UAE vs Hong Kong China Preview – Asia Rugby Emirates Men’s Championship 2025

The UAE hosts defending champions Hong Kong China in the second fixture of the Asia Rugby Emirates Men’s Championship 2025 on Saturday, 14 June at the Sevens Stadium in Dubai.

The two sides have faced each other six times, and the UAE is yet to record a win over the Hong Kong China side, with the result from the match in Hong Kong last year being 52-5. The average points scored by the six-time defending champions of the AREMC has been 55 against the United Arab Emirates.

UAE Head Coach Jacques Benade has made several changes to the side, which lost to Germany 20-26 in November 2024, as well as Zimbabwe, and as many as six players could make their debut on Saturday. Their most recent game was a loss in a warmup match, which was not a test, against Kenya.

The friendly of three periods in Nairobi on 24 May saw scores of 14-0 & 10-7 (in the UAE’s favour), but Kemya ran away with it in the third 47-0.

Two of the loose forwards will earn their test debuts, Bradley Janes and Ethan Mathews (both from Jebel Ali Dragons). Elsewhere, Andrew Semple starts at scrum-half while fly-half Max Johnson will debut at fly-half, and South African Gerard Pieterse earns his first cap, starting at fullback.

Matthew Mills continues to captain the side from the flank, and the dangerous Sakiusa Natisau, who scored twice in the loss to Germany last year, starts on the left wing.

Notable absentees are fly-half Jamie Gavin, who collected 21 points in the win over Korea last year, and South African-born Jaen Botes.

Hong Kong China have prepared for the tournament by holding camps with the Brumbies in April and in Japan, where they played a Japan XV side.

Josh Hrstich leads the squad as captain and said, “It’s the best prep that we’ve had. We’ll never be more prepared than we are, and we are very lucky and grateful for the time we’ve had together. It’s a huge opportunity, and what it will do for our rugby community – the growth we will see, it’s hard to put into words how meaningful it could be. For me personally, it would be the opportunity of a lifetime to experience the pinnacle of the game.”

Photo Credit – HKCR

In the HKCR side, the squad selected includes several Sevens players, including Harry Sayers, who starts on one wing, and Max Denmark on the other. Denmark scored twice in the warm-up loss against Japan XV.

Tommy Hill starts in the centres, and the powerful player scored a double in this fixture last year, and other try scorers in the 2024 win who are in the squad are Paul Altier and Alexander Post (both of whom play in the UK).

Alex Post starts at hooker after a successful season with Richmond where the club were crowned champions of National League 1 and promoted to the Championship, Nathan de Thierry starts at flyhalf, and Matt Worley is at fullback.

Worley’s club side, the Bedford Blues, enjoyed their best league finish for 13 years in the UK Championship as runner-up, and he finished joint-second top try scorer for the club with 14 tries and passed a century of appearances for the club.

Former Kowloon coach and current U20s HKCR coach Joe Barker is due to make his international debut from the bench.

Hong Kong China Men’s 15s Head Coach Andrew Douglas said of the threat UAE poses, “They’re pretty big men. I think they’ll try and bash us a bit – they rate their maul so we expect they’ll have a crack there and try to go through us rather than around us.”

He added of the preparations, “I’m very happy with where the squad’s at, I think we’ve created a bit of depth over the last 20 months. Having the Sevens boys released early was very beneficial.”<

• Referee: Katsuki Furuse (JRFU)
• Assistant Referees: Takehito Namekawa, Koki Yamauchi (JRFU)
• TMO: Tasuku Kawahara (JRFU)
• Performance Reviewer: Simon Dodd

Match Permutations – UAE vs HKCR

• Hong Kong China cannot improve their rating this weekend if they win, but they are guaranteed to remain as Asia’s second-highest-ranked side behind Japan because they are too far ahead of the region’s other teams to be overtaken.
• If Hong Kong China lose, they can at most fall five places to 28th.
• If the UAE wins, they will reach a new high of 43rd – they could rise to 40th if the winning margin is more than 15 points.

 UAE Men’s XV Squad vs Hong Kong China – June 14 2025