Japan and Kazakhstan Withdraw from Shanghai Sevens 2012

Japan and Kazakhstan have withdrawn from the 2012 HSBC Asian Sevens Series’ Shanghai Sevens (22-23 September at Yuanshen Stadium).

The withdrawals have forced an adjustment to the standard four pool, twelve-team tournament structure in place for all HSBC Asian Sevens Series (HSBC A7s) events.

The tournament will now be played under a two pools of five teams each format. Pool matches will be held all day on Saturday and on the morning of Sunday before the teams proceed to straight knock-out competition.

The withdrawal of Japan and Kazakhstan has also seen the tournament pools amended for Shanghai with Hong Kong and China, the second and third-ranked teams on the HSBC A7s, being re-seeded as the top seeds in Pool A and B respectively.

Defending Shanghai Sevens champion South Korea, who finished fourth overall in Borneo, is now ranked as the second best team in Pool A and the third overall seed for Shanghai, followed by Borneo Plate champions Chinese Taipei as the second ranked side in Pool B.

Sixth placed side the Philippines and eighth ranked UAE have been seeded into the third line of Pool B and A respectively, while ninth and tenth-ranked Sri Lanka and Malaysia are in the fourth line of Pool A and B. Eleventh-ranked Thailand completes Pool B, while 12th overall side Singapore is the fifth and final team in Pool A.

Hong Kong and China enter the Shanghai Sevens as the form teams, but South Korea won in Shanghai in both 2010 and 2011 and should again present a threat in 2012. South Korea blooded several new players in Borneo but will look to add some veteran players as they set out for a three-peat in Shanghai.

Korea coach Seo Chun-Oh, who successfully lead South Korea back to its customary second ranking in Asia at this year’s HSBC Asian 5 Nations (15s), commented on the team’s performance in the opening leg, saying, “We are pleased with the results from Borneo because it was the first outing on the HSBC Asian Sevens Series for many of the team. Although our target was to take third, our inexperience showed against China and the players will be better for having one tournament under their belt.”

Coach Seo has addressed the dearth of experience in the squad ahead of Shanghai by bringing back some veterans into the squad for the second ranking event of this year’s Series.

“Our target is again to reach the Cup semis and hope that our luck in Shanghai holds for a third year. We will bring back some of our more experienced sevens players into the squad and I expect that one-third of the 12-man team will be veterans of our win in Shanghai last year. With the HSBC Asian Sevens Series rankings determining the final seedings for the Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifier in Singapore, it is essential to get a good finish at every tournament. We must reach the semi-finals at a minimum so Shanghai is going to be a huge tournament for us,” said Seo.

Japan, current leaders of the HSBC A7s after winning the Borneo Sevens, has withdrawn from the tournament due to the uncertain security situation in Shanghai. As Japan’s withdrawal is due to an issue that is effectively beyond the control of the Japanese Rugby Football Union and the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU), ARFU will compensate the team for the lack of opportunity to take points from Shanghai.

Following the completion of the Mumbai Sevens (Oct 13-14), ARFU will award an aggregate of points for Japan in lieu of competing in Shanghai. The points total will take into consideration Japan’s final standings in Borneo and Mumbai to award Japan HSBC A7s series points for Shanghai.

Kazakhstan will receive no points from Shanghai.

Series points are increasingly vital on this year’s HSBC A7s as the final standings following the penultimate event in Mumbai will determine the tournament seeding for the fourth and final HSBC A7s event in Singapore. That event, which while non-ranking is doubling as the Asian qualifier for the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013. Three Asian teams will qualify for the world championships in Moscow next June.

It was also announced this week by the International Rugby Board and the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union that the top overall finisher on this year’s HSBC A7s will earn the right to compete alongside the existing HSBC Sevens World Series teams in a 16-strong core team competition at the world-famous Cathay Pacific HSBC Hong Kong Sevens next March.

In addition to the Shanghai Sevens, the China Rugby Football Association will also play host to the second leg of the HSBC ARFU Coaching Tour on this year’s HSBC A7s Series. After a successful start to the Tour in Borneo, where clinics were held for over 1,300 youth from 41 local schools, the Tour will look to replicate its efforts in Shanghai. HSBC ARFU Coaching Tour Clinics are being run for over 1,200 youth in Shanghai throughout the week in conjunction with local sports-focused charity Sport For All and local schools in Shanghai.

The Coaching Tour is a compelling grassroots-rugby initiative co-sponsored by HSBC and ARFU. With a target to reach 12,000 youth in 2012, the Tour has already engaged nearly 7,000 youth across nine countries and territories since the start of the HSBC Asian 5 Nations, (Asia’s premier 15-aside international rugby competition), in April, most of them with little or no experience of rugby.

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