Asian Rugby in new format with SL to play in Division I

Monday, 20 April 2015 00:47 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Shamseer Jaleel The Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) kicked off its premier men’s and fifteen-a-side competitions under a new name and format, the Asia Rugby Championship (ARC), with a game between Japan and South Korea with Asian giants Japan winning 55-36 in Incheon last weekend. The Asia Women’s Rugby Championship (AWRC) will be also worked off this month. In 2015, Asia’s elite fifteen-a-side competitions will focus on the top three teams, reduced from five at last year’s men’s competition – the former

Asian 5 Nations Top 5 and four in the women’s competition (Asian Women’s Four Nations). This year’s Asia Rugby Championship will feature defending champions Japan, runners-up Hong Kong and third-placed finishers South Korea contesting a full home-and-away series across seven weeks which started last weekend in Incheon, South Korea. Philippines and Sri Lanka, the fourth- and fifth-place finishers from last year’s Asian 5 Nations Top 5 competition, will feature in Division I this year. They will also need to overcome Singapore and Kazakhstan in their semi-final encounters. There is no mandatory promotion match in the 2015 men’s competition. The winner of Division I can choose to challenge the bottom-placed team at the conclusion of the ARC. If held, that match will take place in the home nation of the third-place finisher in the ARC on 6 June. Starting in 2016, promotion and relegation will again be a regular feature of the competition, with a mandatory challenge match taking place each year to determine the format for the following season’s competition. The Division I competition will be held at the mid-point of the ARC with matches on 6 and 9 May in Manila. Last year’s Top 5 sides Philippines and Sri Lanka will face Singapore and Kazakhstan in a highly competitive grouping in the Philippines that for the first time ever features four former Top 5 sides. The tournament will be the first event held at the all-new 25,000-seat Philippines Arena outside Manila. Division II will take place the following week in Kuala Lumpur with Malaysia, Thailand, UAE and Chinese Taipei playing a full round-robin competition. The Asia Women’s Rugby Championship (AWRC) will feature the region’s top three teams in 2015 with a round robin competition between defending champions Kazakhstan, runners-up Hong Kong and third-ranked Japan. Hong Kong will travel to Kazakhstan to open the competition in Almaty on 25 April. The AWRC will be supported by a four-team Division I competition to be held later in the year as the ARFU continues to provide opportunities for its member unions to enhance their competitiveness ahead of qualification for the 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup next season.