Asia Rugby Emirates Women’s Championship 2026 Preview – Team Guide

The Asia Rugby Emirates Women’s Championship 2026 will be hosted in Almaty, Kazakhstan, from 30 April until 10 May 2026, with the usual contendors defending champions Sakura 15s, Hong Kong China, and Kazakhstan involved. This will be the 20th anniversary of the tournament, as it was first played in 2006.

Updated with results

2026 is the 15th edition of the Asia Rugby Women’s Championship to be actually played. The AREWC 2026 will once again be played in a three-match, round robin format, and all fixtures are fully capped Test matches, all played at the Almaty Sport Complex.

Japan are currently ranked 11th in the world, Hong Kong China are 16th, and Kazakhstan is 19th.

Japan won the title again in 2025, and are chasing a 6th consecutive title and are the heavy favourites to lift the title in Kazakhstan. In Japan at last year’s AREWC, the Sakura 15s defeated Kazakhstan 90-0 and HKCR 63-5, with HKCR beating Kazakhstan 29-12 to finish as runners-up for the second consecutive year.

The hosts, Kazakhstan, have not won a game in the tournament for the past two years but have yet to lose to HKCR at home. They have also not scored a point against Japan in a decade.

Interestingly, two of the three national teams (Japan and HKCR) will be without permanent Head Coaches heading into the tournament.

You can see all of the information on the 2025 squads and results of the AREWC 2025 here.

Japan Sakura 15s Squad AREWC 2026

The JRFU announced on 1st April 2026 that Takeshi Arimizu was appointed as Director of Rugby for the Japan Women’s 15-a-side National Team. There was never any official confirmation that Head Coach Lesley McKenzie left her role, but as far as we know, her contract ended after RWC 2025.

The JRFU said that Takeshi will be “In charge of planning and managing the team’s activities, as well as leading and overseeing on-field activities together with the coaching staff.” The Sakura 15s will be led by Takeshi Arimizu and acting Head Coach Toshizumi Kitagawa.

The decision and announcement of the Sakura 15s’ permanent Head Coach is scheduled for after the tournament, possibly in the Summer. They will compete in the WXV later this year.

Photo Credit – JRFU

The JRFU announced on April 25th the final squad to travel to Kazakhstan.

Sakura Fifteen Interim Head Coach, Toshizumi Kitagawa, said: “As a team, we’re really looking forward to heading to Kazakhstan and competing in the Asia Rugby Women’s Championship. With new faces in the coaching team and several young players coming into the squad, I am looking forward to seeing how we perform. We want to implement a style in which we play at a faster pace, both in attack and defence. These matches against Kazakhstan and Hong Kong China give us a valuable platform to implement our plan.”

As many as seven of the 26 selected players are uncapped, as we are seeing the signs of a new Rugby World Cup cycle. The potential debut players are:

• Nanako USHIJIMA
• Juka FUJI
• Mei OKUBO
• Sara TAKAHASHI
• Suzuka NAKASHIMA
• Kanna HAYASHI
• Sawa HARADA

Scrumhalf Moe TSUKUI is the most experienced player in the team, with 45 Test caps to her name, with Minori Yamamoto the second-most experienced player with 41 caps for the Sakura Fifteens.

Three players had already signed to play in Rugby Aupiki in New Zealand and Super W in Australia, and won’t be involved in the AREWC 2026; Hooker Chiharu Nezuka (Yokohama TKM) and back-rower Seina Saito (Mie Pearls) – who is a three-time World Cup rep & former captain for Japan – both joined the Western Force, while Nijiho Nagata (Mie Pearls) joined the Blues in New Zealand.

Tight head prop Wako Kitano is also with the Leicester Tigers in the PWR (England).

Hong Kong China Women’s Squad AREWC 2026

The HKCR Coaching lineup was confirmed at the end of March 2026. Bella Milo will be the Lead Coach before departing Hong Kong to take up the role of Head Coach of the Samoan Women’s XV team.

Hong Kong China has only ever won the tournament once and been runner-up seven times. We also spoke with Bella in a content colab HKCR piece where she outlined their preparations and goals for the tournament.

You can read the full interview with Bella Milo at HKCR.

Photo Credit – Danny Cooper

She said, “This has been a different build-up, and obviously with one eye on September, but we’ve got a really good group of players together post-Premiership. There is a mix of young players as well as our experienced players, with new and experienced coaches as well.

We’ve put some goals down that we want to work on. Obviously, we’ve got some new players who will enjoy a new experience. But we want to go to Kazakhstan, and we want to try and get that win over them in their backyard. With Japan, we’ve got to try and close that gap. We’ve got some things that we want to really focus on to be able to put a few players in the Test arena and also continue to develop the other players.”

There seem to be several experienced players missing, notably Natasha Olson-Thorne, but other veterans included in the touring squad are CHOW Mei Nam (30 caps), GOT Fion (12 caps), LAU Nga Wun (34 caps) and LEE Ka Shun (37 caps).

UEMATSU Haruka, who made her HK7s debut and scored recently, is also included, and she has 4 caps to her name.

There is a return for the likes of outside back Sabay Lynam, who has been playing Prem Grade rugby in Brisbane and second row Roshini Turner, who has been with the Saracens.  Several players who competed in the uncapped tour of Europe late in 2025 are in the mix, and there are potentially 9 debut players in the touring squad for the AREWC 2026.

Hong Kong China XVs Travelling Squad:

CHAN Ching Man*; CHOW Mei Nam; CHUNG Sabrina*; DHAR Tanya; FU Tiffany Hiu San*; GOT Fion; HEREWINI Kea; HOOD Grace; LAU Nga Wun**; LEE Ka Shun; LITTLEHAILES Isobel*; POTGIETER Jenna*; STEVENSON Kirstie*; TURNER Roshini; ZA Xiao Hui*; CHAN Abigail; CHIN Ka Yue; HO Tsz Wun; KNOWLER Lauren*; LI Sze Ting*; LO Wing Yin; LYNAM Sabay; SCHATS Lara; SMITH Zoe; UEMATSU Haruka; WAN Tsz Yau

**Ho Hau Yan has replaced LAU (Tammy) Nga Wu who picked up an injury.

*Potential Debutant

Kazakhstan Women’s Squad AREWC 2026

The Kazakhstan women are the lowest-ranked of the three sides and must have certain goals they are chasing as hosts in 2026. Kazakhstan are coached by former South Africa Sevens player Fabian Juries for the second year in the AREWC.

Historically, Kazakhstan have won the AREWC five times and been runner-up three times, but they have struggled in recent years. Having lost out to Hong Kong China for the WXV Global Series Challenger place in 2026, they have no other Tests confirmed for this year.

They have lost to HKCR the past two years in the tournament, but are yet to lose to them at home, a record they will want to maintain. Overall, the head-to-head now reads as four wins each, but HKCR have won four since 2022.

As for the Japan fixture, beating the favourites might be too big an ask, but in the last two years of the tournament, Kazakhstan have suffered two big losses and failed to score against Sakura 15. The last time they actually scored points against Japan was in 2015 when they lost 12-27.

Being far more competitive for 80 minutes and scoring any sort of points would be seen as a step in the right direction. In the 12 tests they have played since 2020, they failed to score in five of the six previous Test losses and conceded 433 points in those defeats in total.

Kazakhstan Women’s XVs Tournament Squad:

14 of the selected squad come from the Asiasport club, with Almaty Rugby Club contributing 6 players, PRK Olymp (5), and SDUYSHOR (1).

• Yelena Yurova
• Xeniya Kim
• Darya Simakova
• Karina Sazontova
• Symbat Zhamankulova
• Anna Melnikova
• Mariya Grishina
• Diana Andriyenko
• Daiana Kazibekova
• Yekaterina Kamenkova
• Amina Tulegenova
• Balzhan Koishybayeva
• Oxana Shadrina
• Veronika Stepanyuga
• Tatyana Kruchinkina
• Irina Balabina
• Anna Chebotar
• Taissya Tyumentseva
• Milana Alayeva
• Yuliya Oleinikova
• Ayaulym Bakytpek
• Yeva Bekker
• Alyona Drobovskaya
• Anzhelika Pichugina
• Natalya Kamendrovskaya
• Snezhana Popovich

Photo Credit – HKCR / Asia Rugby – Kazakhstan lost both matches in 2024 and 2025

Match Schedule – Asia Rugby Emirates Women’s Championship 2026

It should be noted that these dates have already slightly changed from the ones originally posted by Asia Rugby.

• 30 April – Kazakhstan 12-64 Japan (16:00 KO local time) – You can see our match preview here.
• 5 May – Japan 71-12 Hong Kong China (16:00 KO local time) – You can see our match preview here.
• 10 May – Kazakhstan vs Hong Kong China (14:00 KO local time)

Match Officials – Asia Rugby Women’s Championship 2026

Referees

• Sunny Lee Chui Yan (Hong Kong China Rugby)
• Christabelle Lim (Singapore Rugby Union)
• Hibiki Ikeda (Japan Rugby Football Union) (originally listed as Ano Kuwai by Asia Rugby, but this has been updated)

Assistant Referees

• Matthew Rodden
• Leow Wei Liang
• Patrick Kwok
• Adeline Chew
• Joanna Bezuidenhout
• Miku Tashiro

TMO

• Just Wang
• Stephgen Copeman

See all of the squads and results from the 2024 edition of the AREWC 2024 here.

How To Watch Asia Rugby Emirates Women’s Championship 2026

Asia Rugby has said that all of the matches will be broadcast via Asia Rugby and RugbyPassTV for international audiences.

Asian Rugby News 2026

• Asian International Rugby Tournaments 2026.
• Hong Kong China Men’s XV Head To South America for July World Rugby Nations Cup 2026 Fixtures.
• Understanding the WXV Global Series 2026-2028.
• 2026 Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens – Fan’s Guide On What You Need To Know.