Asian 5 Nations & Asian rugby discussion

[IanCleverly Profile]

According to the Malaysia facebook page they will play the ARC 2018 matchets at Stadium Bukit Jalil (87.000).
I dont know how fast the popularity of rugby is going up there but I just hope doesnt look so empty

......and now plan to use it as a 'test run' (pun intended) for a game against club side Kuala Lumpur Tigers this weekend.

[Canalina Profile]

Kyrgyzstan rugby opened a facebook page, if someone is interested (as me) on following little federations
https://www.facebook.com/Kyrgyzstan-Rug ... 082879768/

Now we could know something more about them

[victorsra Profile Website]

Not sure if this was already posted here but we have the datas of the Asian-Oceania WC playoff: https://www.asiarugby.com/calendar-2018/

June 30th in Tahiti
July 7th in Asia

[victorsra Profile Website]

Things changed in Asian Divisions:

Division I will have only 3 teams: Sri Lanka, Singapore and Philippines https://www.asiarugby.com/results/asia- ... iv-i-2018/

Division II will also have only 3 teams: Thailand, Taiwan and India https://www.asiarugby.com/results/asia- ... v-ii-2018/

Division III will have:
- East: Laos, Brunei and Guam https://www.asiarugby.com/results/asia- ... ii-e-2018/
- Center: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Mongolia https://www.asiarugby.com/results/asia- ... ii-c-2018/
- West: Iran, Lebanon, Qatar and Jordan https://www.asiarugby.com/results/asia- ... ii-w-2018/

Still no China in Div III East... bizarre, because they need to start there and they should be able to win that...

[dwpeate Profile]

I wonder what happened with UAE?

[amz Profile]

Still no China in Div III East... bizarre, because they need to start there and they should be able to win that...

they have no interest in a non-olympic sport, not a local competition of XV a side

[dwpeate Profile]

Also, it still really annoys me that they can't find a third match day for a full round robin in D3 West and Central. Why does it have to be semis for a 4 team tournament when it takes the same amount of days as a three team?

[victorsra Profile Website]

they have no interest in a non-olympic sport, not a local competition of XV a side

They were planning XVs too, remember all that talk involving Alibaba?

[Tomster7uk Profile]

ARC 2018: Malaysia, Hong Kong and South Korea will play each other twice over a 6 week period (April) in order to determine Tahiti's opponents for a world cup play off for the repechage.

[Tomster7uk Profile]

The stadium Malaysia will be playing in is the same one the Syrian national football side used in their world cup qualifying matches.

[IanCleverly Profile]

I wonder what happened with UAE?

'Unforseen circumstances' http://sport360.com/article/rugby/uae-r ... ampionship

[victorsra Profile Website]

India with a new website and they look like to be working hard http://indiarugby.com/

[Buffalo Profile]

Malaysia is the team filled with Fijians right? I kinda remember that being a complaint when they played Sri Lanka some time.

[Canalina Profile]

Things changed in Asian Divisions:

Division I will have only 3 teams: Sri Lanka, Singapore and Philippines https://www.asiarugby.com/results/asia- ... iv-i-2018/

Division II will also have only 3 teams: Thailand, Taiwan and India https://www.asiarugby.com/results/asia- ... v-ii-2018/

Division III will have:
- East: Laos, Brunei and Guam https://www.asiarugby.com/results/asia- ... ii-e-2018/
- Center: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Mongolia https://www.asiarugby.com/results/asia- ... ii-c-2018/
- West: Iran, Lebanon, Qatar and Jordan https://www.asiarugby.com/results/asia- ... ii-w-2018/

Still no China in Div III East... bizarre, because they need to start there and they should be able to win that...

Mongolia federation says the pool will be Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan (Казакстан, Пакистан, Киргизстан) and Mongolia, with Kaz-Mon and Pak-Kgz as semifinals.
Maybe is just a lapsus

[gibbs Profile]

Tuskers pull out of Asia Championship



By Asanka Gammanpila

Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) decided to pull out from the XV a side Asia Championship Division 1 Tournament which is scheduled to be played in June.
Due to the busy International Sevens rugby calendar Sri Lanka Rugby has decided to skip this year’s tournament. This year Sri Lanka Sevens team will have a busy International Sevens calendar where they are in line to compete at the Commonwealth Games in Australia, Asian Games in Indonesia and in the Three Leg Asian Sevens Series.


Sri Lanka Rugby (SRL) President Asanga Seneviratne speaking to Ceylon Today confirmed this and said with the busy schedule of sevens rugby this year SLR planned to pull out from the Asian XV a side tournament.
But, he said SLR is working on organizing a test match with a top ranking country which will help out Sri Lanka to secure a better position in World Rugby rankings.” Sri Lanka is currently 42 in World rankings.


Despite having no chance in XV-a-side rugby, Sri Lanka has excelled in the shorter format (Sevens) and there is every possibility of qualifying to compete in the World’s best tournament.


Asia Championship was scheduled to be played in June, but this year Asia Rugby is yet to confirm the date and the venue so far and no one is named to host the tournament. Earlier it was scheduled to be played in Singapore and then shifted to the Philippines. Also out of four, only three teams were in line to play after UAE had already pulled out from the competition two month ago leaving Singapore, Philippines and Sri Lanka to remain in the competition.


Seneviratne who is also a committee member of the Asian Rugby Council said AR is working to change the Asian XV a side Championship to be played once in two years as it was played earlier before the new format which was played annually implemented said Seneviratne.


Last year Sri Lanka finished second in the Asia Championship and Malaysia became the champions to secure a place in the top division this year to play alongside South Korea and Hong Kong.

[RugbyLiebe Profile]

That's really bad news. So basically the Asian 2nd tier has only two teams left, because two games in one year are too much.

[YamahaKiwi Profile]

And so because Sri Lankan RFU can't get it's sh*t together for the 1000th time, they now want to change ARFU XVs back to a biannual competition. Other unions and regions are busy developing rugby competitions in their area while SLRFU wants to take things backwards in their region. Unbelieveable!

[rey200 Profile]

Yeah, I read this and thought: WTF. I always asked myself: why don't they ever host a home game? Because they don't care. The path to irrelevance in my opinion.

[victorsra Profile Website]

Is Sri Lanka aware they will drop to the bottom division?

[rey200 Profile]

who knows? Probably it's their best choice to have the chance to complain how unfair everything is.

[victorsra Profile Website]

The Americas are growing fast. Africa improved its 15s competitions. But Asia 15s looks going backwards...

[YamahaKiwi Profile]

The Americas are growing fast. Africa improved its 15s competitions. But Asia 15s looks going backwards...

Exactly my point. Despite the current RWC qualifying shambles we can still say Europe is developing also. But despite 2019RWC being an Asian one, it seems Asia is the region with the least development and growth, as Canalina has pointed out before with posts revealing quite a few teams in and out of competition in different years.

[YamahaKiwi Profile]

The path to irrelevance in my opinion.

The way they are going. Quite possible! But then what Asian country outside of the top 3 has come up in the last decade? None! Not even one union in Asia has shown consistent progress and growth. Despite the crap happening in Europe, this is the region I'm most worried about.

[gibbs Profile]

The Americas are growing fast. Africa improved its 15s competitions. But Asia 15s looks going backwards...

Exactly my point. Despite the current RWC qualifying shambles we can still say Europe is developing also. But despite 2019RWC being an Asian one, it seems Asia is the region with the least development and growth, as Canalina has pointed out before with posts revealing quite a few teams in and out of competition in different years.

It's a bloody stupid decision by the SLR no disagreements there, But just look how Asian Rugby is run.. There's no grass root development, And those unions that atleast try get the short end of the stick by the Asia Rugby.. Korea has been punching above it's weight despite little or no support from the parent body, Look what will happen to Iran when they face expat teams full of European semi professionals from Lebanon and Jordan, in Div III

Until and unless Asian Rugby changes it's eligibility rules the game will die a slow death in the region, Japan is a level above they wont get affected the rest will not be able to sustain it

Is Sri Lanka aware they will drop to the bottom division?

"But, he said SLR is working on organizing a test match with a top ranking country which will help out Sri Lanka to secure a better position in World Rugby rankings.” Sri Lanka is currently 42 in World rankings."

I'm not sure if this make sense or how it will work on SL's standing in Asia

[Hinato Profile]

The path to irrelevance in my opinion.

The way they are going. Quite possible! But then what Asian country outside of the top 3 has come up in the last decade? None! Not even one union in Asia has shown consistent progress and growth. Despite the crap happening in Europe, this is the region I'm most worried about.

La Malaisie est la nation montante en Asie. Et ils ont pour eux tout les points positifs:
- championnat pro ou franchise en IPRC à venir
- un futur stade national dédié au rugby qui va voir le jour
- des mécènes qui financent le rugby depuis peu
- une sélection en grand progrès (des joueurs pros au Japon + une forte colonie fidjienne) et qui se préparent depuis 6 mois pour l'ARC 2018.

Pour le reste je suis d'accord, en dehors du Japon et Hong Kong, on ne voit rien. La guerre interne dans la fédération sud-coréenne tue la Corée du sud qui devrait être la 2ème nation (et largement) en Asie avec un joli potentiel de joueurs pros au Japon (sud-coréens de naissance et japonais d'origine coréenne) mais qui est sous-exploité, peu utilisé sans parler de la faible et courte préparation de cette sélection.

Derrière c'est le désert. Chine, pas avant 20 ans sans parler de l'Inde où ça n'arrivera jamais, faut pas rêver.