A passage to the Hong Kong Sevens?
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India in full fight at the Brunei Sevens |
The Asian Rugby Sevens Series road-show moves on to the Malaysian city of Kota Kinabalu this weekend for the Borneo Sevens.
The tournament, the third in what is now a five tournament series, is the second of the two where ranking points are on offer. Points were also awarded at the Shanghai Sevens, where Korea took the honours and the maximum twelve points.
At both ranking tournaments the 1st placed team will receive twelve points and the 12th placed team one point. This system is based on there being a field of twelve teams. The cumulative points from the two tournaments will provide a ranking of ARFU unions for sevens and will also be a major factor in identifying teams to participate in the IRB World Sevens Series.
Most of Asia’s premier rugby nations will be at the Likas Stadium on Saturday including Japan, Hong Kong, China and Korea. Notable absentees will be Sri Lanka and Singapore and one would have to doubt the likelihood of either of these nations being granted a berth at the Hong Kong Sevens next year. Interestingly Kazakhstan has chosen to participate in the Bangkok Sevens in Thailand instead of traveling to Borneo.
The teams have been drawn in three pools and will play round robin games on Saturday. In Pool A minnows Indonesia have the daunting task of taking on top seeds Japan, as well as established rugby nations Malaysia and Thailand. Malaysia are coming off the back of a dominant showing at last weekend’s Brunei Sevens although the standard of opposition in Borneo will be far more testing.
Pool B sees Hong Kong and Korea matched up with Guam and Brunei. Sevens suits the off the cuff style of play of the hard hitting islanders from Guam, but they will need to bring their A game to get a look in with the top two seeds. Brunei didn’t disgrace themselves at their home tournament, running India close in the pool game, but may well be on the receiving end of some big scores this weekend.
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China slip past Chinese Taipei in the Shanghai Sevens |
Hong Kong centre Rowan Varty splits |
We believe if there is an upset it may come in Pool C. China and Chinese Taipei should all things being equal dominate, however the Philippines may just spring a surprise or two. They defeated India twice in Brunei and have strengthened their squad this week. Carrying the underdogs tag may prove to be a bonus and if China and Chinese Taipei take them lightly they do it at their peril. One has to believe there is better to come from India, a team whose volume of noise from the bench bears no relation to their on-field achievements.
Running side by side with the men’s competition will be a six team women’s sevens tournament with Japan, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Singapore, India and Malaysia competing.
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A Singapore player gets plenty of attention from Laos at the Asian Women's Rugby Sevens 2009 |
India and Malaysia are very new to women’s rugby, unlike the other four nations, three of which will participate in the 15 a-side Women’s Rugby World Cup qualifiers next week and the other who were Asian Women’s Seven’s runners-up this May.
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The Indian women's squad with Fijian coach Usaia Buimuiwai |
Surprisingly China, Asia’s top women’s seven side are absent along with Hong Kong. Kazakhstan’s top women’s team Olimp are competing in Bangkok at the weekend, but we still tip them to dominate proceedings over the weekend.
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Thailand take on Brazil at the Women's Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 in Dubai |
Images courtesy: Elite Step Asia Limited, Zzebra Public Relations Private Limited and Jim Naman
This article is also available in the following Country/s. Thailand, South Korea, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Hong Kong, Guam, Chinese Taipei, China, Brunei
