Declan Meredith to captain new-look Brumbies against Hong Kong China

Declan Meredith has been handed the ACT Brumbies captaincy for the first time, set to lead the Super Rugby Pacific powerhouse when they play Hong Kong China at Hong Kong Football Club on Saturday evening.

Meredith enjoyed a career-best Super Rugby Pacific campaign with the Brumbies in 2025, starting four matches at fly-half and making another eight appearances off the pine. In the inaugural Super Rugby AUS season, Meredith started in all three of the Brumbies’ matches.

Coach Stephen Larkham has given Meredith the figurative captain’s armband for a pre-season match against 2027 Men’s Rugby World Cup-bound Hong Kong China, with an inexperienced side without Wallabies and Australia A representatives named.

Hong Kong China qualified for the showpiece event with a 70-22 win over Kora in the final round of the 2025 Asia Rugby Championship. Hong Kong played the Brumby Runners in May, acting as a double header to the round 12 clash with the NSW Waratahs.

“It’s a good opportunity for us. We generally don’t get enough games together at this time of year where they can test themselves at a higher level and bring a fair bit of connection into the team,” Larkham said in a statement.

“The beauty of rugby is you can play it anywhere in the world and a lot of these guys have not been to Hong Kong. So we’ll give them an opportunity where they can get out and have a bit of a look around.

“They will have opportunities to go and experience a different culture and part of the world, and then we get back into a bit of Groundhog Day through the pre-season from next week onwards.

“Declan is one of our game controllers who regularly talks during the game. He’ll be one of the most active participants in huddles, steering the around the field. And he’s been in the program as long as anyone else in this squad.”

Meredith will partner Klayton Thron in the halves, while First Nations & Pasifika XV representative Jarrah McLeod partners Kadin Pritchard in the midfield. Hudson Creighton starts on the left wing, with Australia U20 star Shane Wilcox on the right and Austin Anderson at fullback.

Finn Baxter and Drew Brndusic will make their Brumbies debuts as the starting props, packing down with Chris Mickelson in the front row. Harvey Cordukes and Lachlan Shaw round out the tight five as the second-row duo.

Former Australia U20 skipper Toby Macpherson has been selected at blindside flanker, combining with openside flanker Jack Harley and No. 8 Tuaina Taii Tualima in a promising backrower trio.

This match will be streamed on RugbyPass TV at 7:30 pm AEDT on Saturday. You can sign up for RugbyPass TV HERE.

ACT Brumbies team to take on Hong Kong China

1. Finn Baxter
2. Chris Mickelson
3. Drew Brndusic
4. Harvey Cordukes
5. Lachlan Shaw
6. Toby Macpherson
7. Jack Harley
8. Tuaina Taii Tualima
9. Klayton Thorn
10.  Declan Meredith ©
11.  Hudson Creighton
12.  Jarrah McLeod
13.  Kadin Pritchard
14.  Shane Wilcox
15.  Austin Anderson

Replacements: 

16. Lipina Ata

17. Nate Hepi

18. Tauati Chan-Tung

19. Ollie Aylmer

20. Cadeyrn Neville

21. Judah Saumaisue

22. Dan Nelson

23. Joe Dillon