | Serbia | 19 | |
12 | Netherlands | 17 | |
13 | Italy | 15 | |
14 | 1 | Greece | 15 |
15 | 1 | Malta | 14 |
16 | Ireland | 14 | |
17 | Wales | 13 | |
18 | Jamaica | 10 | |
19 | Scotland | 9 | |
20 | Ukraine | 7 | |
21 | Czech Republic | 7 | |
22 | Germany | 6 | |
23 | 3 | Chile | 6 |
24 | Poland | 6 | |
25 | 3 | Norway | 6 |
26 | 1 | Kenya | 5 |
27 | 4 | Philippines | 5 |
28 | 3 | South Africa | 4 |
29 | Nigeria | 4 | |
30 | Ghana | 4 | |
31 | 2 | United States | 4 |
32 | 4 | Montenegro | 4 |
33 | 2 | Brazil | 3 |
34 | 2 | Turkey | 3 |
35 | 7 | North Macedonia | 3 |
36 | 2 | Bulgaria | 3 |
37 | 2 | Cameroon | 2 |
38 | 1 | Spain | 2 |
39 | 1 | Japan | 1 |
40 | 1 | Albania | 1 |
41 | 5 | Canada | 1 |
42 | 2 | Colombia | 1 |
43 | 2 | El Salvador | 1 |
44 | 1 | Morocco | 1 |
45 | Russia | 0 | |
46 | 2 | Sweden | 0 |
47 | 2 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 0 |
48 | 2 | Hungary | 0 |
49 | 3 | Argentina | 0 |
50 | Hong Kong | 0 | |
51 | 3 | Solomon Islands | 0 |
52 | 5 | Niue | 0 |
53 | 1 | Latvia | 0 |
54 | 1 | Denmark | 0 |
55 | 6 | Belgium | 0 |
56 | 1 | Estonia | 0 |
57 | 6 | Vanuatu | 0 |
Complete rankings at INTRL.SPORT |