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The Lions squad has finally been announced so we can all move on and remind ourselves that a host of intriguing rugby match-ups are taking place all over the world.
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One such event is the Asia Rugby Championships, starting this weekend and featuring the national teams from Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea squaring off in a double round-robin format, with Jap…errr… the top points-scorer…. being crowned Best in Asia for 2017. In Asia, RugbyPass.com will have every game live and on-demand, across all devices. Click here to get 25% off an annual subscription.
Japan Rugby was on a high in the past two years, having beaten South Africa at a World Cup and then New Zealand in the Olympics (albeit only Sevens), but 2016 was a tough one, with a win against Canada the only real highlight. In saying this, the Brave Blossoms won last year’s ARC with ease and are currently ranked 11th on the IRB World Rankings, so will be strong favourites against the same opposition in 2016.
Hong Kong is another team experiencing growth, having benefitted from its strong domestic competition and investment in the grassroots game that puts the Australian Rugby Union to shame. The Dragons ended 2016 with a narrow loss to Russia in the final of the Cup of Nations after a couple of strong wins against the respective might of Zimbabwe and Papua New Guinea, and are currently ranked 26th in the world.
Rounding out Asia’s top three is South Korea. Not renowned for their rugby prowess, but frequently pulling tens of thousands of fans to university and club games, South Korea looks like a distant third in this year’s competition (they lost 85-0 to Japan in last year’s ARC opener) but will be looking to their home game against Hong Kong on May 27th for an upset.
So why should the everyday rugby fan care about these teams and this competition?
For starters, there’s Japan. The Brave Blossoms are Asia’s best hope for a credible force on the global rugby scene and will only get better with more exposure to the behemoths of Europe and the Antipodes. As the 2019 Rugby World Cup approaches, the Japanese will be desperate to continue dominating the Asian rugby scene but also step up into the big leagues. On current form, Japan would give Australia, South Africa, Italy and Wales a serious run for their money, when just a few years ago they were getting thrashed.
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Then there’s Hong Kong, long a bastion of rugby in Asia, from its expat beginnings to more of a sport for local kids and a likely feeder into the new Chinese domestic league. If rumours of an expanded World Cup are to be believed, Asia’s second-best team would be just a few wins away from a seat at the global stage that the likes of Georgia, Japan and Romania have taken advantage of in recent years to bolster their domestic programmes.
And while the Koreans are the likely battlers again in this year’s tournament, it remains important for the development of the game in Asia and around the world for the more established rugby nations to show support and give the players and staff the motivation to keep improving.
Fans in Asia (including Hong Kong and South Korea) can catch every game of the Asia Rugby Championships live and on-demand on RugbyPass.com, in addition to Super Rugby, Top 14, Aviva Premiership, Pro12, NRL and the British & Irish Lions tour of New Zealand.
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments