Hong Kong China vs Brazil 2024 Match 1 Preview (November 2024)

Brazil comes to Hong Kong for the first time in November 2024 for a two-match series following the close-fought Hong Kong China win over the South Americans 26-25 in July of this year. The first game will be played on November 9th at Hong Kong Football Club.

Hong Kong China is the second highest ranked Men’s XV team in Asia (ranked 23rd globally) and the defending Asia Rugby Men’s Championship title-holder, while Brazil (known as Os Tupis) are the 4th highest-ranked team in South America and ranked 29th according to World Rugby.

Brazil Head Coach Emiliano Caffera has named a 28-man roster to represent Brazil in the series and the Os Tupis squad contains 17 forwards and 11 backs. Most of the squad comes from Brazilian-based Os Cobras who play in the Super Rugby Americas 2024, and 7 players play their rugby outside of Brazil.

Notable mentions include Wilton Rebolo (who plays in the  Major League Rugby for Los Angeles), and the uncapped Théo Bastardie who plays in the French Top 14 with Vannes.

Brazil Captain Cleber Días said of the Series, “They will be tough and physical games, as that is the way Hong Kong China plays and the way Brazil likes to play. The last game was so close we hope to win this time around and get different perspectives moving forward. 

The new players bring experience as they play in hard, physical and challenging leagues in Europe, But they also challenge the players that are already in the Brazilian squad who train every day so that’s a good challenge, and we hope the knowledge they bring to the game and the physical intensity will be good for us.”

Since the match against HKCR, they have beaten Belgium 47-25 and Paraguay 77-17 but lost to an Argentina XV side 26-64 and to Chile 10-36.

Scrumhalf Lucas Spago told AmericasRugbyNews, “We had a very fierce game against Hong Kong in the middle of the year and we lost in a detail. We have been training very hard now so that we can play at their home ground and come back with the win.”

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong China men held a camp at JAPAN BASE – the JRFU’s elite national rugby training centre in Fukuoka. They played a training game against KyudenVoltex (JRLO Division 2) which was a non-contact session and a full game against LeRIRO Fukuoka (a new team which will compete in the JRLO Division 3).

HKCR Head Coach Andrew Douglas said in the buildup to the series and of his side, “It’s a familiar squad and they’ve been together a while now, so we’re starting to get some nice synergy between them. We’ll still introduce probably a couple of new caps this series but the squad in general is pretty solid and stable. It has got that nice balance of the majority who have been there before, and just a couple of newbies to bring in a bit of energy.”

Hong Kong China captain Josh Hrstich added, “The boys can’t wait to get stuck in, and against a big strong physical team like Brazil, if you are not ready, you might be caught with your pants down. Our goal is to make this two wins from two at home, and that’s 3-0 for the year.”

Photo Credit HKCR – Match vs Brazil in July 2024

There are potential new caps in this series and they are ready for what will be a physical contest against the Brazilians who are in Hong Kong for the first time.

Douglas said, “They’re going to be fairly battle-hardened….We can expect a good set piece from them, and they’ll be fairly direct. They’re a tough team so I don’t expect that to change but because of the different personnel, they’ll probably stay in that fight even longer.

He added, “I think they’ve developed the game a little bit more than that lately, so I think they’ll test us in a number of areas. They do defend very well, and obviously, we’re a team that likes to create width, and they tend to not give us those avenues so much. So we are probably a bit more creative around how we play them in those areas.”

Hong Kong China’s Sunia Fameitau (reserves) and Maxwell Thelkeld (starting) have been both selected and both could earn their debut caps in this first match.

Threlkeld played U20 rugby for Hong Kong China and the USA in the last two years and helped the USA reach the World Rugby U20 Trophy 2024 final in July.

Reuben Keane (Australia) is the match referee with Katsuki Furuse (JRFU) and Morgan White (HKCR) as Assistant Referees.

Hong Kong China Squad vs Brazil – Match Permutations – November 9 2024

• Brazil have the most to gain this weekend -if they beat Hong Kong China they could rise four places to 26th with a new high of 23rd possible if they win by more than 15 points.

You can read more in our HKCR collaboration piece here.

Hong Kong China Squad vs Brazil (November 2024)

Brazil Squad vs Hong Kong China vs (November 2024)

LOOSE HEAD PROP
João Lucas Marino (Cobras; 3 caps)
Leonel Moreno (Lazio, IT; 11 caps)
Matheus Rocha (CDUL, PT; 23 caps)

HOOKER
Endy Willian Pinheiro (Cobras; 14 caps)
Wilton Rebolo (Los Angeles, US; 38 caps)

TIGHT HEAD PROP
Henrique Ferreira (Cobras; 7 caps)
Levy Marinho (Cobras; 2 caps)
Caique Silva Segura (Lannemezan, FR; 31 caps)

SECOND-ROW
Ben Donald (Cobras; 5 caps)
Gabriel Oliveira (Cobras; 7 caps)
Gabriel Paganini (Cobras; 36 caps)
Hélder Bryan Lúcio (Cobras; uncapped)
Matteo Dell’Acqua (Valorugby Reggio, IT; 10 caps)

BACK-ROW
Adrio de Melo (Cobras; 15 caps)
Cléber Dias (Cobras; 45 caps)
Matheus Cláudio (Cobras; 16 caps)
Rafael Texeira (Cobras; 3 caps)

SCRUM-HALF

Felipe Gonçalves (Cobras; 14 caps)
Lucas Spago (Cobras; 12 caps)

FLY-HALF
João Amaral (Cobras; 5 caps)
Moisés Duque (Académica, PT; 64 caps)
Nicolas Azevedo (Jacareí; uncapped)

CENTER
Lorenzo Massari Temer (Cobras; 16 caps)
Robert Tenório (Cobras; 30 caps)
Victor Silva (Cobras; 3 caps)

WING
Daniel Lima (Cobras; 17 caps)
Théo Bastardie (Vannes, FR; uncapped)

FULLBACK
Lucas Tranquez (Cobras; 51 caps)

How To Watch Hong Kong China Men vs Brazil 2024

The HKCR vs Brazil match is available on RugbyPassTV and will be streamed on YouTube.

International Rugby 2024

• World Rugby Match Official Appointments For Men’s November 2024 Internationals Confirmed.
• Hong Kong China Confirms It Will Host Brazil For Two Men’s 15s Autumn 2024 Internationals.
• UAE And Hong Kong China Men’s XV To Host November 2024 International Tests.
• JRFU Fixtures 2024 – Brave Blossoms, Japan XV, Sakura XV.