HONG KONG — Hong Kong China will open the 2027 Rugby World Cup against hosts Australia on 1 October 2027 at Perth Stadium in front of 61,000 fans and a global TV audience in the millions, marking the team's debut on rugby's biggest stage. Drawn in Pool A alongside two-time world champions Australia, Chile and the All Blacks, the debutants will arrive as heavy underdogs against opponents more accustomed to the spotlight than Jack Combes and Alex Post, two players who have built careers in England's lower semi-professional tiers.
Both players started in Hong Kong China's recent 42-40 victory over fellow World Cup qualifiers Uruguay in July, a result that underlined their progress after qualifying by defeating Korea 70-22 in the final round of the Asia Rugby Championship last year. "I think the whole run-up to the whole qualification process was already a dream in itself. To qualify for a men's first World Cup was huge," said Combes, a scrum-half. "People will say it's daunting and it's a huge challenge to have those two top nations in your pool, but if you're going to do it, do it properly. Why not?" he added, calling the opener "genuinely amazing. A dream come true."
For Alex Post, 31, the journey has been unconventional. Despite making his international debut a decade ago, he has never played in the Prem and was most recently hooking for Richmond in The Champ. "Unfortunately, I've never played at The Prem level. But The Champ definitely doesn't get the credit it deserves," he said. "It's a very tough league. And that was great preparation for the international games." A former full-time Hong Kong China player before the Covid pandemic, Post completed a Masters degree at the University of Oxford — where the Varsity match at Twickenham remains one of the largest crowds he has played before — and worked as a financial analyst before returning to a full-time professional contract that now allows double the training load compared to twice-weekly sessions at Richmond.
Combes, 29, a former student and teacher at Hartpury College, has taken a reverse route into full-time sport after an anterior cruciate ligament injury, via Birmingham Moseley in England's third tier. "So I've been full-time in the sevens for about three and a half years now," he said. "I've done my career in reverse. I went from teaching after an ACL, to playing semi-professional rugby, to being a full-time athlete at the age of 25." Hong Kong China have been Asia Rugby champions for the past seven years and boast a rugby tradition stretching back seven decades, centred on the annual sevens tournament. Combes said the mindset has shifted: "Now we're completely on the other side of the spectrum where we've got nothing to lose. I think just be ambitious, be fearless, and go for it. 'Be memorable' is the phrase that coaches have been talking about."
Both players were born in Hong Kong and came through its age-grade system, and both addressed criticism often focused on the international make-up of the squad. "It's always the first criticism we get after an international game," said Post. Combes, born in 1997 to a mother who is half Chinese, pointed to the sport's grassroots base: "Mum is half Chinese and going through the whole minis rugby here where we probably had one of the biggest mini rugby numbers base in the world, up until Covid." Former London Irish and Ospreys director of rugby Toby Booth has joined the coaching set-up as Hong Kong China prepare for a Nations Cup next month against three World Cup heritage nations in USA, Canada and Tonga, a key test one year out from Perth.