2016 Asia Rugby Championship

2016 Asia Rugby Championship
Date	30 April – 4 June
Countries	Hong Kong; Japan; South Korea
Final positions
Champions	Japan (24th title)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	6
Tries scored	54 (9 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Benjamin Rimene (50)
Most tries	Kentaro Kodama (7)
Website	www.asiarugby.com
	← 2015 2017 →

The 2016 Asia Rugby Championship, or ARC, was the second annual tri-nations series for top-level rugby union in Asia and the twenty-ninth continental championship for the Asia Rugby nations. The Asia Rugby Championship replaced the former Asian Five Nations in 2015, with only three nations competing in the top division instead of the previous five. The 2016 series included Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea. Other Asian nations competed in the lower division tournaments.

The format of the competition is a double round-robin where the top-three nations play each other twice on a home and away basis. The team finishing on top of the standings is declared the winner, and the bottom-placed team is subject to a promotion-relegation play-off against the winner of Division 1,^[1]^[2] although this opportunity to challenge is often declined.

Teams

The teams involved, with their world rankings prior to the 2016 tournament in brackets:

Nation	Home stadium	City	Head coach	Captain
Japan (10)	Nippatsu Mitsuzawa Stadium Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium	Yokohama Tokyo	Ryuji Nakatake	Keisuke Uchida
Hong Kong (23)	Hong Kong Football Club Stadium	Hong Kong	Leigh Jones	Nick Hewson
South Korea (29)	Namdong Asiad Rugby Stadium	Incheon	John Walters	Shin Dong Won

Standings

Champions
Will play in the top 3 challenge

Position	Nation	Games				Points			Points
Position	Nation	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Difference	BP1	BP2	Total
1	Japan	4	4	0	0	242	23	+219	4	0	20
2	Hong Kong	4	2	0	2	95	139	-44	2	0	10
3	South Korea	4	0	0	4	45	220	-175	1	1	2
Source: rugbyarchive.net Archived 2018-09-30 at the Wayback Machine Four points for a win, two for a draw, one bonus point for four tries or more (BP1) and one bonus point for losing by seven or less (BP2).

Fixtures

Week 1

30 April 2016
14:00 JST (UTC+9)

Japan	85–0	South Korea
Try: H. Yamashita (3) 1' m, 5' c, 26' m K. Kodama (5) 14' c, 29' c, 42' m, 67' c, 72' m, R. Yamanaka 20' c K. Uchida 40+1' c R. Nakamura 52' c T. Tatafu 76' c A. Moeakiola 80' c Con: R. Yamanaka (7/9) 7', 16', 21', 27', 30', 40+2', 53' R. Nakamura (3/4) 68', 76', 80+1'	Asia Rugby Report JRFU Details

Nippatsu Mitsuzawa Stadium, Yokohama
Attendance: 4,698
Referee: Patrick Kwok


FB	15	Ryuji Noguchi
RW	14	Hajime Yamashita	67'
OC	13	Takuya Ishibashi
IC	12	Ryoto Nakamura
LW	11	Kentaro Kodama
FH	10	Ryohei Yamanaka	64'
SH	9	Keisuke Uchida (c)	62'
N8	8	Tevita Tatafu
OF	7	Taiyo Ando	64'
BF	6	Hiroki Yamamoto
RL	5	Kazuhiko Usami
LL	4	Kotaro Yatabe	62'
TP	3	Yu Chinen	67'
HK	2	Futoshi Mori	67'
LP	1	Kengo Kitagawa	53'
Replacements:
PR	16	Kanta Higashionna	53'
HK	17	Atsushi Sakate	67'
PR	18	Takayuki Watanabe	67'
LK	19	Naohiro Kotaki	62'
N8	20	Tsuyoshi Murata	64'
SH	21	Daisuke Inoue	62'
CE	22	Doga Maeda	64'
CE	23	Ataata Moeakiola	67'
Coach:
Ryuji Nakatake


FB	15	Nam Young Soo
RW	14	Jang Seong Min	39' to 50'
OC	13	Jegal Bin	21'
IC	12	Lim Sang Jin
LW	11	Kim Jin hyeok
FH	10	Oh Youn-hyung	46'
SH	9	Shin Ki Cheol
N8	8	Han Kun Kyu	72'
OF	7	Kim Hyun Soo
BF	6	Park Soon Chai
RL	5	Nam Jong Song	55'
LL	4	Youn Kwon Woo	76'
TP	3	Shin Dong Won (c)	48'
HK	2	Kim Min Kyu	62'
LP	1	Na Kwan Young
Replacements:
HK	16	Chong Kwi Hong	62'
PR	17	Kang Tae Hyeon	72'
PR	18	Kim Myeong Hwan	76'
FL	19	Shin Dah Yeon	55'
N8	20	Hwang In Jo	48'
SH	21	Ahn Sang Ho
FB	22	Oh Jim Yeong	46'
WG	23	Kim Sung Soo	21'
Coach:
John Walters

Week 2

7 May 2016
16:30 HKT (UTC+8)

Hong Kong	3–38	Japan
Pen: B. Rimene 15'	HKRU Report JRFU Report	Try: S. Kin 4' c K. Uchida 11' m K. Kodama 22' c R. Nakamura 54' c H. Yamamoto 63' c, 76' m Con: R. Yamanaka (4/6) 5', 22', 54', 64'

Hong Kong Football Club Stadium, Hong Kong
Attendance: 3,000
Referee: Tatu Otsuki


FB	15	Alexander McQueen
RW	14	Ryan Meacheam	52'
OC	13	James Robinson	52'
IC	12	Lee Jones
LW	11	Salom Yiu Kam Shing
FH	10	Benjamin Rimene
SH	9	Jamie Hood	52'
N8	8	Daniel Falvey
OF	7	Toby Fenn
BF	6	Nick Hewson (c)
RL	5	Paul Dywer
LL	4	Adrian Griffiths	52'
TP	3	Jack Parfitt	40'
HK	2	Jamie Tsang	25'
LP	1	Adam Fullgrabe	40'
Replacements:
HK	16	Lachlan Chubb	25'
PR	17	Hon Wum Wei	40'
PR	18	Alex Ng	40'
LK	19	James Cunningham	52'
N8	20	Jack Delaforce
SH	21	Eliesa Kaleca Rauca	52'
CE	22	Cado Lee	52'
FH	23	Niall Rowark	52'
Coach:
Leigh Jones


FB	15	Ryuji Noguchi
RW	14	Hajime Yamashita	52'
OC	13	Takuya Ishibashi	70'
IC	12	Ryoto Nakamura
LW	11	Kentaro Kodama
FH	10	Ryohei Yamanaka
SH	9	Keisuke Uchida (c)	66'
N8	8	Tevita Tatafu	56'
OF	7	Shokei Kin
BF	6	Tsuyoshi Murata
RL	5	Kazuhiko Usami
LL	4	Naohiro Kotaki	58'
TP	3	Yu Chinen	66'
HK	2	Futoshi Mori	63'
LP	1	Kanta Higashionna	70'
Replacements:
PR	16	Syogo Miura	70'
HK	17	Atsushi Sakate	63'
PR	18	Takayuki Watanabe	66'
LK	19	Kotaro Yatabe	58'
FL	20	Hiroki Yamamoto	56'
SH	21	Daisuke Inoue	66'
CE	22	Doga Maeda	70'
WG	23	Ataata Moeakiola	52'
Coach:
Ryuji Nakatake

Week 3

14 May 2016
12:00 KST(UTC+9)

South Korea	27-34	Hong Kong
Try: Lee Jae Bok 9' m, 63' c Kim Sung Soo 38' c Na Kwan Yong 71' m Con: Lee Soop Yeong (2/3) 39', 64' Oh Jim Yeong (0/1) Pen: Lee Soop Yeong (1/1) 47',	Asia Rugby Report HKRU Starting XV	Try: A. MuQueen 3' c, 50' c J. Hood 56' c B. Rimeme 77' c Con: B. Rimene (4/4) 4', 50', 57', 78' Pen: B. Rimene (2/2) 13', 19'

Namdong Asiad Rugby Stadium, Incheon


FB	15	Lee Jae Bok
RW	14	Jang Seong Min
OC	13	Kim Sung Soo
IC	12	Kim Jin Hyeok	48' to 58'
LW	11	Lee Soop Yeong
FH	10	Oh Jim Yeong
SH	9	Shin Ki Cheol
N8	8	Han Kun Kyu
OF	7	Kim Hyun Soo
BF	6	Park Soon Chai
RL	5	Kim Sang Jin
LL	4	Youn Kwon Woo
TP	3	Shin Dong Won (c)
HK	2	Na Kwan Young
LP	1	Chong Kwi Hong
Coach:
John Walters


FB	15	Alexander McQueen
RW	14	Ryan Meacheam
OC	13	James Robinson
IC	12	Lex Kaleca
LW	11	Salom Yiu Kam Shing
FH	10	Benjamin Rimene
SH	9	Jamie Hood
N8	8	Daniel Falvey
OF	7	Toby Fenn
BF	6	Nick Hewson (c)
RL	5	Paul Dywer
LL	4	Adrian Griffiths
TP	3	Rohan Cook
HK	2	Jamie Tsang
LP	1	Adam Fullgrabe
Replacements:
HK	16	Lachlan Chubb
PR	17	Wei Hon Wum
PR	18	Alex Ng
LK	19	James Cunningham
N8	20	Jack Delaforce
SH	21	Lee Jones
CE	22	Cado Lee
FH	23	Niall Rowark
Coach:
Leigh Jones

Week 4

21 May 2016
12:00 KST(UTC+9)

South Korea	3-60	Japan
Pen: Oh Jim Yeong (1/2) 2'	Asia Rugby Report JRFU Report	Try: Atsushi Sakate (2) 5' m, 49' c Ryohei Yamanaka (2) 26' m, 32' c Keisuke Uchida 12' m Penalty try 23' c Kentaro Kodama 53' m Kotaro Yatabe 61' c Takuhei Yasuda 73' m Ryuji Noguchi 80'c Con: Ryoto Nakamura (2/6) 24', 80+1' Ryohei Yamanaka (3/4) 33', 50', 62'

Namdong Asiad Rugby Stadium, Incheon
Attendance: 500
Referee: Matt Rodden (Hong Kong)


FB	15	Lee Jae Bok
RW	14	Nam Young Soo
OC	13	Kim Sung Soo	72'
IC	12	Kim Jin Hyeok	55'
LW	11	Lee Soo Pyeong
FH	10	Oh Jim Yeong
SH	9	Shin Ki Cheol	76'
N8	8	Hwang In Jo	28'
OF	7	Kim Hyun Soo		53' to 63'
BF	6	Shin Da Hyeon
RL	5	Kim Sang Jin	73'
LL	4	Youn Kwon Woo		16' to 26'
TP	3	Shin Dong Won (c)	75'
HK	2	Na Kwan Young	25'
LP	1	Chong Kwi Hong	62'
Replacements:
	16	Kang Tae Hyeon	62'
	17	Kim Min Kyo	25'
	18	Kim Myeong Hwan	75'
	19	Nam Jong Song	73'
	20	Son Min Su	28'
	21	Lee Sung Bae	76'
	22	Oh Youn Hyung	55'
	23	Kim In Kyu	72'
Coach:
John Walters


FB	15	Ryohei Yamanaka	71'
RW	14	Takuhei Yasuda
OC	13	Doga Maeda
IC	12	Takuya Ishibashi
LW	11	Kentaro Kodama	66'
FH	10	Ryoto Nakamura
SH	9	Keisuke Uchida (c)	73'
N8	8	Hiroki Yamamoto
OF	7	Shokei Kin	71'
BF	6	Masato Furukawa
RL	5	Naohiro Kotaki	62'
LL	4	Kotaro Yatabe
TP	3	Takayuki Watanabe	71'
HK	2	Atsushi Sakate	71'
LP	1	Kanta Higashionna	50'
Replacements:
PR	16	Shogo Miura	50'
HK	17	Daigo Hashimoto	71'
PR	18	Kengo Kitagawa	71'
LK	19	Kazuhiko Usami	62'
N8	20	Faulua Makisi	71'
SH	21	Daiki Nakajima	73'
CE	22	Ryuji Noguchi	71'
FH	23	Hajime Yamashita	66'
Coach:
Ryuji Nakatake

Week 5

28 May 2016
14:00 JST (UTC+9)

Japan	59-17	Hong Kong
Try: N. Kotaki 24' c T. Ishibashi (2) 28' c, 47' c A. Moeakiola (2) 35' c, 60' c H. Yamamoto 41' c D. Maeda 53' c Penalty try 73' c Con: R. Nakamura (8/8) 25', 29', 36', 41', 48', 54', 61', 73' Pen: R. Nakamura (1/1) 40+1'	Asia Rugby Report JRFU Report HKRU Report	Try: A. Griffiths 19' c J. Cunningham 44' c Con: B. Rimene (2/2) 20', 45' Pen: B. Rimene (1/1) 13'

Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Tokyo
Attendance: 5,771
Referee: Tim Baker


FB	15	Ryuji Noguchi
RW	14	Ataata Moeakiola	63'
OC	13	Doga Maeda
IC	12	Takuya Ishibashi
LW	11	Kentaro Kodama
FH	10	Ryoto Nakamura
SH	9	Keisuke Uchida (c)	70'
N8	8	Tevita Tatafu	65'
OF	7	Shokei Kin
BF	6	Hiroki Yamamoto	47'
RL	5	Kazuhiko Usami
LL	4	Naohiro Kotaki	56'
TP	3	Takayuki Watanebe	53'
HK	2	Atsushi Sakate	67'
LP	1	Kengo Kitagawa	56'
Replacements:
PR	16	Shogo Miura	56'
HK	17	Diago Hashimoto	67'
PR	18	Yu Chinen	53'
LK	19	Kotaro Yatabe	56'
FL	20	Faulua Makisi	47'
SH	21	Daiki Nakajima	70'
CE	22	Takuhei Yasuda	63'
WG	23	Masato Furukawa	65'
Coach:
Ryuji Nakatake


FB	15	Alexander McQueen
RW	14	Ryan Meacheam
OC	13	James Robinson
IC	12	Tyler Spitz	56'
LW	11	Rowan Varty
FH	10	Ben Rimene	53'
SH	9	Cado Lee Ka To	61'
N8	8	Daniel Falvey (c)	61'
OF	7	Matt Lamming
BF	6	James Cunningham
RL	5	Adrian Griffiths
LL	4	Jack Delaforce	41'
TP	3	Jack Parfitt	40'
HK	2	Lachlan Chubb	54'
LP	1	Ben Higgins	47'
Replacements:
HK	16	Jamie Tsang	54'
PR	17	Adam Fullgrabe	47'
PR	18	Alex Ng Wai-Shing	40'
LK	19	Nick Hewson	41'
N8	20	Tony Wong Ho Yeung	61'
SH	21	Lee Jones	56'
CE	22	Adam Rolston	61'
FH	23	Niall Rowark	53'
Coach:
Leigh Jones

Week 6

4 June 2016
16:30 HKT (UTC+8)

Hong Kong	41-15	South Korea
Try: B. Rimene 11' c T. Fenn 30' c Ryan Meacheam 40' c, 48' c J. Robinson 80' c Con: B. Rimene (5/5) 12', 30', 40+1', 49', 80' Pen: B. Rimene (2/2) 22', 70'	Asian Rugby Report HKRU Report	Try: Lee Soop Yeong 6' c Kim Min Kyu 26' m Con: Lee Soop Yeong (1/2) 7' Pen: Lee Soop Yeong (1/1) 36'

Hong Kong Football Club Stadium, Hong Kong


FB	15	Lee Jae Bok
RW	14	Lim Sang Jin
OC	13	Kim Seon Gu
IC	12	Kim Sung Soo
LW	11	Lee Soop Yeong
FH	10	Jung Bu Hyon
SH	9	Shin Ki Cheol
N8	8	Son Min Su
OF	7	Kim Hyun Soo
BF	6	Shin Da Hyeon
RL	5	Kim Sang Jin
LL	4	Youn Kwon Woo
TP	3	Shin Dong Won (c)
HK	2	Kim Min Kyu
LP	1	Kang Tae Hyeon
Coach:
John Walters


FB	15	Alexander McQueen
RW	14	Ryan Meacheam
OC	13	James Robinson
IC	12	Tyler Spitz
LW	11	Salom Yiu Kam Shing
FH	10	Benjamin Rimene
SH	9	Jamie Hood
N8	8	Daniel Falvey
OF	7	Toby Fenn
BF	6	Nicholas Hewson (c)
RL	5	Paul Dywer
LL	4	Adrian Griffiths
TP	3	Jack Parfitt
HK	2	Lachlan Chubb
LP	1	Benjamin Higgins
Replacements:
HK	16	Jamie Tsang
PR	17	Adam Fullgrade
PR	18	Alex Ng Wai Shing
LK	19	Finlay Field
N8	20	James Cunningham
SH	21	Cado Lee Ka-to
CE	22	Lex Kaleca	63' to 73'
FH	23	Niall Rowark
Coach:
Leigh Jones

Top 3 Challenge

Division 1 winners, Malaysia did not choose to participate in the promotion-relegation play-off. Meaning the composition of next series of the tournament remains the same.^[3]

References

^ "Asia Rugby Calendar 2016 | Asia Rugby". Archived from the original on 2016-08-13. Retrieved 2016-08-13.
^ "Asia Rugby Championship 2016 | Asia Rugby". Archived from the original on 2016-04-16. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
^ Idris, Wan Noriza Meor (16 May 2016). "Find us a home, plead MRU". Malay Mail Online. Retrieved 16 May 2016.

[1] "Asia Rugby Calendar 2016 | Asia Rugby". Archived from the original on 2016-08-13. Retrieved 2016-08-13.

[2] "Asia Rugby Championship 2016 | Asia Rugby". Archived from the original on 2016-04-16. Retrieved 2016-04-04.

[3] Idris, Wan Noriza Meor (16 May 2016). "Find us a home, plead MRU". Malay Mail Online. Retrieved 16 May 2016.

[1]

[2]

[3]