Hong Kong Thrash South Korea to Move Step Closer to Rugby World Cup

Hong Kong kept their 2015 Rugby World Cup dream alive after they demolished South Korea 39-6 with a powerful performance built around a strong defensive effort at Hong Kong Football Club on Saturday.

The five-try romp not only earned Hong Kong its third successive bonus point in the Asian Five Nations, which doubles as the Asian qualifiers for the World Cup, but it also saw them regain top spot in the standings although Asian champions Japan, who hammered Sri Lanka 132-10 in Nagoya, have a game in hand.

“Our dream is alive. We have booked the repechage spot for Asia, but this is not enough,” said elated Hong Kong skipper, Nick Hewson. “For certain we will have a crack at Japan in our final game.”

Hong Kong will meet Japan on 25 May 2014 in Tokyo with the winner of that match booking Asia’s spot at the Rugby World Cup in Pool B alongside South Africa, Samoa, Scotland and United States.

The second-placed team in Asia – Hong Kong have assured themselves of that spot if they lose to Japan – will play Uruguay in a one-off match in Montevideo in August with the winner moving into the final stages of the repechage where they will face either an African or European team in a home-and-away playoff.

South Korea began strongly when Hong Kong centre Jake Phelps was sin-binned for a high tackle in the very first minute of play. With one man down, Hong Kong took time to settle down and conceded two penalties in the first five minutes, which Korean flyhalf Oh Youn-hyung knocked over to give the visitors a 6-0 lead.

But Hong Kong came back strongly and by halftime had built a 20-6 lead with Phelps leading the way and atoning for his early mistake by scoring a brace.

The first try was a bit fortunate, as Phelps seemed to have knocked on but picked up the ball to score under the posts. Sandwiched between Phelps’ two tries were a penalty from flyhalf Chris McAdam and a drop goal from fullback Alex McQueen as Hong Kong built a handy buffer by halftime.

Hong Kong, who had entered the game on the back of two easy wins over the Philippines (108-0) and Sri Lanka (41-10), kept the pressure on their opponents with a solid defensive effort led by centres Lloyd Jones and Phelps.

With the backrow of skipper Hewson, Pale Tauti and Matt Lamming also outstanding, Korea could make no headway and it was left to the home team to capitalize on turnovers.

Winger Salom Yiu Kam-shing scored in the right corner completing a good phase of concerted pressure from Hong Kong’s forwards before other winger Rowan Varty created a superb try on the counterattack for fullback McQueen as the lead was stretched to 32-6.

Substitute prop Steve Nolan added the icing on the cake late in the game when he went over from a forwards rush to score Hong Kong’s fifth try allowing McAdam, whose kicking was impeccable, to add the extra points to take his personal tally to 11.

“It is a memorable day in Hong Kong rugby history,” said delighted Hong Kong coach Leigh Jones.

It is the first time that Hong Kong will play in the repechage at the World Cup; providing they don’t pull off an upset win over Japan.

“Our defence was superb. This game meant a lot to the guys. They showed a lot of commitment and it is nice to go into a meaningful last game,” Jones added.

Japan picked up their 26th straight bonus-point win in the Asian 5 Nations as they hammered Sri Lanka 132-10 at Nagoya's Mizuho Rugby Ground.

The win saw Japan record their third highest score and third biggest winning margin in test match rugby as they blew the visitors aside with 20 tries, 16 of which were converted by Ayumu Goromaru, a new Japan record for the number of extras kicked in an international.

“We aim to be the greatest ever Japan team so we should be breaking records,” head coach Eddie Jones said after the game.

Japan's rout began with just three minutes on the clock when centre Yasuki Hayashi went over following a huge scrum that had seen the Sri Lankans shunted back at a rate of knots. The Brave Blossoms then averaged a try every four minutes as they crossed 10 times in each half.

Hooker Takeshi Kizu touched down three times in the opening 25 minutes, while captain and flanker Michael Leitch also finished the game with three tries.

The hosts were also helped by the Sri Lankans kicking away far too much of the little possession they had. Not only that but the kicks were often poorly directed, allowing the Brave Blossoms to counter attack, and their pace and power proved too much.

Akihito Yamada and Hendrik Tui both grabbed first-half braces and Yoshikazu Fujita also touched down as Japan led 68-0 at the break. The second half saw more of the same as Japan used their 10 kilogram-a-man advantage in the forwards to full effect.

No. 8 Ryu Koliniasi Holani added a pair of tries inside 10 minutes, while lock Hitoshi Ono marked becoming Japan's second most capped player by crossing for a five-pointer in the 44th minute.

Leitch completed his hat-trick and hooker Yusuke Yuhara came off the bench and scored as Japan brought up a century of points in just the 59th minute.

To their credit Sri Lanka never gave up and a huge roar erupted around the ground when Rizah Mubarak banged over a penalty from 41 metres out.

Kotaro Matsushima stretched Japan's lead with his third try in his second test, before the Sri Lankan fans in the crowd reached fever pitch when Fazil Marijah made the most of a rare Japan defensive lapse to go over.

Mubarak added the extras, but that was as good as it got for the visitors as Kyosuke Horie, Goromaru (who finished with 37 points) and Daishi Murata all crossed the whitewash.

“I am obviously pleased with the result as we have played two games and have maximum points. We are exactly where we want to be and all our thoughts now are on beating Korea next week,” said Jones.

For Sri Lanka, the game was a good learning curve and captain Namal Rajapaksa said he was proud of the effort his side had put in.

“Anyone would be disappointed with the scoreboard,” he said. “But we didn't give up and we scored a try that showed we didn't give up. It was a good experience for our youngsters.”

Hong Kong top the A5N Top 5 table with 18 points after their third straight bonus point win. Japan are in second on 12 points but with a game in hand on Hong Kong, while South Korea are in third with six points. Sri Lanka is in fourth followed by the Philippines in fifth.

The 2015 Division I play-off between Kazakhstan and Chinese Taipei was played as the curtain-raiser to the Top 5 clash in Hong Kong. Kazakhstan beat Chinese Taipei 37-8 to win the single match play-off and will now join Singapore and the two bottom placed teams from this year’s Top 5 in next year’s Division I. Singapore beat United Arab Emirates 30-13 last month in Dubai to win the other Division I play-off bracket.

Winger Ivan Olkhovskiy was the hero today for Kazakhstan on his international debut with two tries, two penalties and three conversions.

Flanker Daulet Akymbekov scored a brace and centre Ildar Abdrazhakov added a try as Kazakhstan used its size to its advantage playing the better wet weather football this afternoon. Chinese Taipei’s scoring came from a late try to Cheng Chi Chang. Fullback Chu Chih-Wei slotted a penalty in the first half.