Hong Kong China Women’s XV Defeated by Fiji But Take Away Positives

The Fijiana were deserved winners in their second-round clash with Hong Kong China Women’s XV in the WXV Global Series Challenger 2026, running out 54-26 winners and showing flair, power and an impeccable offload game, but the hosts scored four tries in defeat to pick up a bonus point and will have plenty of positives to take into the final round.

Photo Credit: World Rugby & Getty Images

HKCR captain Lara Schats said post-game, “Credit to Fiji; they are incredible to watch and harder to play against. Credit to our girls for sticking in it.

Hopefully we can go all the way to the Rugby World Cup – we left ourselves down for ten minutes there, and the Flying Fijians flew past us. We are tight, and we want to work hard for each other, and we are a dysfunctional family but a close one at that.”

The match was in the balance until near the half-hour mark, after Hong Kong China had taken the lead after falling behind early as Fiji had a 12-0 lead with two tries in the opening 11 minutes.

HKCR’s Tanya Dhar scored her third try in two games with another powerful rolling maul, and fullback Sabay Lynam finished an attack out wide with Lauren Knowler’s conversion putting the hosts ahead. But a four-try blitz from the Pacific Islands champions put the game to bed as they led 40-14 at the break.

Varanisese Qoro, player of the match, showed her silky skills and brute strength as she scored two tries and kicked six conversions.

HKCR deserve a lot of credit for how they fronted up after that and had to take on the physical and running threat Fiji had in abundance.

Photo Credit – HKCR – Lucia Bolton – WXV Global Series Challenger 2026

The teams exchanged physical blows and points in the second half. Fiji pounced first, and then Knowler powered past defenders and stretched out to score her team’s third try. Her performance was excellent for Hong Kong China, but there were performances to admire across the park.

With the game lost, Georgia Cutt made her debut and was straight into the mix with several carries and touches of the ball. Sabay Lynam ran hard from fullback; the hits from Grace Hood and the pack were outsized but repelled waves of attacks and had a steady set piece.

HKCR chased the bonus point until the last minute, and a smiling Lucia Bolton scored her first international try in the 81st minute.

Fiji’s POTM Atelaite Buna Ralivanawa said, “It was a tough game from HKCR, and we were expecting that. Credit to the girls for the hard work. I just did what the coaches asked of me today, and I think I delivered.”

Photo Credit – World Rugby & Getty Images Atelaite Buna Ralivanawa – WXV Global Series Challenger 2026 POTM vs HKCR

Lead Coach for HKCR Tumua Ioane said, “In terms of the result… disappointing. We had a chance there and really put ourselves in a good position, but they’re a very good side and when you let them score 26 points in 10 minutes, that changed the game. We were just chasing from there.

Fiji are very dynamic. They can get their hands free and kick the ball alive, and that’s what killed us today. So a bit of work there to do, but yeah, that’s part of the effort. The big goal was to be clear with how we wanted to play Hong Kong rugby. I felt like we displayed that a little bit more today, which was pleasing.”

Of his team, he added, “We speak about being relentless and working hard for each other. The girls worked hard for two months on their conditioning, and we’re seeing the fruits of that late in these games, which is cool to see.”

Lucia had a really good game. She was strong in what she did, and then Georgia cut off the bench. Georgia knows what she does; she puts the ball under one arm and looks to carry, and I thought she did that really well today. In terms of the way the group has come together and the way they’re performing, I think the door is open for us to keep growing once we have all players available,” added Ioane.

No.8 Grace Hood, who stood up well all game, said, “We’ve come so far, starting back in training. We’re not a full-time program, so just to perform like that was outstanding for us. I’m super, super proud of the girls and I think we’re super, super proud of each other. We really, really believe in ourselves.”

Photo Credit – HKCR – WXV Global Series Challenger 2026

HKCR points scorers

• Tries: Tanya Dhar (17′), Sabay Lynam (26′), Lauren Knowler (56′), Lucia Bolton (81’)
• Conversions: Lauren Knowler x3

The Netherlands remain undefeated and narrowly beat Brazil 17-15, while Spain beat Samoa 61-21.

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