How All Blacks 2027 World Cup opponents Hong Kong China found themselves playing in Waikato

Saturday, 27 June 2026

When Logan Asplin was coaching at Hamilton Boys’ High School just a few short years ago, never in his wildest dreams would he have imagined he would be coaching against some of those very players at the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

Part of New Zealand’s historically most successful first XV operation, assisting the renowned Nigel Hotham, Asplin, who was also in charge of high-performance sport at the school, was coaching the likes of Noah Hotham (Nigel’s son), Sevu Reece, Josh Lord, Cortez Ratima, Quinn Tupaea and Josh Moorby.

Now the Hamilton-born-and-bred 38-year-old is plotting a plan to try and stop some of those names causing all sorts of chaos on the night of October 15 next year, at Docklands Stadium in Melbourne, when his World Cup debutant Hong Kong China outfit face an historic first-ever clash against the All Blacks.

“Obviously having a little bit of inside knowledge on those players will help,” Asplin told the Waikato Times. “It’s one thing to know what to do, it’s another thing to do it, though, isn’t it,” he quips.

“I definitely really look forward to connecting with them and having that connection back to what they were like as teenage lads. Like anyone, you’re pretty proud to see the growth that players like that have made.”

Asplin, who held previous coaching roles with the Waikato under-19s, the Chiefs under-18s and New Zealand age-group sevens sides, has been involved with Hong Kong China since 2022, when he opted to take the plunge to drop his teaching commitments and go full-time with coaching, relocating his young family overseas to take up the role of club coaching officer (head coach) with Hong Kong Football Club.

As well as achieving great success in the local premiership league, he was then, as an assistant of the national team, credited with being the architect of their attack and instilling an expansive style of play, which helped them secure qualification for next year’s World Cup.

That came with World Rugby opting to expand the tournament from 16 to 24 teams, and with Hong Kong China (currently world No 23) clinching the available berth after once again winning the Asia Rugby Championship (which Japan exited after 2017), with big wins over the United Arab Emirates (No 40), Sri Lanka (No 48) and South Korea (No 38).

Immediately following that, in August last year, Asplin was then promoted to head coach, taking over from a fellow Waikato man in Andrew Douglas, who has moved into a ‘head of technical rugby’ role for the union.

And it’s that pair’s links back home, and their connection with new Mooloos coach Leon Holden, that was the catalyst to Hong Kong China playing an historic first-ever fixture against a provincial side in New Zealand, on a wet Wednesday night in Te Awamutu this week.

Up against a Waikato XV made up of form club players, the world No 23 (who were largely full-strength barring some sevens players who will come back into the mix for the World Cup) edged the contest 24-22 thanks to a late penalty goal from wide out.

It goes to show just how stiff their task is going to be on World Cup debut, but this was what Asplin labelled a “morale-boosting win” off short preparation, in a fixture that was all part of the bigger picture in their planning.

For starters, even just playing in cold, muddy conditions was a valuable experience (much of their footy at home is played on artificial turfs), while New Zealand proved the perfect stop-over destination to break up their trek to South America for the start of the Nations Cup.

Like the just-introduced Nations Championship for the world’s top 12 sides, the Nations Cup will provide the same July and November windows for valuable game-time for the other 12 teams qualified for the World Cup.

Having only had two games the last three years against opponents ranked higher than them (a 58-12 loss away to world No 14 Portugal last November, and a 22-17 loss away to world No 18 Chile in 2024), the team won’t know themselves with this year’s ramped-up schedule.

Over the next three weekends Hong Kong China take on Samoa (world No 20) and Chile, both in Chile, before being hosted by Uruguay (world No 15), then in November they’ll face Canada (No 25) and the United States (No 16) in France, and then host Tonga (No 19).

The Chile clash will be of particular interest, given the two teams will square off again at the World Cup, which will be Chile’s second in succession after debuting in 2023.

That game in Townsville will allow for a realistic target for Hong Kong China, in what will be quite the conrast to their other Pool A assignments either side ‒ starting with the Wallabies in Perth, after that fixture was given the nod to open the tournament.

“There was probably a little bit of a shock there, we just weren’t expecting it,” Asplin admitted of that decision.

“But it’s just about embracing that challenge, and really looking forward to that… there’s genuine excitement that over-rides everything else that goes with that.

“You’ve got to start somewhere, and you might as well do that being front and centre.”

And a fortnight later, of course, comes another match where they are sure to have more than a few eyes on them, in what will be a massively special one against the All Blacks.

“There’s nothing better is there?” declared Asplin, whose team also features a handful of Kiwi connected players in their ranks, including captain, Josh Hrstich, a Wellington-born loose forward, for a game that is sure to stir the emotions.

“I’m incredibly proud to be a New Zealander, but probably more proud to lead Hong Kong to their first World Cup,” he said.

“And I think that’s really important, we’ve got significant diversity across our group, but the only thing that binds us together is the crest that we’re wearing on our chest as a player or a coach.”