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Hong Kong are Asia 1. This was achieved today by virtue of Hong Kong defeating South Korea. It sees Hong Kong Advancing in the RWC Qualifiers, setting up a play-off against the Cook Islands.
The Cook Islands earned the right to face Asia 1 in the Cross-Regional Play-Off after Tahiti was disqualified for breaching player eligibility laws. The Cook Islands are officially Oceania 4. This is behind the RWC qualified Fiji and Tonga in addition to Samoa who is awaiting Europe 2 in another RWC play-off.
Hong Kong’s win over South Korea was impressive. The 39-5 margin underlined their superiority and it also sees them crowned Asia Rugby Championship winners. Yet the real prize is their advancing in RWC qualifiers. A win over the Cook Islands would see Hong Kong joining Canada and two others in November’s global repechage tournament.
The qualifying series for repechage will be played in a matter of weeks. First Hong Kong will travel to the Cook Islands to face the Oceania side on June 30 while the Asians are to then have home advantage on July 07.
Results from the Asia Rugby Championship mean both Malaysia and South Korea are eliminated from RWC qualifying. Still in the running are 17 teams. This number is higher than it ought to be based on the scandal that rocked the Rugby Europe Championship series.
Pending the results of the Rugby Europe investigation the following could still qualify for RWC 2019: Canada (Americas), Romania, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Germany, (Europe), Cook Islands, Samoa, (Oceania), Hong Kong, (Asia), Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe (Africa).
