2015 Asian Rugby Championship

For the divisional competitions, see 2015 Asian Rugby Championship Division Tournaments.
2015 Asian Rugby Championship
Date 18 April – 23 May
Countries  Hong Kong
 Japan
 South Korea
Website www.asian5nations.com
← 2014
2016 →

The 2015 Asian Rugby Championship, will be the inaugural series of the newly formatted Asian rugby union tournament for the ARFU region. The Asian Rugby Championship replaced the Asian Five Nations tournament for 2015, with the main ARC only consisting of three nations as opposed the previous of five nations. The inaugural series will included; Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea. Unlike the A5N, the ARC will see each of the top three nations play each other twice, on a home and away bases, with the team with the most table points at the end declared winner. While the bottom placed team, will play a promotion-relegation play-off against the winning nation from Divison 1 to earn the right to compete in the following series.[1]

Standings

Position Nation Games Points Bonus
points		 Total
points
Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Difference
1 Japan 11005630+2616
2 South Korea 21016382–1916
3 Hong Kong 10022633-722
Points were awarded to the teams as follows:
Win - 5 points
Draw - 3 points
4 or more tries - 1 point
Loss within 7 points - 1 point
Loss greater than 7 points - 0 points

Fixtures

Week 1

18 April 2015
12:00 KST (UTC+09)
South Korea  30–56  Japan
Try: Seong Min (2) 11' c, 15' c
Namuk 68' c
Con: Youn-hyung (3/3) 11', 15', 68'
Pen: Youn-hyung (3/3) 6', 36', 48'
 Report Try: Hopgood (2) 24' c, 71' m
Matsui 32' m
Penalty try 38' c
Hesketh 46' m
Fujita 53' m
Tamura 62' m
Holani 74' c
Ives 78' c
Con: Goromaru (4/9) 25', 39', 75', 79'
Pen: Goromaru (1/1) 2'
Namdong Asiad Rugby Stadium, Incheon
Attendance: 1,500
Referee: Tim Baker (Hong Kong)
FB 15Jang Seong Min  43'
RW 14Jegal Bin
OC 13Kim Sung Soo (c)  46'
IC 12Kim Namuk
LW 11Kim Gwong Min
FH 10Oh Youn-hyung
SH 9 Lee Myung Jun
N8 8 Han Kun Kyu
OF 7 Jang Seok Hwan
BF 6 Kim Hyun Soo
RL 5 Youn Kwon Woo  40'
LL 4 Kim Ho Bum  71'
TP 3 Kim Kwang Sik  46'
HK 2 Kim Jeep  46'
LP 1 Park Sung Ku  46'
Replacements:
HK 16Na Kwan Young  46'
PR 17Son Young Ki  46'
PR 18Shin Dong Won  46'
FL 19Hwan In Jo  43'
N8 20Lee Young Seung  40'  43'
SH 21Shin Ki Chul  71'
FB 22Nam Young Soo  43'
WG 23Park Han Gyul  46'
Coach:
South Korea Chung Hyung Seok
FB 15Ayumu Goromaru
RW 14Chihito Matsui
OC 13Karne Hesketh
IC 12Yuu Tamura  63'
LW 11Yoshikazu Fujita
FH 10Harumichi Tatekawa  56'
SH 9 Atsushi Hiwasa  72'
N8 8 Ryu Holani
OF 7 Hayden Hopgood 9' to 19'  75'
BF 6 Justin Ives
RL 5 Shoji Ito
LL 4 Luke Thompson  75'
TP 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama (c)  66'
HK 2 Takeshi Kizu  54'
LP 1 Masataka Mikami  70'
Replacements:
PR 16Hisateru Hirashima  70'
HK 17Hiroki Yuhara  54'
PR 18Hiroshi Yamashita  66'
LK 19Kazuhiko Usami  75'
FL 20Tsuyoshi Murata  9'  19'  75'
SH 21Keisuke Uchida  72'
CE 22Ryohei Yamanaka  63'
WG 23Toshiaki Hirose  56'
Coach:
Australia Eddie Jones

Touch judges:
Matthew Rodden (Hong Kong)
Stephen Copeman (Hong Kong)

Week 2

25 April 2015
16:00 HKT (UTC+08)
Hong Kong  26–33  South Korea
Try: T. McQueen 15' c
Aikman 45' c
A. McQueen 56' m
Kam Shing 71' c
Con: McAdam (1/1) 17'
Rowark (2/3) 46', 73'
 Report Try: Seong Min (2) 4' m, 39' m
Bin (2) 10' c, 25' m
Yong Heung 49' m
Con: Youn-hyung (1/5) 11'
Pen: Youn-hyung (2/2) 32', 41'
FB 15Alex McQueen
RW 14Tom McQueen
OC 13Max Woodward
IC 12Tyler Spitz  61'
LW 11Salom Yiu Kam Shing
FH 10Chris McAdam  40'
SH 9 Cadd Lee
N8 8 Nick Hewson (c)
OF 7 Matt Lamming
BF 6 Alex Baddeley  61'
RL 5 Paul Dywer
LL 4 Jack Delaforce  51'
TP 3 James Cooper  58'
HK 2 Lachlan Chubb  52'
LP 1 John Aikman  51'
Replacements:
HK 16Alex Harris  52'
PR 17Wei Hon Sum  51'
PR 18Jack Nielsen  58'
LK 19Bill Brant  51'
FL 20Toby Fenn  61'
SH 21Jaime Hood  61'
FH 22Charlie Higson-Smith
FH 23Niall Rowark  40'
Coach:
Scotland Andrew Hall
FB 15Jang Seong Min
RW 14Jegal Bin
OC 13Kim Sung Soo (c)  58'
IC 12Kim Namuk
LW 11Chang Yong Heung
FH 10Oh Youn-hyung  69'
SH 9 Lee Myung Jun
N8 8 Hwan In Jo  42'
OF 7 Jang Seok Hwan
BF 6 Kim Hyun Soo  53'
RL 5 Youn Kwon Woo
LL 4 Park Soon Chai
TP 3 Kim Kwang Sik 44' to 54'  73'
HK 2 Kim Jeep  46'
LP 1 Park Sung Ku  57'
Replacements:
HK 16Na Kwan Young  46'
PR 17Son Young Ki  57'
PR 18Shin Dong Won  73'
FL 19Kim Min Kyu  53'
N8 20Kim Jeong Min  42'
SH 21Shin Ki Chul
FB 22Nam Young Soo  69'
WG 23Kim Gwong Min  58'
Coach:
South Korea Chung Hyung Seok

Touch judges:
Taizo Hirabayashi (Japan)
Rui Shimizu (Japan)

Week 3

2 May 2015
14:00 JST (UTC+09)
Japan  v  Hong Kong

Week 4

9 May 2015
JST (UTC+09)
Japan  v  South Korea

Week 5

16 May 2015
12:00 KST (UTC+09)
South Korea  v  Hong Kong
Namdong Asiad Rugby Stadium, Incheon

Week 6

23 May 2015
16:00 HKT (UTC+08)
Hong Kong  v  Japan

Top 3 Challenge

6 June 2015
Top placed Division 1 v Bottom placed Top 3

Squads

Summary

Nation Match venues Head coach Captain
Name City Capacity
 Hong Kong Aberdeen Sports Ground Hong Kong 9,000 Scotland Andrew Hall Nick Hewson
Hong Kong Football Club Stadium Hong Kong 2,800
 Japan Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium Tokyo 27,188 Australia Eddie Jones Kensuke Hatakeyama
Level-5 Stadium Fukuoka 22,563
 South Korea Namdong Asiad Rugby Stadium Incheon 7,000 South Korea Chung Hyung Seok Kim Sung Soo

Note: Ages, caps and domestic side are of 18 April 2015 – the starting date of the tournament.

Japan

On 5 March, head coach Eddie Jones named a 31-man squad for the 2015 Asian Rugby Championship.[2]

On 11 April, Chihito Matsui and Ryohei Yamanaka was added to the squad.


Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.

Player Position Date of Birth (Age) Caps Club/province
Ryuhei Arita Hooker 21 March 1989 (aged 26) 7 Japan Coca Cola West Red Sparks
Takeshi Kizu Hooker 15 July 1988 (aged 26) 30 Japan Kobelco Steelers
Hiroki Yuhara Hooker 21 January 1984 (aged 31) 18 Japan Toshiba Brave Lupus
Kensuke Hatakeyama Prop 2 August 1985 (aged 29) 59 Japan Suntory Sungoliath
Hisateru Hirashima Prop 15 January 1983 (aged 32) 35 Japan Kobelco Steelers
Ryu Sioapelatu Holani Prop 29 December 1982 (aged 32) 0 Japan Panasonic Wild Knights
Shinnosuke Kakinaga Prop 19 December 1992 (aged 22) 1 Japan Suntory Sungoliath
Masataka Mikami Prop 4 June 1988 (aged 26) 23 Japan Toshiba Brave Lupus
Yusuke Nagae Prop 19 July 1985 (aged 29) 17 Japan Toyota Industries Shuttles
Hiroshi Yamashita Prop 1 January 1986 (aged 29) 37 Japan Kobelco Steelers
Shoji Ito Lock 2 December 1980 (aged 34) 28 Japan Kobelco Steelers
Hitoshi Ono Lock 6 May 1978 (aged 36) 87 Japan Toshiba Brave Lupus
Luke Thompson Lock 16 April 1981 (aged 34) 49 Japan Kintetsu Liners
Kazuhiko Usami Lock 17 March 1992 (aged 23) 0 Japan Canon Eagles
Michael Broadhurst Flanker 30 October 1986 (aged 28) 16 Japan Ricoh Black Rams
Justin Ives Flanker 24 May 1984 (aged 30) 23 Japan Canon Eagles
Tsuyoshi Murata Flanker 15 December 1988 (aged 26) 0 Japan NEC Green Rockets
Ryu Holani Number 8 25 October 1981 (aged 33) 35 Japan Panasonic Wild Knights
Hayden Hopgood Number 8 30 July 1980 (aged 34) 3 Japan Kamaishi Seawaves
Atsushi Hiwasa Scrum-half 22 May 1987 (aged 27) 38 Japan Suntory Sungoliath
Keisuke Uchida Scrum-half 22 February 1992 (aged 23) 8 Japan Panasonic Wild Knights
Yuki Yatomi Scrum-half 16 February 1985 (aged 30) 14 Japan Yamaha Júbilo
Yuu Tamura Fly-half 9 January 1989 (aged 26) 26 Japan NEC Green Rockets
Harumichi Tatekawa Fly-half 2 December 1989 (aged 25) 28 Japan Kubota Spears
Male Sa'u Centre 13 October 1987 (aged 27) 20 Japan Yamaha Júbilo
Craig Wing Centre 26 December 1979 (aged 35) 7 Japan Kobelco Steelers
Ryohei Yamanaka Centre 22 June 1988 (aged 26) 1 Japan Waseda University
Yoshikazu Fujita Wing 8 October 1993 (aged 21) 18 Japan Waseda University
Kenki Fukuoka Wing 7 September 1992 (aged 22) 11 Japan Tsukuba University
Karne Hesketh Wing 1 August 1985 (aged 29) 2 Japan Fukuoka Sanix Blues
Toshiaki Hirose Wing 17 October 1981 (aged 33) 23 Japan Toshiba Brave Lupus
Chihito Matsui Wing 11 November 1994 (aged 20) 0 Japan Doshisha University
Ayumu Goromaru Fullback 1 March 1986 (aged 29) 43 Japan Yamaha Júbilo

South Korea

South Korea 31-man squad for the 2015 Asian Rugby Championship.

Forwards
width:40%"|Player width:20%"|Position width:40%"|Club
Kim Jeep Hooker South Korea Kepco
Na Kwan Young Hooker South Korea Sang Mu
Kim Min Kyu Hooker South Korea Sang Mu
Shin Dong Won Prop Japan Kintetsu Liners
Son Young Ki Prop South Korea Posco
Kim Kwang Sik Prop Japan Honda Heat
Park Sung Ku Prop Japan Kubota Spears
Kim Ho Bum Lock Japan Kubota Spears
Han Kun Kyu Lock South Korea Kepco
Youn Kwon Woo Lock Japan Musashino Atlastars
Jang Seok Hwan Lock South Korea Sang Mu
Park Soon Chai Lock Japan NTT Docomo
Kim Hyun Soo Flanker South Korea Kepco
Yun Il Han Flanker South Korea Dankook University
Hwan In Jo Flanker South Korea Kepco
Kim Jeong Min Flanker South Korea Kepco
Son Min Su Flanker South Korea Kyung Hee Uni.
Lee Young Seung Number eight Japan Hino Red Dolphins
Backs
width:40%"|Player width:20%"|Position width:40%"|Club
Shin Ki Chul Scrum-half South Korea Korea Rugby Union
Lee Myung Jun Scrum-half South Korea Sang Mu
Park Wan Young Scrum-half South Korea Kepco
Lee Eu Yong Fly-half South Korea Posco
Oh Youn-hyung Fly-half South Korea Kepco
Jegal Bin Centre Japan Shining Arcs
Kim Namuk Centre South Korea Kepco
Kim Sung Soo (c) Centre South Korea Kepco
Kim Gwong Min Wing South Korea Kepco
Park Han Gyul Wing South Korea Korea Rugby Union
Chang Yong Heung Wing South Korea Yonsei University
Jang Seong Min Fullback South Korea Sang Mu
Nam Young Soo Fullback South Korea Sang Mu

See also

References

  1. ↑ Sallay, Alvin (5 December 2014). "ARFU’s philosophical change a boon for Asia’s big three". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
  2. ↑ Jones announces 31-man Brave Blossoms squad for Asian Rugby Championship