2015 Asian Sevens Series

The 2015 Asian Sevens Series was the seventh Asian Sevens Series held by Asia Rugby. The winner and runner-up of the competition gaining entry into the World Series qualifying tournament (to become a core team in 2017) at the 2016 Hong Kong Sevens.

2015 Asian Sevens Series
Hosts
Date5 September – 11 October 2015
Nations12
Final positions
Champions Japan
Runners-up Hong Kong
Third South Korea
Series details
Top try scorerJapan Goto, Teruya (22)
Top point scorerJapan Goto, Teruya
2014
2016

The first leg of the 2015 Asian Sevens Series was held at the Tiantai Stadium in Qingdao on 5 and 6 September.[1] The biggest surprise of that tournament was that for the first time since 2011 Hong Kong failed to make the finals, losing in the quarterfinals to the Chinese, 21–17. The Chinese were successful in the semi-finals defeating Sri Lanka 22–12 garnering their first cup final appearance against Japan, who defeated South Korea by 21–5 in their semi-final. The Japanese went on to win the Cup final by defeating the Chinese by 28–12.[2][3] In the Plate final Hong Kong defeated Kazakhstan 27–0 and in the Bowl final UAE were successful against Singapore 15–7.

The second leg of the series was held in Thailand on 26 and 27 September. In this leg Japan, and South Korea, successfully made their way through the competition unbeaten. Japan coming from behind to win a tense encounter 24–19, against Hong Kong in the semi-final, scoring a golden try in sudden death extra-time. Japan then repeated their earlier result in Shanghai, easily winning the Cup 45–7 against South Korea. The Plate final was contested between UAE and China, with China securing the Plate with a 26–5 victory, whilst in the Bowl final Thailand defeated the Philippines 24–19.

The last leg was held at the Colombo Racecourse in Sri Lanka on 10 and 11 October. Japan booked their berth in the Cup final with a 31–5 victory over China in the quarter-final and a hard-fought 26–19 win over hosts Sri Lanka in the semi-final. Hong Kong beat Chinese Taipei 33–5 in their quarter-final before hammering Malaysia 38–7 in the semi-finals. Hong Kong’s path to the final was made easier by the shock loss of South Korea to Thailand in the preliminary rounds. Japan secured a clean sweep of the series winning their third Cup by defeating Hong Kong 29–22. South Korea won the Plate final, with a 17–10 victory over Chinese Taipei.

The winner of the 2015 Asian Sevens Series was Japan, who won all three legs, the remaining places on the podium went to Hong Kong and South Korea, with their final position determined by the difference of points.[4][5]

Teams

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12 teams competed in the tournament.

Tour venues

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2015 Venues
Leg City Dates Cup Plate Bowl
China Qingdao 5–6 September 2015   Japan   Hong Kong   United Arab Emirates
Thailand Bangkok 26–27 September 2015   Japan   United Arab Emirates   Philippines
Colombo Colombo 10–11 October 2015   Japan   South Korea   United Arab Emirates

China

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The China 7s was held in Qingdao from September 5-6.

Pool stages

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Pool A

Teams P W D L
  Hong Kong 2 2 0 0
  Philippines 2 1 0 1
  United Arab Emirates 2 0 0 2

Pool B

Teams P W D L
  Sri Lanka 2 2 0 0
  Kazakhstan 2 1 0 1
  Singapore 2 0 0 2
Sri Lanka  24-12  Kazakhstan
Sri Lanka  43-0  Singapore

Pool C

Teams P W D L
  Japan 2 2 0 0
  China 2 1 0 1
  Taiwan 2 0 0 2
China  7-21  Japan
Japan  50-0  Taiwan
Taiwan  5-37  China

Pool D

Teams P W D L
  South Korea 2 2 0 0
  Malaysia 2 1 0 1
  Thailand 2 0 0 2
Thailand  12-26  Malaysia

Knockout stages

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Bowl

 
Semi-finals9th-place final
 
      
 
 
 
 
  United Arab Emirates24
 
 
 
  Taiwan12
 
  United Arab Emirates15
 
 
 
  Singapore7
 
  Singapore24
 
 
  Thailand19
 
11th Place
 
 
 
 
 
  Thailand21
 
 
  Taiwan7

Plate

 
Semi-finals5th-place final
 
      
 
 
 
 
  Hong Kong29
 
 
 
  Malaysia0
 
  Hong Kong27
 
 
 
  Kazakhstan0
 
  Kazakhstan19
 
 
  Philippines5
 
7th Place
 
 
 
 
 
  Philippines19
 
 
  Malaysia17

Cup

 
Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
          
 
 
 
 
  Sri Lanka31
 
 
 
  Malaysia0
 
  China22
 
 
 
  Sri Lanka12
 
  China 21
 
 
 
  Hong Kong17
 
  Japan28
 
 
 
  China12
 
  South Korea19
 
 
 
  Kazakhstan17
 
  Japan21
 
 
 
  South Korea5Third place
 
  Japan26
 
 
 
  Philippines5
 
  South Korea24
 
 
  Sri Lanka7
 

Thailand

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The Thailand 7s was held in Bangkok September 26-27.

Pool stages

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Pool A

Teams P W D L
  Japan 2 2 0 0
  Kazakhstan 2 1 0 1
  Singapore 2 0 0 2
Japan  33-5  Singapore
Japan  54-0  Kazakhstan

Pool B

Teams P W D L
  Hong Kong 2 2 0 0
  Sri Lanka 2 1 0 1
  Taiwan 2 0 0 2
Hong Kong  34-0  Taiwan
Sri Lanka  36-0  Taiwan
Sri Lanka  14-33  Hong Kong

Pool C

Teams P W D L
  South Korea 2 2 0 0
  United Arab Emirates 2 1 0 1
  Philippines 2 0 0 2

Pool D

Teams P W D L
  China 2 2 0 0
  Malaysia 2 1 0 1
  Thailand 2 0 0 2
Malaysia  21-15  Thailand
China  31-5  Thailand
China  42-5  Malaysia

Knockout stages

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Bowl

 
Semi-finals9th-place final
 
      
 
 
 
 
  Philippines21
 
 
 
  Kazakhstan12
 
  Thailand24
 
 
 
  Philippines19
 
  Thailand17
 
 
  Taiwan7
 
11th Place
 
 
 
 
 
  Kazakhstan15
 
 
  Taiwan12

Plate

 
Semi-finals5th-place final
 
      
 
 
 
 
  United Arab Emirates27
 
 
 
  Malaysia14
 
  China26
 
 
 
  United Arab Emirates5
 
  China26
 
 
  Singapore7
 
7th Place
 
 
 
 
 
  Singapore21
 
 
  Malaysia19

Cup

 
Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsCup Final
 
          
 
 
 
 
  Hong Kong33
 
 
 
  Malaysia0
 
  Japan24
 
 
 
  Hong Kong19
 
  Japan39
 
 
 
  United Arab Emirates0
 
  Japan45
 
 
 
  South Korea7
 
  Sri Lanka14
 
 
 
  China7
 
  South Korea27
 
 
 
  Sri Lanka03rd Place
 
  South Korea17
 
 
 
  Singapore0
 
  Hong Kong33
 
 
  Sri Lanka7
 

[6][7][8]

Sri Lanka

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The Sri Lanka 7s was held in Colombo from October 10-11. Kazakhstan withdrew from the tournament leaving only Hong Kong and China in pool C.

Pool stages

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Pool A

Teams P W D L
  Japan 2 2 0 0
  Taiwan 2 1 0 1
  United Arab Emirates 2 0 0 2
Japan  35-7  Taiwan

Pool B

Teams P W D L
  Sri Lanka 2 2 0 0
  Malaysia 2 1 0 1
  Philippines 2 0 0 2
Malaysia  21-19  Philippines
Sri Lanka  40-0  Malaysia

Pool C

Teams P W D L
  Hong Kong 2 2 0 0
  China 2 0 0 2
Hong Kong  29-14  China
China  0-24  Hong Kong

Pool D

Teams P W D L
  Thailand 2 2 0 0
  South Korea 2 1 0 1
  Singapore 2 0 0 2
Singapore  0-22  Thailand
South Korea  14-21  Thailand

Knockout stages

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Bottom 3 playoff

Plate

 
Semi-finals5th-place final
 
      
 
 
 
 
  South Korea7
 
 
 
  China5
 
  South Korea17
 
 
 
  Taiwan10
 
  Taiwan21
 
 
  Thailand0
 
7th Place
 
 
 
 
 
  China26
 
 
  Thailand19

Cup

 
Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsCup Final
 
          
 
 
 
 
  Sri Lanka19
 
 
 
  South Korea12
 
  Japan26
 
 
 
  Sri Lanka19
 
  Japan31
 
 
 
  China5
 
  Japan29
 
 
 
  Hong Kong22
 
  Malaysia43
 
 
 
  Thailand0
 
  Hong Kong38
 
 
 
  Malaysia73rd Place
 
  Hong Kong33
 
 
 
  Taiwan5
 
  Sri Lanka45
 
 
  Malaysia12
 

Final standings

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2015 Standings
Pos. Country   China   Thailand   Sri Lanka Overall
    Japan 12 12 12 36
    Hong Kong 8 10 11 29
    South Korea 10 11 8 29
4   Sri Lanka 9 9 10 28
5   China 11 8 6 25
6   Malaysia 5 5 9 19
7   United Arab Emirates 4 7 4 15
8   Singapore 3 6 3 12
9   Thailand 2 4 5 11
10   Philippines 6 3 2 11
11   Kazakhstan 7 2 - 9
12   Chinese Taipei 1 1 7 9

[9][10][11]

References

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  1. ^ Asia Sevens – Qindao, China. 9/5/2015 - 9/6/2015, Rugby7.com.
  2. ^ "ARS 2015 Japan win China 7s". asiarugby.com. 2015-10-21. Archived from the original on 2015-09-07.
  3. ^ "Joy and despair for Hong Kong Sevens at China". worldrugby.org. 2015-10-21.
  4. ^ "Japan triumph in Thailand Sevens 2015". asiarugby.com. 2015-10-21. Archived from the original on 2016-09-18. Retrieved 2016-04-24.
  5. ^ "Japan sevens adds a feel good factor". worldrugby.org. 2015-10-21.
  6. ^ "Hong Kong lose gripping semi-final against Japan in Thailand Sevens". South China Morning Post. 2015-09-27. Retrieved 2021-11-25.
  7. ^ "Hong Kong off to a flying start at Thailand Sevens with two easy wins". South China Morning Post. 2015-09-27. Retrieved 2021-11-25.
  8. ^ "Hong Kong coach Gareth Baber keeps faith with tried and tested squad for Thailand Sevens". South China Morning Post. 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2021-11-25.
  9. ^ "Asia Rugby Sevens Series 2015 results & standings". South China Morning Post. 2015-09-04. Retrieved 2021-11-25.
  10. ^ "Hong Kong men and women build momentum as all-powerful Japan complete Sri Lanka Sevens double". South China Morning Post. 2015-10-11. Retrieved 2021-11-25.
  11. ^ "Hong Kong men's seven cruise into Colombo Cup final clash with Japan". South China Morning Post. 2015-10-11. Retrieved 2021-11-25.