Asia rugby results: 1-2 June 2019

The HSBC World Men’s Sevens rugby 2019 concluded in Paris, with the fate of the Japanese 7s team confirmed. Meanwhile in Asia, the ARC Division 1 saw its finale determine the Division winners and losers. The Hong Kong women’s and men’s teams were in action in Portugal and on the social side, The Beijing Tens took place in China and the Taiwan tens were aksi in action. This is our wrap of Asian rugby results for 1-2 June 2019.

HSBC World Rugby Sevens – Men’s

Japan relegated

Photo Credit: HSBC World Rugby Sevens

Japan battled hard in the final leg in Paris to avoid relegation from the core 7s series for 2019-20 but unfortunately, the task proved too much. The team upset France in their opening game 17-14 to offer a glimmer of hope, but meanwhile, Kenya also stepped up and managed to qualify for the Cup quarterfinals. Japan wasn’t able to match Kenya’s results and lost to NZ 31-14 and agonisingly 22-21 to Scotland in their other pool games.

The other contender for relegation was Wales, who like Japan, qualified for the Challenge Cup. Japan lost its opening games on Sunday 52-7 to England and then faced Wales, but by then, the Welsh could not be surpassed by Japan in the final standings despite Japan winning the game 33-17. Japan bowed out of the series with a 13th place playoff loss to Scotland 31-26. Here are the full results.

Japan will next play in the Asia Rugby Men’s Sevens Series, before attempting to qualify again at the Hong Kong 7s next year for core status.

Fiji crowned champions

The HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series nearly went down to the wire but Fiji beat the USA in the Cup semi-finals to secure their 4th world series title.

Coach Gareth Baber said after beating NZ 35-24 in the Cup final, to round out the perfect weekend for the Fijians:

“I thought that the back end of the season, carrying on from Hong Kong with Singapore, London last week and to round it off as we did, is pretty special. It’s all credit to everybody back home in Fiji, everybody who has supported us and kept patient. But, most of all to the staff and the quality outfit that we have playing for us.”

The USA, who came so close to winning their first Sevens series, lost out to South Africa in the bronze match. Mike Friday’s side was beaten 24-7 but have had a fantastic season and will look forward to a busy 2020 season which includes the Olympics in Tokyo.

The final round of the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series 2019 takes place from 15-16 of June 2019 in Biarritz, France.

Final standings HSBC World Rugby Sevens

The top four teams had already been confirmed by Paris and all of the sides have qualified for the Olympics 2020. The final standings and points can be seen here.

1. Fiji
2. USA
3. New Zealand
4. South Africa

Japan is relegated from the Core series but also qualifies for the Olympics as the host nation.

Asia Rugby Championship 2019 Division 1

Photo Credit: Asia Rugby

Sri Lanka thumped Chinese Taipei 72-17 in Taiwan on Saturday to comfortably retain their place in Division 1. The result saw the home team return to Division 1 for 2020.

Meanwhile, the Philippines retained their Division 1 title by beating Singapore again 29-21. The result sees the Volcanoes move up to the Premier Division for 2020 while Singapore is the silver medalists for the 2nd consecutive year. Philippines captain Danny Matthews told Asia Rugby:

“I am so proud of the boys, this is such a huge win. It wasn’t the prettiest game of footy but we showed a lot of heart to get the win. All credit Singapore, they were excellent, I can’t say enough how good they were….It’s an important win for us. Our role as a team is to help with the development of rugby in the Philippines…”

• Sri Lanka 72-17 Chinese Taipei
• Philippines 29-21 Singapore

Read more here for the semi-final results for the Division.

Super Rugby – Sunwolves

The Sunwolves continued their poor form in the Super Rugby competition, losing their final home game of the season 19-42 to the Australian Brumbies. The Sunwolves last two games are away to the Stormers in South Africa on June 8th and the Jaguares in Argentina on June 15th.

Hong Kong 7s teams – Lisbon 7s

HK sent its men’s and women’s teams to take part in the Lisbon 7s in Portugal over the weekend. Both sides qualified for the Cup and the women’s team won the Cup final 21-10 beating Sporting CP. We could not find the men’s day two results at the time of publishing but the Hong Kong men’s finished 3rd at the tournament.

Men’s HK Sevens

• Game 1: HK 48 -0 ER Galiza
  

  Taiwan 10s rugby Day 1 results

• Game 2: HK 20- 0 RC Santerém
  
• Game 3: HK 26-7 Caldas Rugby Club
• Game 4: HK 45-0 RC Vila Molta

Social Tens rugby

Taiwan International Rugby 10s Tournament

The two-day tens rugby tournament formed part of the Taiwan rugby week which included the ARC Division 1 matches. We can only confirm the day 1 results at the time of publishing- see to the right.

• Ladies Cup – Kowloon RFC

Beijing Tens 2019

The Beijing Tens took place on June 1st in China and is the penultimate Sino 10s rugby tournament of the year with Shanghai Tens closing the social season next weekend. These are the only results we can confirm so far.

• Bowl Final: Giants 5-19 Dolphins
• Plate Final: Beijing Devils 14-12 Beijing Niu Brothers RFC
• Cup Final: Beijing Ducks 17-22 Beijing pro

Read more about the best rugby union and touch rugby happening across Asia this June.