We look at the Dialog Asia Rugby Sevens Series 2021 results, which means for the women, Japan and China have qualified for RWC 2022 Sevens in South Africa, while for the men – Hong Kong and Korea are the qualifiers from Asia.
The Dialog Asia Rugby Sevens Series 2021 tournament wrapped up at Dubai Sports City with the four “golden ticket” winners of the qualification to the RWC 2022 Sevens in South Africa earning their places through some exciting rugby.
(You can read our Dialog Asia Rugby Sevens Series 2021 Day Two Preview here)
Men’s Qualifying RWC Sevens 2022
The Hong Kong Rugby Union men’s sevens team qualified for its eighth straight Rugby World Cup Sevens after beating China 24-0 in the semi-final, while South Korea shocked and beat Japan 21-14 in the other semi-final.
As the winning semi-finalists, both teams booked their place in South Africa but HK also did a demolition job over Korea in the final winning 33-7. In addition, Asian Games seeding was on the line and HK was seeking revenge for losing out to Korea for the Tokyo Olympics – the cup win means HK will be the top seed for their gold medal defence at next year’s Asian Games.
The Koreans, to their credit, put everything into their semi-final win over the Japanese and were deserved winners of that contest, with management and staff on the sidelines reacting in jubilation at the final whistle, which was fantastic to witness. Japan beat China for the 3/4 playoff 26-19.
In the Plate playoffs, the home team UAE, won the final beating Sri Lanka 29-10, while Malaysia beat the Philippines 28-19 for 7-8th.
Photo Credit: Facebook – Asia Rugby President – Korea men’s sevens team qualified 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens
Hong Kong Men’s head coach Paul John said “We are chuffed to bits to qualify for the Rugby World Cup Sevens obviously. Having been to every one, there is a fair bit of pressure around that and all 12 of the boys did exceptionally well. It is an important win for our sevens programme.
Now there is an awful lot to look forward to for all of the guys in the squad, both here and back at home, with the Asian Games and the Rugby World Cup on in 2022.”
Dialog Asia Rugby Sevens Series 2021 Results
- Hong Kong
- Korea
- Japan
- China
- UAE
- Sri Lanka
- Malaysia
- Phillipines
Women’s Qualifying RWC Sevens 2022
Hong Kong’s women lost out on qualifying to the Sevens RWC after a 29-0 loss to Japan in the semi-final. The Japanese were the form team all weekend and deservedly secured their place in SA and won the final, beating fancied China 14-12 in a close contest to take gold at Dialog Asia Rugby Sevens Series 2021.
Photo Credit: Facebook -Asia Rugby President – Japanese ladies were in great form to win in Dubai and qualify
China themselves overcame a late fightback in their semifinal against the Kazakhs winning 24-19, and once they secured their RWC sport, couldn’t stave off a strong Japanese finish in the final.
HK women did beat Kazakhstan in the 3/4 playoff 12-10 and aim to secure the top seed possible for the 2022 Asian Games.
In the Plate playoffs, Thailand (themselves unlucky not to reach the Cup semi-finals) destroyed Sri Lanka 46-0 to win the Plate Final, while Malaysia beat the Philippines to claim the 7/8th playoff.
Dialog Asia Rugby Sevens Series 2021 Results
- Japan
- China
- Hong Kong
- Kazakhstan
- Thailand
- Sri Lanka
- Malaysia
- Philipines
Photo Credit: Facebook -Asia Rugby President – The China women will follow up their showing at Tokyo Olympics with a ticket to RWC Sevens 2022.
Our observations from Day Two:
- Having (and hearing) at-stadium commentary was a big improvement for fans, especially for updates on scores and game permeations.
- The game hooters were much more audible to know the half and fulltime of the games – which was key as many games were tightly contested and there was no clock or scoreboard at the field.
- The intensity and quality of the games overall were a step up, the teams and players needed to blow off the cobwebs on day one.
- No flags or ad banners interfering with the fans views of the games – thank you!
- There was some confusion over the Philippines vs Sri Lanka men’s game as the stadium announcement made it seem like the former won, but it was later revealed the score given was incorrect and Sri Lanka had won.
- The standout games we saw were the Korea vs Japan men’s, Sri Lanka vs Philippines men’s and the China vs Kazakhstan women’s games.
Qais Abdulla Al Dhalai, Asia Rugby President (who was in attendance on both days) said: “Congratulations to Japan Rugby Football Union women and China women teams and Korea men and Hong Kong Rugby Union men teams as the qualifiers for the Rugby World Cup 7s 2022 in South Africa.
Photo Credit: Asia Rugby
(You can see all the scores on Macoocoo and on the Asia Rugby website)
Editors Note:
