Hong Kong rugby head coach admits surprise at playing Australia in opening World Cup game
World Rugby chairman has been forced to defend a decision that pitches debutants ranked world No 22 against two-time world champions
Hong Kong head coach Logan Asplin said he was as surprised as anyone to learn his team had been handed the daunting task of facing Australia in the opening game of the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
Asplin also acknowledged that the neutral supporter would not necessarily “go out of their way” to watch what promises to be a singularly one-sided affair.
Officials released the match schedule on Tuesday, pitching the game in Perth on Friday, October 1, between debutants ranked No 22 in the world and a country that has won the tournament twice, as a “powerful symbol of rugby’s expanding global footprint”.
And Brett Robinson, the World Rugby chairman, has been forced to defend a decision met with almost universal derision by those who wanted the hosts to face the All Blacks in a blockbuster curtain-raiser.
Instead, New Zealand open their tournament against Chile, the other side in Pool A, a day later. The clash between the Bledisloe Cup rivals has been pencilled in for the following weekend in Sydney, hours before Hong Kong take on the South Americans in Townsville.
“Clearly people will have different opinions and the sides will have different opinions, but we’ve landed where we’ve landed,” Robinson said. “For me, the pools are this great opportunity where clearly we are going to have teams that are dominating, but we also have teams that are aspiring.