The men’s national XV teams from India, Kazakhstan, and Qatar will compete for the Asia Rugby Men’s Division 2 Championship 2023 in Doha, Qatar from 30th April to 6th May 2023.
The Aspire Warm Up Track is the host venue for the tournament, with the winner of the three teams earning promotion to AR Division 1 in 2024 – something teams such as Qatar and India have not previously reached.
India – Asia Rugby Men’s Division 2 Championship 2023
The Indian Men’s XV team have been preparing in camp at the KIIT – Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology – which is the modern training facility all of the national Rugby India national teams use to prepare for tournaments.
The team comfortably won the Asia Rugby Division 3 South (held in Kolkata in 2022) in a division of mismatches. India dominated Bangladesh and Nepal (who made their debut) and scored more than 80 points in both matches, so the step up against Kazakhstan and Qatar will be noticeable for the side.
India National Head Coach and former Springbok legend Naas Botha told RugbyAsia247: “We are really looking forward to the tournament in Qatar. We have seen Qatar and Kazakhstan play and they are extremely well-coached and managed teams and we know it’s going to be extremely difficult but it’s a fantastic opportunity for the players from India to go and play fantastic opposition. We are all looking forward to it and we can’t wait.
As a rugby player, you want to test yourself against good players and I believe there are fantastic players in the Qatar and Kazakshtah teams. As a group, we are looking forward to two great games and hopefully, after the tournament, everyone will walk away and say rugby won.”
Photo Credit: Rugby India – The Men’s XV team preparing or the Championship.
Kazakhstan Rugby – Division 2 Championship 2023
Kazakhstan won Division 3 Central nearly a year ago (July 2022) in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, when they thumped the hosts 113-5, but had a tougher match against Uzbekistan and won 32-24, to claim the Division title.
The team has been preparing in Georgia the past week and they have posted intense scrum sessions – we have been told they have had practice matches against the Georgia development and club teams too.
The Kazakhstan Head Coach, Ildar Abdrazakov, told RugbyAsia247: “Our team has been based in Georgia and we have been preparing by training with and playing several club teams here. The conditions have been good and the players are in a good shape and are ready to play in the Asia Rugby Division 2 championship.
We have not played a national XV game since July of last year – we have had only the domestic club championship but we will try to compete and do our best at a higher level in Qatar. We have a great history in XVs rugby and we have a young squad but also some experienced guys who have played in the national team for many years.
We expect a good level of competition and we might have to adjust to the hotter climate in Qatar – but we are ready. Kazakhstan is ready to go!”
Photo Credit: Rugby Asia – Kazakhstan won their Division in mid-2022
Qatar – AR Men’s Division 2 Championship 2023
The hosts Qatar were the Division 3 West tournament champions beating Iran 40-12 in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in February 2023.
Qatar Player/Coach Abdulaziz Al-Dosari told us: “We look forward to playing against India and Kazakhstan for the first time, we are sure the games are going to be very competitive. Preparations started well and have only gotten better, the team and staff have put in a lot of hard work, and we hope to get a good result.”
There are debuts for Sri Lankan-born Murshid Ahmat, and Beau Swart (a Dutch U20 international).
Fijian centre Pita Beracibi and Oliver Kinnaird-Barr were capped for Qatar in sevens in 2021, but both earn their XV caps.
(Apologies for our initial post which included some mistakes).
You can read more from the Federation when we spoke to them before the victory in February.
Qatar Men XV Squad
Image Credit: Qatar Rugby Federation
Asia Rugby – Men’s Division 2 Championship 2023 Schedule
- 30th April 2023 – Qatar 32-7 India
- 3rd May 2023 – India 22-29 Kazakhstan (YouTube Stream Link)
- 6th May 2023 – Qatar 35-10 Kazakhstan
mage Credit: Asia Rugby
How to Watch The Asia Rugby Men’s Division 2 Championship 2023
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Based on the World Rugby rankings at the time of publishing (Qatar had no ranking*):
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