Hong Kong China to Open 2027 Rugby World Cup Against Australia in Perth

A year out from meeting host nation Australia at Perth Stadium, Jack Combes and Alex Post reflect on the road from English semi-professional rugby to a first World Cup.

Rugby World Cup debutants Hong Kong China will launch the 2027 tournament against host nation Australia at Perth Stadium on 1 October 2027, before an expected 61,000 spectators and a global television audience running into the millions. For Australia, twice world champions with a long rugby tradition, occasions of this scale are routine. For their opponents it is a first men's World Cup, and for the players the occasion of a lifetime.

Speaking to BBC Sport on a national holiday in Hong Kong, exactly 12 months out from kickoff, scrum-half Jack Combes and hooker Alex Post looked back on a qualification campaign Combes called a dream in itself, saying simply reaching a first men's World Cup was an enormous step. Neither has played at rugby's top level; both made their names in the semi-professional lower tiers of the English league system.

The draw placed Hong Kong China in Pool A alongside New Zealand and Chile as well as Australia. Post accepted that meeting two of the sport's leading nations looks daunting, but argued there is no sense doing the job half-heartedly, and that anyone questioning the team's presence at the tournament would seize the same opportunity without hesitation. He described the chance to feature in the opening match a year later as a dream come true.

Post, 31, made his international debut roughly a decade ago yet was still turning out for Richmond in the Championship until recently, never having appeared at Premiership level. He considers that division underappreciated given its demands, and a strong grounding for test rugby. A former financial analyst, he held a full-time Hong Kong China contract until the Covid pandemic ended that arrangement, then began a Masters degree at the University of Oxford, where the Varsity match at Twickenham ranked among the largest crowds of his career.

Because Hong Kong China contract their players year-round and keep the squad together permanently, Post said staying at Richmond was not workable. He has since relocated with his family, and estimates the full-time programme now allows roughly double the training volume he could manage at a club that trained twice a week.

Combes, 29, took an unorthodox path into professional sport. A former student and teacher at Hartpury College who also spent time with Birmingham Moseley in England's third tier, he came through an ACL rupture, has spent about three and a half years in full-time sevens and only became a professional athlete at 25. He described it as building his career backwards, and said the resources, training time and physical development of a full-time environment are essential for what lies ahead.

Rugby in Hong Kong spans seven decades, anchored by the territory's annual sevens tournament, and the current side carries strong regional pedigree: seven consecutive Asia Rugby titles, with World Cup qualification secured through a 70-22 defeat of Korea in the final round of last year's Asia Rugby Championship. A late 42-40 win over fellow qualifiers Uruguay in July was, in Combes' view, the clearest indication yet of the team's level. He added that the squad's mindset has flipped from expecting victories in Asia to playing with nothing to lose, with the coaches urging them to be ambitious, fearless and memorable.

Both players were born in Hong Kong and advanced through the territory's age-grade system, and each knows the squad's multinational makeup draws criticism after internationals. Post said the team does not chase such feedback but accepts it will not go away, and that the answer is to perform in a way people can be proud of. Combes, born in 1997 to a half-Chinese mother, recalled mini-rugby participation there ranking among the largest bases anywhere before the pandemic, sees the game growing again in local schools and hopes the side can inspire the next generation.

A further measuring stick arrives next month in the Nations Cup against the USA, Canada and Tonga, three nations with World Cup pedigree, and former London Irish and Ospreys director of rugby Toby Booth has joined the coaching set-up. Post said much of the pressure he feels is personal, with messages from family and friends arriving all day to mark the one-year countdown and urging him to make sure he is in the squad.