Hong Kong China Rugby (HKCR) brought together 150 women from across Hong Kong's rugby community on Sept. 19 for the inaugural "Women in Rugby Summit: From Opportunity to Impact", held at the Grand Ballroom of Dorsett Kai Tak ahead of the WXV Global Series Challenger Round 2 match.
The half-day summit, supported by sponsors DLA Piper, St. James's Place, EY and HSBC, featured the launch of the LIFT Report, panel discussions on gender equity and women in leadership, as well as a session titled "Keep Her in the Game." Attendees later walked across to Kai Tak Youth Sports Ground to watch team Hong Kong, China take on Fiji in the afternoon.
Building a pipeline of role models
Crystal Nuku, a former Black Fern and now Women's Club Coach Officer at USRC Tigers, said the creation of dedicated coaching roles had been a "massive step" for HK rugby.
"When I was coming through, I didn't really have many people to look up to," Nuku told the summit. "What's great now is that there is so much coverage, and there are different players, different coaches, different role models in these positions that young girls can look up to. That is really important."
Nuku, who represented New Zealand's national women's sevens team, said she now hopes to become the kind of coach she once looked up to herself.
"I aspire to create an environment for the next person to come through the ranks, develop their game, and enjoy it the same way we all do," she said.
Retaining female talent at key career crossroads
Hannah Edwards, Director of Rugby at Hong Kong Football Club, who moved to HK from England, said investment through the LIFT project and leadership programmes had been transformative—but the next challenge was retaining women in the sport.
"We've got some incredible people, incredible businesspeople and a huge amount of knowledge within our rugby community," Edwards said. "We need to grab hold of them at those crucial pinch points—when they're retiring, or having children, or going through different situations—and not lose them from the game, because there's already a wealth of experience here."
Edwards, who played her entire career in England, where women's rugby infrastructure is already well-established, said HK's rapid progress meant that retaining female talent should now be a key priority.
A tournament built to raise the profile of women's rugby
Sara Hooper, Interim CEO of HKCR, said hosting the WXV Global Series Challenger was about far more than the nine matches themselves.
"It's creating such awareness for the women's game," Hooper said. "You've got six world-class teams playing over a three-week period. They stay together, they build camaraderie, they train during the week, and they're very well prepared for the next game. But for me, one of the great things is giving our young local players a chance to see this talent, to see what can be."
Hooper, who is also a working mother of two, acknowledged the structural challenges women face in balancing sport, careers and family life.
"Historically, sport was designed by men for men," she said. "It's about building the facilities and support mechanisms around our female players to give them the best chance to create parity, grow the local game and strengthen the pathway for women in rugby."
Sponsors back the next generation
EY, an early sponsor of the LIFT initiative alongside DLA Piper and HSBC, said it was renewing its support because of the transferable skills women develop through sport and leadership.
"Leadership in sport—decision-making, resilience, taking the lead—are really transferable skills," said David Scott, EY Asia-Pacific Financial Services Risk Management Leader.
Jayson Williams, Director of Marketing and Business Development, Asia Pacific at DLA Piper, said: "In rugby, we need to make women more visible. At DLA Piper, one of our driving forces is connecting with the community and empowering women in leadership and governance."
As the summit concluded, attendees walked across to Kai Tak Youth Sports Ground, where team Hong Kong, China faced Fiji in Round 2 of the WXV Challenger.
(Reporter, video: Lynn Zhou)
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