The 2018 Asia Rugby Championship was the fourth annual rugby union series for the top-level Asia Rugby nations. The Asia Rugby Championship in 2018 formed part of the World Cup qualifying process and, as such, did not include Japan who had already qualified as the 2019 Rugby World Cup host. Hong Kong and South Korea were joined by Malaysia, promoted from Division 1, to compete in the 2018 series. Other Asian nations played in the lower division tournaments.
| Date | 28 April – 2 June |
|---|---|
| Countries |  Hong Kong Malaysia South Korea |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Hong Kong (1st title) |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 6 |
| Tries scored | 51 (8.5 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Matthew Rosslee (58) |
| Most tries | Conor Hartley (4) Jang Jeong-min (4) Liam Slatem (4) |
| Website | www |
← 2017 2019 → | |
The format of the tri-nations series is a double round-robin where the three teams play each other twice on a home and away basis. The team finishing on top of the standings at the end of the series is declared the winner. The 2018 series winner Hong Kong advanced to a cross-regional play-off series against Oceania 4, Cook Islands, to earn a berth in the repechage tournament.
Teams
editThe teams involved, with their world rankings prior to the 2018 tournament in brackets:[1]
| Nation | Home stadium | City | Head coach | Captain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hong Kong (22)
|
Hong Kong Football Club Stadium | Hong Kong |  Leigh Jones
|
James Cunningham |
| South Korea (31)
|
Incheon Namdong Asiad Rugby Field | Incheon | Choi Changryul
|
Lee Yong-seung |
| Malaysia (45)
|
National Stadium | Kuala Lumpur | Lee Nyuk Fah
|
Mohd Syahir Asraf Rosli |
Standings
edit| Advances to Cross-regional play-off series |
| Pos | Nation | Games | Points | Bonus points |
Total points | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Played | Won | Lost | Drawn | For | Against | Diff | ||||
| 1 | Hong Kong
|
4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 227 | 44 | +183 | 3 | 19 |
| 2 | South Korea
|
4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 128 | 91 | +37 | 2 | 10 |
| 3 | Malaysia
|
4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 40 | 260 | -220 | 0 | 0 |
| Points were awarded to the teams as follows: Win - 4 points Draw - 2 points 4 or more tries - 1 point Loss within 7 points - 1 point Loss greater than 7 points - 0 points | ||||||||||
Fixtures
editSource: asiarugby.com[2]
Week 1
edit| 28 April 2018 16:30 MST (UTC+8) |
| Malaysia | 10–35 | South Korea |
| Try: Vunimoku 61' c Con: Bin Sudin 62' Pen: Bin Sudin 70' | Report | Try: Jang Jeong-min 9' m, 48' c Penalty try 25' Kim Kwang-sik 80' c Con: Oh Youn-hyung 49', 80' (2/3) Pen: Oh Youn-hyung 3', 21', 37' |
| National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur Attendance: 15000 Referee: Tim Baker (Hong Kong) |
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Week 2
edit| 5 May 2018 16:30 MST (UTC+8) |
| Malaysia | 8–67 | Hong Kong |
| Try: Saukuru 36' m Pen: Bin Sudin 77' | Report | Try: Lamboley 15' m, 28' m Neville 32' c Slatem 40' c Yiu 43' c, 48' m Pincott 51' c Hartley 61' c J Parfitt 67' c Keith 69' c Con: Rosslee 33', 40', 44', 52', 62', 68' 71' (7/10) Pen: Rosslee 23' |
| National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur Attendance: 15000 Referee: Shuhei Kubo (Japan) |
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Week 3
edit| 12 May 2018 16:30 KST (UTC+9) |
| South Korea | 21–30 | Hong Kong |
| Try: Jang Jeong-min 10' c Lee Yong-seung 49' c Lee Jae-bok 61' c Con: Oh Youn-hyung 12', 50', 61' (3/3) | Report | Try: Spitz 24' m Slatem 37' c Con: Rosslee 38' (1/2) Pen: Rosslee 4', 19', 31', 44', 58', 68' |
| Namdong Asiad Rugby Stadium, Incheon Attendance: 1000 Referee: Shuhei Kubo (Japan) |
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Week 4
edit| 19 May 2018 16:30 KST (UTC+9) |
| South Korea | 67–12 | Malaysia |
| Try: Jang Seong-min 6' c, 18' c Kim Ho-bum 24' c Kim Nam-uk 29' c, 70' c Lee Jae-bok 34' c Jang Jeong-min 56' c Kim Jeong-min 64' m Kim Jin-hyeok 75' c Con: Oh Youn-hyung 7', 19', 26', 30', 35', 57', 71', 76' (8/9) Pen: Oh Youn-hyung 47' Drop: Oh Youn-hyung 68' | Report | Try: Tamanisau 42' c Mohamad Aiman Jamaluddin 73' m Con: Kamsol 43' (1/2) |
| Namdong Asiad Rugby Stadium, Incheon Referee: Stephen Copeman (Hong Kong) |
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Week 5
edit| 26 May 2018 16:00 HKT (UTC+8) |
| Hong Kong | 91–10 | Malaysia |
| Try: Pincott 3' c Denmark 6' c Hartley 16' c, 19' c, 43' c Lauder 20' c, 75' c Penalty try 26' Tsang 30' c Delaforce 53' c Neville 57' c Keith 66' c Fullgrabe 80' c Con: Rimene 4', 17', 20', 21', 31', 44', 54', 58', 67', 76', 80' (11/11) Rosslee 7' (1/1) | Report | Try: Saukuru 33' c Con: Bin Sudin 34' Pen: Kamsol 61' |
| Hong Kong Football Club Stadium, Hong Kong Referee: Shuhei Kubo (Japan) |
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Week 6
edit| 2 June 2018 16:00 HKT (UTC+8) |
| Hong Kong | 39–5 | South Korea |
| Try: Rosslee 13' c Slatem 24' c, 38' c Yiu 30' c Lauder 75' m Con: Rosslee 14', 25', 31', 39' (4/5) Pen: Rosslee 8', 50' | Report | Try: Lee Yong-seung 54' m |
| Hong Kong Football Club Stadium, Hong Kong Referee: Shuhei Kubo (Japan) |
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References
edit- ^ "Men's Rankings | World Rugby". Archived from the original on 2018-09-25. Retrieved 2018-04-30.
- ^ "Calendar 2018 Asia Rugby Calendar of Tournaments and Meeting for 2018". Asia Rugby. Retrieved 19 February 2018.