Rowan Varty (born 20 March 1986) is a British-born Hong Kong former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player. He is the all-time top point scorer for the

Hong Kong national rugby union team Rugby union in Hong Kong is administered by Hong Kong Rugby Union, Hong Kong China Rugby since 1952, and successfully competes annually in the Asia Rugby Championship. The team competes as the Hong Kong China representative rugby union team. ...

, whom he also captained. Additionally, he represented the Hong Kong Sevens team and was selected to play for the

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

. His sister, Lindsay, represents Hong Kong in rugby sevens women's team.

Youth and education

Born in London, England to a British father and a Chinese-Portuguese mother, Varty grew up in Hong Kong, where he attended King George V School before attending the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

to read Law and attending the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is a public research university in Pokfulam, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese by the London Missionary Society and formally established as the University of ...

for postgraduate studies. In December 2013, after having completed a 2-year apprenticeship with Hong Kong law firm, Tanner De Witt, Varty decided to take a sabbatical from his legal career. He was one of 40 players inducted into the Hong Kong Sports Institute, with the prospect of representing Hong Kong in the Olympics, and now works full-time as a teacher at King George V School.

Play

Varty nominally plays back at 15-a-side rugby, and takes

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

or full-back positions for his club, DeA Tigers, as well as at Asian level. Varty led the King George V School (KGV) in their 21-5 victory over Island School in the 2004 Bill Williams Schoolboy Rugby Sevens. Varty made his international début for the Hong Kong at the age of 18 when he joined a match against Singapore as a substitute."2 Minutes With... Rowan Varty". ''South China Morning Post'', 30 May 2004 Having spent considerable effort to acquire a Hong Kong passport, he eventually acquired one in 2013.Jacqueline, Rachel (20 April 2014). "Passport eligibility rule raises a conundrum for players". ''South China Morning Post'' Varty has represented Hong Kong in three Rugby Sevens world cup tournaments – Hong Kong (

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

) and Dubai (

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

) and Russia (

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

).Sallay, Alvin (27 June 2013). "Rowan Varty out to grab the silverware for Hong Kong". ''South China Morning Post'' Varty was selected in April 2013 for the

squad to play

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

, becoming the first Hong Kong rugby player to play at this level. He appeared in the match against England, where he came off the bench and replaced

Timoci Nagusa Timoci Nagusa (born 14 July 1987) is a Fijian rugby union footballer. He plays as a wing. He played his rugby for French club, Montpelier for 10 years before leaving for ProD2 club Grenoble in 2020. He is 1.88m (6'2) and weighs 88 kg. He ...

to win his first Barbarian cap.Sallay, Alvin (23 April 2013). "Rowan Varty to add pace to Barbarians". ''South China Morning Post'' , Rowan Varty is Hong Kong national team's highest all-time scorer with 120 points as well as their all-time leader in top try with 24 of them.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Varty, Rowan 1986 births Living people English rugby union players Hong Kong international rugby union players Hong Kong rugby union players Hong Kong people of British descent Hong Kong people of Portuguese descent English people of Hong Kong descent English people of Portuguese descent Hong Kong expatriate sportspeople in Japan Asian Games medalists in rugby union Rugby sevens players at the 2006 Asian Games Rugby sevens players at the 2010 Asian Games Rugby sevens players at the 2014 Asian Games Toyota Industries Shuttles Aichi players Expatriate rugby union players in Japan Male rugby sevens players Hong Kong international rugby sevens players Asian Games silver medalists for Hong Kong Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Alumni of King George V School, Hong Kong Rugby union players from London Hong Kong expatriate rugby union players Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union wings