Japan win Asian Rugby Sevens, continuing their Rugby World Cup heroics, the Japanese claimed the Asian Rugby Sevens Olympic Qualifier at the So Kon Po Stadium beating hosts Hong Kong 24-10 in the final after trailing 10-0 at halftime while the Japanese Women’s team took a step closer by thrashing Kazakhstan 22-0, heading to the final leg of qualifiers later in the month in Tokyo.
Japan booked their spot in the final by scoring a staggering aggregate of 228 points, with Hong Kong the only team to cross their line in the two day tournament. With a team built on defence and free flowing rugby it was inevitable that they would come out winners in the end. In the Men’s semifinals, Japan walloped Sri Lanka 43-0 while Hong Kong defeated a gutsy South Korea 19-10.
It was Hong Kong who took the early lead in the final with Alex McQueen crossing over in the left corner following a penalty on Japan’s 20-metre line, they followed that up with Max Woodward who drove over in the right-hand corner and for the first time the Japanese look rattled having not conceded all weekend. They went to the breather with the hosts leading 10-0. The second spell began badly for the hosts as they lost Mark Wright to a shoulder injury and Japan hit back through Teruya Goto after side stepping the experienced Rowan Varty. The Tongan torpedo Lemeki Lomano gave Japan the lead 12-10 after a a controversial penalty against the hosts with three minutes remaining, with less than two minutes remaining a beautiful offload behind his back from the big Fijian Lote Tuqiri set up Kazuhiro Goya to take Japan to 17-10 and Katsuyki Sakai gave the final blow to take the final score to 24-10.
Hong Kong coach Gareth Barber
”We’ll hurt for a few days and then we’ll realise we have to learn from it. Japan obviously regrouped at halftime. They upped the intensity. They challenged. They came off their line quickly and we were just a bit lacking in a couple of areas, there were turnovers and they scored. And in 20 minutes of playing sevens it’s as quick as that. They showed their class.”
Hong Kong captain Max Woodward
“To go from 10-nil up to lose the game is tough but that’s sevens. You’ve got to take it in the chin and go on to the next one”
In the 3rd/4th place play-off, South Korea defeated Sri Lanka 26-19 and they will both join Hong Kong for that final repechage tournament to book that final spot for Rio De Janeiro with 13 other Nations. The Plate and 5th place winner went to China defeating Malaysia 38-5 while the Philippine Volcanoes took 7th place brushing Singapore 24-12 and the Iran team took the wooden spoon after losing to Taiwan 22-5 in their 9th/10th place play-off.
In the Women’s Competition Japan overcame a spirited Kazakhstan team to put a foot in Rio heading to the final qualifier in Tokyo while Hong Kong won the 3rd place play-off defeating China 12-7 and Head coach is hoping the Hong Kong girls improve on the final leg.
Next up is the Oceania and Africa Rugby Sevens Olympic Qualifier next weekend.
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