As rugby in Hong Kong takes a break for the holidays, we take a moment to reflect on the first half of our 2025/26 campaigns which have delivered a mix of competitive matches, skill development and community engagement across the Club. Players from our youngest U5/6s to the veterans on our Seniors squad now have a well deserved opportunity to rest and recover before we return in the New Year for the business part of the season!

Minis

A few words from Kelvin Leung, Head of Mini Rugby

Our Minis have had an outstanding first half of the 2025/26 season, which began in September.

The Club continues to flourish, with a remarkable numbers of over 170 enthusiastic minis players and counting. This success has been showcased at several local Hong Kong tournaments so far, where our players have performed brilliantly. These achievements not only by our talents on the pitch, as well as the incredible dedication of our volunteer coaches and board members, all working in harmony to grow our club on a true community foundation.

We look forward to resuming in January 2026 for a thrilling second half of the season, with fixtures including local tournaments, Bangkok 10s, and the Hong Kong 7s showcase.

Youth

A few words from Priesh Manilal, Co-Head of Youth Rugby

Our DB Pirates Youth players have had a great season thus far. They continue to build from strength to strength as they sharpen their skills with the expert training provided by accredited Coaches from the various Premiership teams. The Youth Programme which is delivered in partnership with Sai Kung Stingrays and Flying Kukris, and strongly supported by Kowloon Rugby, has proven yet again the importance of delivering a structure that provides an opportunity to all our young rugby players to flourish, putting our Youth’s needs first.

The numbers speak for themselves, with the “Barbarian” teams from U13 to U16, seeing an increase in the number of players. We now have 170 Boys and 100 Girls between the 3 clubs, and new players continuing to join the clubs. DB Pirates have recorded the highest number of Youth players registered in its history, topping out at 105 boys and girls.

Training for both the boys and girls teams is delivered at Kings Park, and with the numbers, this is the 2nd season where we now are able to run a return bus for the boys every Thursday. It’s like the boys are on tour every week! Putting their excellent performance on the pitch aside, topping out the tables in both Premiership and Championship leagues for each age group, the us ride back from training certainly is the highlight – sometimes with the boys putting a speak on and rapping along, or boys chatting away about their week!

Current standings as we go into the mid-season break:

Championship League

  • U13 Boys: Top of table
  • U14 Boys: Top of table
  • U14 Girls: Top of table
  • U16 Boys: Top of table

Premiership League

  • U13 Boys: 2nd place on table
  • U14 Boys: 2nd place on table
  • U14 Girls: 2nd place on table
  • U16 Boys: 2nd place on table

The leagues standings are tight as we step into the remaining fixtures and then playoffs. Its great to see the level of competition brought by all the clubs and rugby wins at the end of the day! Finals to be played towards the end of January, and then the players will all start preparing for the 7’s Season, where 3 rounds will be played for the boys, and 4 rounds for the girls, with finals to be played at the Kai Tak stadium!

It goes without saying – but a huge THANK YOU, to all players, parents, coaches, volunteers and HKCR – that enable us to be able to provide the youth players in our community a chance to continue pursuing their rugby aspirations after Mini’s. Endless effort and support from everyone has seen the tide turn, with the deliverance of an envied Youth Rugby Programme by the 3 clubs.

Piratas

A few words from Grant Abbott, Head Coach, Piratas

The Piratas touch team is into its seventh season and our squad continues to grow with many new joiners. All our new players being brand new to the game work hard to understand the game with our experienced players offering advice and instructions on how to play. The laughter and support within the group has been very rewarding for all.

Our HKG League touch season with the other Domestic Helper teams is just wrapping up with our A-division ladies in the playoff for first and second place, so great work from the group.

Last Sunday evening, 14th December the HK Rugby for Good Domestic Helper touch rugby league finals were contested.

Our DB Piratas Division A ladies final versus Pinoy Tribe was an end to end battle for the match with super work from the team but we came up short going down 2 – 3. Congratulations to the team with their second placing. We had several players in this squad new to rugby and the team this season.

A special mention to Malou Anudon and Maricel Zabate who received Rugby for Good Ambassador medals for their team work, leadership and spirit within the team.

Even though the B-division side didn’t make the semi finals this season their support to the team has been rewarding with many new players and their first competition.

A big thank you to Rugby for Good program within HKG Rugby to support the ladies touch league and our rugby events.

All our Piratas ladies wish to thank DB Pirates for their support, the support from the whole DB Pirates community and the club sponsors.

DB Pirates Seniors 1st XV

A few words from Simon Tasker, Director of Rugby

The DB Pirates Seniors 1st XV sit proudly in 3rd place in the eight-team 2025/26 HKCR Men’s Championship League 3 with a 6-1-3 record with only TSW and HK Scottish above us on the table.

The Pirates began their 2025/26 campaign in sensational style, beating last years runner up and a familiar foe SRKA Tin Shui Wai RFC 2nd 🏴‍☠️29-8 in a statement victory at their home ground in Round 1 that immediately announced us as genuine title contenders.

Tight, physical games followed against FOODSPORT City Quakes (🏴‍☠️22-25), Kroll USRC Tigers Twisters (🏴‍☠️21-15) and Typhoons/ University RFC 2 (🏴‍☠️28-17), before a highly competitive loss to Milwaukee Hong Kong Scottish Bravehearts (🏴‍☠️12-24).

We however bounced back emphatically with bonus-point wins over HKU Sandy Bay Marauders (🏴‍☠️38-7) and Clement Shield/VetiVa Gai Wu Blaze (🏴‍☠️52-7).

For Round 7 against Clement Shield/VetiVa Gai Wu Blaze, the DB Pirates Seniors 1st XV took the field donning a striking blacked-out jersey in a powerful tribute to mental health awareness. The “Black Dog Round” drew inspiration from Winston Churchill’s metaphor for his struggles with depression, and the aim was to spark conversations and raise funds for men’s mental health support in Hong Kong. The initiative, led by the DB Pirates, combined sport, community, and a vital cause, with over $100,000 being raised for Mind HK, a leading mental health charity.

Click here to find out more about the Black Dog Round

We kicked off Round 2 with a tight game against SRKA Tin Shui Wai RFC 2nd (🏴‍☠️24-30) and due to the tragic fires in Tai Po all HKCR fixtures including our match against FOODSPORT City Quakes were cancelled with teams being awarded a 🏴‍☠️0-0 draw and 2 league points. Our final fixture of 2025 was against Kroll USRC Tigers Twisters who we beat convincingly  (🏴‍☠️ 32-7) to round out the year.

We hit the mid-season break with 35 league points out of a possible 38 and a galvanized squad on the hunt to win back-to-back Grand Championships.

The 2025/26 season restarts in January, enjoy the holidays and as always, up the Pirates!

🏴‍☠️