Asian 5 Nations

mythjen · Jun 21, 2012

2013 is such a long, long wait. As everyone knows, the Asian 5 Nations championship is the regional qualifier to the World Rugby Cup.

Japan, the last winner of the last five championships since 2008 still rolls over the competition this year. But some nations are making headway, now the main contenders for next year's diadem. South Korea, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan and the recent Division 1 qualifying winner, the Philippines are out just to do that.

Will Japan still dominate, or will the rest of Asia remain at the catching-up stage?

Go Volcanoes!

psychic duck · Jun 21, 2012

considering Japan have been rubbish this year, much worse than the 2008-11 period, and still rolled over the competition there shouldn't be much change soon

LittleGuy · Jun 21, 2012

I'm looking forward to seeing who will be the repechage qualifier from Asia for the 2015 RWC. I hear Kazakhstan and especially Hong Kong are improving.

psychic duck · Jun 21, 2012

Little Guy said:
I'm looking forward to seeing who will be the repechage qualifier from Asia for the 2015 RWC. I hear Kazakhstan and especially Hong Kong are improving.

would you really want to see Hong Kong get near World Cup though?

they are just a load of British expats, look at their team to play Japan below, how many of those names do you think are from the 95% ethnic Chinese majority in Hong Kong?

anyway they still lost 67-0 to Japan this year and have no chance of qualifying are remotely troubling Uruguay who they will have to beat, so it doesn't matter

1. Alexander Harris
2. Alexander McQueen
3. Anthony Haynes
4. Charles French
5. Nick Hewson
6. Ian Ridgway
7. Michael Guranshi
8. Keith Robertson
9. Lee Jones
10. Mark Goosen
11. Jack Bennett
12. Palais Tauti
13. Ross Armour
14. Rowan Varty
15. Yiu Kam Shing

16. Stephen Nolan
17. Michael Waller
18. Thomas Borland
19. Daniel Watson
20. Mark Wright
21. Tim Alexander
22. Caddo Lee
23. Ally Maclay

I think you may have confused Kazakhstan with another nation (Philippines?) they were relegated from the Asian 5 Nations, and look at their results

Japan 87-0 Kazakhstan
UAE 46-31 Kazakhstan
South Korea 87-17 Kazakhstan
Hong Kong 55-0 Kazakhstan

LittleGuy · Jun 22, 2012

Maybe it was South Korea, and that they had blown way Kazakhstan, it was last years competition that I had followed so can't quite remember.

How did UAE do? I know Arabian Gulf got split up and i was wondering if that would have weakened the squad considerably.

Based on those results it's likely to be South Korea and/or Hong Kong in the repechage and they would both have trouble against Uruguay(or even Chile if a shock occurs in South America).

Edit: Kazakhstan actually finished 2nd last time round and went to the repechage round so I was indeed thinking of them where they lost to Uruguay, looks like there team took a huge step back in the last year or two though.

Melhor Time · Jun 23, 2012

Japan are far too good for the others. o one can challenge them.

Think about it this way. Argentina defeated Brazil 111-0 last month. The side had no pro players but was way too good. In December I saw Brazil defeat the UAE who defeated Kazakhstan in the 2012 Asian 5 Nations. Brazil smashed the UAE in Dubai by over 60 points. See here. Hong Kong beat Brazil 37-3 and was very much an expat side. Few to no ethnic Chinese involved. The USA was much the same. Really, Asia needs South Korea to grow because having HK and the UAE as strong Asian teams is a joke.

South Korea did win vs Hong Kong and had a team of South Koreans. i.e....

U

usausa

Academy Player

Jun 24, 2012

#7

Japan is clear #1 right now. South Korea is 2, Hong Kong 3 but not too much seperates these two in my mind. Both have solid backlines, but the difference this year was the Korean pack and homefield advantage. I think the Philippines are 4th in Asia. They just got promoted and have a professional backline that has been together for 3-4 years now, but they suffer in the forward pack. They have an old loosehead and hooker, but a great tighthead. They suffer at the breakdowns as well, getting penalized too much. They lost pretty heavily to Hong Kong in a friendly test last year but that HK played much better and seemed stronger. Philippines I think should improve for next year since they will hopefully have more of their great fast backs available and I think after facing Hong Kong before they have an idea now at the standard of Top 5 rugby. UAE is 5th and I think will get demoted next season. Sri Lanka looks to promote next season. They had a very young team this past year and I think they paid for it. Strong pack and young backs but at times they look really unorganized in the loose. Kazakhstan have fallen off, but I believe some of their pro/best players have not been available for one reason or another. These are the core 7 in my opinion that will compete for the RWCQ spots. Here are my power rankings as of right now in Asia:
1. Japan
2. South Korea
3. Hong Kong
4. Philippines
5. UAE
6. Sri Lanka
7. Kazakhstan
8. Chinese Taipei
9. Singapore
10. Thailand

Last edited: Jun 24, 2012

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usausa

Academy Player

Jul 2, 2012

#8

Some full match downloads available from the 2011 HSBC Asian V Nations Division 5 (home and away between Cambodia and Loas). Although no promotion to Division 4 was granted for the winning side, the Mekong Cup was still at play between these two great rugby rivals. Both matches uploaded by the Lao Rugby Federation. I downloaded the first match, and is great to watch! Not the best rugby (or camera work) but to watch rugby in exotic countries such as these is awesome!
http://laorugby.com/Lao_Rugby_Federation/Mekong_Cup_2011.html

W

welshglory

First XV

TRF Legend

Jul 4, 2012

#9

psychic duck said:
would you really want to see Hong Kong get near World Cup though?

they are just a load of British expats, look at their team to play Japan below, how many of those names do you think are from the 95% ethnic Chinese majority in Hong Kong?

anyway they still lost 67-0 to Japan this year and have no chance of qualifying are remotely troubling Uruguay who they will have to beat, so it doesn't matter

1. Alexander Harris
2. Alexander McQueen
3. Anthony Haynes
4. Charles French
5. Nick Hewson
6. Ian Ridgway
7. Michael Guranshi
8. Keith Robertson
9. Lee Jones
10. Mark Goosen
11. Jack Bennett
12. Palais Tauti
13. Ross Armour
14. Rowan Varty
15. Yiu Kam Shing

16. Stephen Nolan
17. Michael Waller
18. Thomas Borland
19. Daniel Watson
20. Mark Wright
21. Tim Alexander
22. Caddo Lee
23. Ally Maclay

I think you may have confused Kazakhstan with another nation (Philippines?) they were relegated from the Asian 5 Nations, and look at their results

Japan 87-0 Kazakhstan
UAE 46-31 Kazakhstan
South Korea 87-17 Kazakhstan
Hong Kong 55-0 Kazakhstan

I'll think you'll find that a lot of those ex- pats are Hong Kong born and bred. Just because they don't have Chinese names doesn't mean they aren't Hong Kongnese