HONG KONG CHINA WOMEN’S XVs 26-26 KAZAKHSTAN

HKCR Women’s XV battle Kazakhstan to a standstill at Asia Rugby Championships

The Hong Kong China Rugby Women’s XV narrowly missed out on defending second place at the Asia Rugby Emirates Women’s Championships yesterday after coming back in stoppage time to draw with Kazakhstan 26-26 in a taut affair played in torrential rains in Almaty. 

Hong Kong China Rugby (HKCR) entered the match needing a win outright to repeat as runners-up to Japan. It looked in the cards early on when the visitors scored in the second minute through Lauren Knowler. In a great start, Hong Kong made light of the heavy weather as they came flying out of the blocks with wing Zoe Smith charging down the home team’s attempted clearance from the kick-off. 

Kazakhstan eventually cleared their lines, giving Hong Kong its first lineout in attacking position, one of the squad’s most reliable scoring maneuvers. Hong Kong made the lineout count with a driving maul led by new prop Kristie Stevenson, who drove to two metres out before Knowler, another new cap on this tour, collected the ball for the final dive across the line. Smith’s conversion gave Hong Kong a 7-0 lead.

The teams then traded scores – and largely stuck true to type – with Kazakhstan scoring in the seventh minute after clinically compiling phase after phase to deposit hooker Xeniya Kim across the line for her third try of the tournament. The successful conversion levelled the gaps at 7-all.

Hong Kong reclaimed the lead through emerging star Haruka Uematsu who capped another driving maul from the lineout with a try - this time after the forwards released the ball wide where the pacey Uematsu spotted the gap to put Hong Kong up 14-7 after Smith’s second conversion.

Kazakhstan then chewed up the rest of the half with a methodical 20-minute passage of possession that included dozens of phases. They battered a strong Hong Kong defensive line to work their way inexorably up field for the eventual crash-ball try to level the score at 14-all shortly before halftime.

The second half saw a dominant third quarter from the hosts who mounted another extended assault on the Hong Kong line to restart play. Kazakhstan again brought their big forwards to bear as they forced Hong Kong’s defensive line into a steady retreat, before towering No.8 Diana Andriyenko crashed over to give Kazakhstan its first lead, 21-14.

Kazakhstan maintained significant pressure and territorial advantage for most of the next 20 minutes but were unable to convert that pressure into points against the bend-but-don't-break defensive effort of Hong Kong. 

While the visitors’ defence – aided by some individual errors from Kazakhstan – held tough, Hong Kong could not get out of its own half for much of the half. A seesaw battle ensued across the final half hour before Kazakhstan scored what looked like the game winner with another crash ball from Andriyenko in the 72nd minute to bring the score to 26-14.

But a Hong Kong team that has grown in stature and self-confidence throughout the tour refused to lose. Super sub and reserve hooker Tanya Dhar scored two tries (one before regulation and one in the 8th minute of extra time) both from driving maul lineouts to cap an immense effort from Hong Kong as they clawed back for an emotional 26-all draw. 

Unfortunately, given Kazakhstan’s smaller loss against Japan (12-64 as opposed to Hong Kong’s 12-71 loss) the draw was enough to secure Kazakhstan its first runners-up place in Asia since 2023.

The dramatic comeback by a side that has blooded nine new caps on this tour will pay benefits when HKCR host the World Rugby Women’s XV in September, and the squad can be proud of its effort, said co-captain Kea Herewini after the match.

“Full credit to Kazakhstan for a really good performance. We knew that it would be a tough 80 minutes, that the set piece would be huge, and that it would be a forwards game in these conditions. The last few minutes of that game shows how tough we are, and how well drilled we are. Getting that draw shows that Hong Kong women’s rugby is on the up. We have a long journey back home and then we will start training again for the WXV, which we will host and which is really exciting because hopefully we can have more new players in that competition as well.”

Hong Kong China Rugby Women’s XV vs Kazakhstan (10 May) Emirates Women’s Rugby Championship 2026 

1. Kirstie STEVENSON 2. Fion GOT 3. Kea HEREWINI (co-captain), 4. Sabrina CHUNG 5. Roshini TURNER, 6. CHOW Mei Nam, 7. Grace HOOD  8. Isobel LITTLEHAILES 9. LI Sze Ting 10. Lara SCHATS 11. Zoe SMITH 12. Lauren KNOWLER 13. Abigail CHAN (co-captain) 14. HO Tsz Wun, Sunday 15. Haruka UEMATSU 16. Tanya DHAR 17. CHAN Ching Man Vivian* 18. LEE Ka Shun 19. Jenna POTGEITER 20. HO Hau Yan 21. WAN Tsz Yau 22. LO Wing Yin 23. CHIN Ka Yue  

Also in Touring Squad: FU Hiu San, Tiffany, Sabay LYNAM, ZA Xiao Hui
 *HKCR debut