Hong Kong prepares for date with rugby destiny

Hong Kong's rugby union team stands on the verge of making history as it prepares to face Canada in the French city of Marseille on Friday – with a place at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan at stake.

The team, which is known as the Dragons, is one of Asia's strongest but has never qualified for the tournament, whereas Canada has taken part in all eight previous events. Hong Kong's previous best showing was in 2015, when it reached the four-team repechage competition for the final qualification place and was beaten by Uruguay.

The four teams competing in 2018's repechage are Germany, Kenya, Canada, and Hong Kong. In the first match, Hong Kong recovered from trailing 12-7 at half-time to thrash Kenya 42-17, before losing 26-9 to Germany.

The repechage structure means it is not simply a case of needing to win on Friday. Hong Kong must not only win but score at least three tries to pick up a bonus point, and needs to stop Canada scoring enough tries to qualify for a bonus point, meaning the pressure is on the Dragons.

Whoever clinches the final spot at the 2019 tournament, which will take place from Sept 20 to Nov 2, will go into Pool B, alongside New Zealand, South Africa, Italy, and Namibia.

The 2019 tournament will be the first time that the competition that was founded in 1987 will have been contested in Asia. It has been won three times by New Zealand, twice each by South Africa and Australia, and once by England.

Given Canada's superior pedigree, the Hong Kong team faces a big challenge but coach Leigh Jones said it was one his team would not shy away from.

"Can we beat Canada? Yes. Can we beat Canada with a bonus point? I'm not sure, we'll have to wait and see," he told the official Hong Kong rugby website."We are going to have to match them up front in the forwards, which will be difficult. It will take a massive effort and some hard work to match the up front, but we are coming in pretty fresh, considering we've had two tests and two warm-up matches.It could be our last game of the season and we need to come in absolutely fizzing with energy."

Tournament organizers World Rugby have made a big effort to promote the game in Asia in the build-up to next year's tournament. The World Cup trophy, the Webb Ellis Cup, went on a global tour that included a visit to Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland in May 2018.