Hong Kong China handed Australia opener on World Cup debut
Hong Kong China will make their men's Rugby World Cup debut against hosts Australia in the opening match of the 2027 tournament.
The game is scheduled for 1 October 2027 at Perth Stadium, with a crowd of 61,000 expected, BBC Sport reports. It is some start.
Hong Kong China have qualified for the men's World Cup for the first time. They have been drawn in Pool A, the round-robin group stage, alongside Australia, Chile and New Zealand's All Blacks.
The 2027 men's tournament will stage 52 matches across seven Australian cities including Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. The final is set for 13 November at Stadium Australia in Sydney, according to Rugby World Cup.
Speaking to BBC Sport in Hong Kong, scrum-half Jack Combes and hooker Alex Post called the draw a "dream come true". A scrum-half is the small, quick passer who feeds the ball from tackles and scrums. A hooker is the front-row forward who throws the ball in at the lineout.
Combes, 29, was born in Hong Kong and has been described by tournament organisers as a homegrown star. A former student and teacher at Hartpury College in England, he played club rugby for Birmingham Moseley in England's third tier. He had said two years earlier it would be a "dream come true" if the country of his birth reached the World Cup.
Post, 31, made his Hong Kong debut about a decade ago. He previously played for Richmond in England's second tier, the Championship, before rejoining Hong Kong on a full-time rugby contract. That full-time deal ended during the Covid pandemic, and he started a Masters degree at the University of Oxford before returning to the international set-up.
The two sides of their story sum up the gap to the top. Neither has played in England's Premiership, the top division. Now they will walk out first at a home World Cup for Australia, the 1999 champions.
Hong Kong have already had a look at one pool rival. They met Chile with a development side, Hong Kong China XV, at the Nations Cup, with Combes starting at scrum-half and Post named in the squad.
For fans new to this, that is part of the fun of a World Cup. The hosts chase a fast start. The newcomers chase a moment to take home. Expect noise, colour and a steep learning curve in the best sense. In Perth, both get it on night one.
