The Premier Division of the Asia Rugby Championship 2019 kicked off in Korea while Division 2 was settled in Thailand on the 18th May.
Premier Division Asia Rugby Championship 2019
South Korea proved far too strong for Malaysia in the Premier division opener, winning 52-14 and securing a pivotal bonus point on the way to victory. Although Korea scored 8 tries in total, the half time score was only 19-7 in their favour.
Korea captain Na told Asia Rugby “In our preparations, we focused a great deal on our structure. It was a very tough game for us. We had a difficult start, but we made a good recovery and are now ready for the next challenge. We want more stability and structure within our play and more phases with the ball as we move forward to the match in Malaysia.”
The Malaysian Hibiscus national team are coached by Brad Mika, who is a former All Black. He has already led the team to the Asian First Division titles in 2016 & 2017. He thought they put in improved performance compared to 2018 when they lost 67-12. In addition, he told Ragbi Online that “when they played to their systems they looked good but their execution let them down.”
Hong Kong won all 4 games in 2018 to win the Division and will only feature in round 3 of the ARC Premier Division 2019.
- Korea 52- 14 Malaysia
Game #2 ARC Premier Division 2019
- Teams: Malaysia vs South Korea
- Date: Saturday, 25th May 2019
- Venue: Stadium National Bukit Jalil
Asia Rugby Championship Division 2
The UAE has earned promotion back to the Asia Rugby Championship Division I in 2020 after a convincing 50-12 win over Thailand on Saturday. The United Arab Emirates also scored a huge win in their semi-final win against Guam 82-7, proving far too strong for Division 2 ARC.
Thailand had beaten higher ranked Kazakhstan in their semi-final to reach the final game but the UAE was too powerful.
Guam gave a much better account of themselves in the 3rd-4th playoff but still lost to Kazakhstan 17-10 which sees Guam drop down a division of the ARC and Kazakhstan retain their ARC Divison 2 status.
Highlights of the UAE vs Thailand game are on the Asia Rugby FB page.
- Guam 10-17 Kazakhstan (3rd-4th playoff)
- UAE 50-12 Thailand (1st-2nd playoff)
Qatar has already claimed the ARC Division 3 West in 2019 and Pakistan won the Division 3 Central Division.
For more on the Asia Rugby Championship read here.
Trending Now
The Best Social 2024 Rugby Tournaments In Asia
