South Korea beat Philippines 52-22 in Laguna, Philippines to secure third place in the Asian Rugby Football Union’s 2014 Asian 5 Nations Top 5 tournament (ARFU A5N).
Korea also secured a place at the elite end of Asian rugby with next year’s revamped competition structure changing to a home and away tournament amongst the top 3 teams in the region. Japan and Hong Kong, who play in Tokyo tomorrow (May 25), have also booked their place in the Top 3 in 2015.
South Korea put on a show of running rugby in the Philippines, scoring eight tries with all four first half tallies coming from deep within their own territory. The scoring was started by 20-year old winger Jeong Yong Sik, with the Korean University flyer scoring a brace in the opening ten minutes to put his side firmly in control. Centre Kim Nam Uk and fullback Jang Seong Min added tries to put the Koreans ahead 28-15 at halftime after flyhalf Oh Youn Hyun was successful with all four of his first half conversions.
Philippines captain Oliver Saunders scored in the first half and converted his own effort, while fullback Michael Letts also crossed over before the interval. A late penalty from Saunders accounted for the Volcanoes scoring in the opening stanza.
In the second half, the Korean pack finally got in on the action with No. 8 Kim Hyun Soo crossing over in the 48th minute, followed closely by Kim Nam Uk, collecting his brace, to widen the gap. Winger Kim Gwong Min and reserve Shin Ki Cheol added late tries while the Philippines scoring in the final forty minutes came from centre Matt Saunders with the conversion from reserve Alexander Aronson.
The win sees South Korea through to next year’s Top 3 competition, while the Volcanoes will join Sri Lanka (fifth placed finisher in this year’s Top 5) as the top seeds in what will be a tough Division I bracket next season, along with Kazakhstan and Singapore, both teams with previous Top 5 experience.
The top two spots in next year’s three team competition will be filled by Japan and Hong Kong, who are both undefeated entering week 5 of the A5N Top 5. Japan host Hong Kong tomorrow (May 25) in the finale of the Top 5 and the final game of Asia’s four-year Rugby World Cup qualification process. The winner will advance directly as Asia I to the Rugby World Cup while the runners-up will advance to the repechage match versus Uruguay this summer.
Third time lucky for Malaysia in Division II
Malaysia won the Division II title on its third straight attempt on Friday (May 23) evening in Doha after beating hosts Qatar 31-22. Malaysia beat Iran 43-22 earlier in the week to secure their spot in their third straight Division II final after losing the last two finals against Singapore (2013) and Thailand (2012).
Qatar advanced to its fourth straight Divisional final after beating an understrength Thailand 24-11 in the Division II semi-final on Tuesday (May 20), but couldn’t secure its fourth consecutive cup win as they bowed out to Malaysia 31-22. Iran edged Thailand 26-23 in a tense 3rd/4th place playoff.
The two cup finalists, Malaysia and Qatar, will retain their place in next season’s Division II competition with United Arab Emirates and Chinese Taipei rounding out the competition after dropping from this season’s Division I earlier this month.
Kazakhstan defend Asian Women’s Rugby Title
In Hong Kong, Kazakhstan was crowned Asian champions after they beat tournament second seeds Japan 49-17 to remain unbeaten in the four-team Asian Women’s Rugby Championship at Aberdeen Stadium on Saturday (May 24).
Hosts Hong Kong finished runners-up after hammering Singapore 53-5 in their last match. Hong Kong who had also beaten Japan (15-14) earlier in the tournament lost to Kazakhstan 13-10 in their decisive clash.
Scrum-half Amina Baratova and winger Nigora Nurmatova each grabbed a brace as Kazakhstan ran in nine tries to easily see off Japan and claim bragging rights as the top team in the region.
“I thought we played a lot better today as a unit and was really pleased with the way we played, especially in the first quarter,” said happy Kazakhstan coach Adam McDonald.
“The determination that the girls showed and their improvements in recycling the ball, retaining possession for long periods were all very pleasing from my perspective,” McDonald said.
“We have worked really hard on those aspects this week and it is really good to see today that the girls applied themselves.”
Kazakhstan dominated all facets of play and had the result sewn up by halftime as they led 29-0. Japanese winger Ayako Tanaka gave her team a brief flicker of hope when she scored soon after resumption but despite another try from impressive No.8 Mami Okada, Japan was no match for the physically stronger Kazakhs.
“This is my first time here in Asia and I think the standard of the rugby has been first class,” McDonald said.
In the earlier game hosts Hong Kong proved far too strong for Singapore dotting down nine tries in a one-sided rout. Hat-tricks from flyhalf Rose Fong and winger Natasha Olsen-Thorne propelled the home team to victory.
“I’m pretty happy and we are getting closer to where we want to be, but as a coach, you always want more from the players,” said Hong Kong coach Chris Garvey.
“Today was the closest that we have been to getting where I want this group to be. Credit to the girls, two of whom got hat-tricks and showed some moments of brilliance, but the team effort has allowed those individuals to shine,” Garvey said.
Garvey and Hong Kong will look back and reflect on the narrow loss to Kazakhstan in their opener which in the end prevented them rom being crowned Asian champions.
Japan finished third with Singapore propping up the rest.
