Japan regain Asian 7s title

Japan's women and men celebrate their Asian titles (Photo: Asia Rugby)

Japan’s win in Colombo was not without its scares, not least in the opening game where they took on Uzbekistan (who had failed to score a single point in pool play in China) and just sneaked the game by 21-17. Both teams scored three tries, and in the end it was only the accuracy of kicking by Chiharu Nakamura and Mayu Shimizu saving Japan’s blushes – and title aspirations.

That was not the only surprise in the opening round of games as first leg winners Hong Kong lost their opening game to Thailand, a yellow card for Christy Cheng scuppering their attempt to overturn the Thai’s early lead, Hong Kong losing by 7-5. With Hong Kong also losing to Japan the China 7s winners could only finish third in their pool.

However, with all teams proceeding to the quarter-finals, the opening day only ultimately decided the seedings for the quarters and so Hong Kong survived to meet Kazakhstan in the last eight, the runners up in the other pool, though the Kazakhstanis had gone through day one unbeaten thanks to a 7-7 draw with China.

That quarter-final opened day two in Colombo, and it proved to be a tight game but again a yellow card was perhaps the crucial difference. Over the two days just four yellows were shown in the tournament, but three of those were given to Kazakhstan and Amina Baratova’s absence in this game just swayed the balance in Hong Kong’s favour.

With other quarter-finals going to form, Hong Kong would again face Japan, and China would meet surprise package Thailand.

The first of these semi-finals was a repeat of Qingdao, but the result was very different with Japan scoring three unanswered tries to reach the final 17-0, where – as expected – they came up against China, who beat the brave Thais 24-5.

Remarkably this was the first time the two rivals had met over the two tournaments, and the record has been incredibly tight with every game in recent years decided by a single score – but not this time as Japan powered to a 33-12 win.

The outcome of the two tournaments was a three-way tie between China, Hong Kong and Japan. Given the rules dictated that the first decider would be points difference – and that gave the title to Japan with a +280 point record, China ending in runners up spot on +230 while Hong Kong ended on +178.

Overall it is a result that makes next month’s Olympic qualifiers (in Hong Kong and Japan) incredibly hard to predict. Japan start as narrow favourites, their strength in depth may be the key. While Hong Kong have by far the top individual player in Pak Yon Poon (17 tries and 121 points overall), only two other Hong Kong players scored four or more tries. Six Chinese players crossed the line four times, but remarkably nine of Japan’s squad achieved the same.

Pool W

Nation

Won

Drawn

Lost

For

Against

Japan

3

0

0

74

22

Thailand

2

0

1

29

43

Hong Kong

1

0

2

62

22

Uzbekistan

0

0

3

17

95

·         Japan 21-17 Uzbekistan

·         Hong Kong 5-7 Thailand

·         Japan 38-0 Thailand

·         Hong Kong 52-0 Uzbekistan

·         Thailand 22-0 Uzbekistan

·         Hong Kong 5-15 Japan

Pool X

Nation

Won

Drawn

Lost

For

Against

China

2

1

0

107

7

Kazakhstan

2

1

0

67

24

Sri Lanka

1

0

2

38

72

Singapore

0

0

3

17

126

·         Kazakhstan 17-10 Sri Lanka

·         China 55-0 Singapore

·         Kazakhstan 43-7 Singapore

·         China 45-0 Sri Lanka

·         Singapore 10-28 Sri Lanka

·         China 7-7 Kazakhstan

Quarter-finals

·         Kazakhstan 7-14 Hong Kong

·         Japan 38 - 0 Singapore

·         China 55 - 5 Uzbekistan

·         Thailand 17 - 0 Sri Lanka

PlateSemi Finals

·         Kazakhstan 29 - 0 Singapore

·         Uzbekistan 17 - 7 Sri Lanka

7th place

·         Singapore 17-14 Sri Lanka

Final (5th place)

·         Kazakhstan 43-0 Uzbekistan

CupSemi-finals

·         Hong Kong 0 - 17 Japan

·         China 24 - 5 Thailand

3rd/4th place

·         Hong Kong 21-15 Thailand

Cup final

·         Japan 33-12 China

Top players

#

Player

Totals

T

C

TP

1

Pak Yan POON

Hong Kong

17

18

121

2

Lyudmila KOROTKIKH

Kazakhstan

14

1

72

3

Chitchanok YUSRI

Thailand

11

-

55

4

Aththanayake Mudiyanselage ANUSHA PRIYADHARSHANI ATHTHANAYAKE

Sri Lanka

9

-

45

5

Uthumporn LIAMRAT

Thailand

8

1

42

6

Liliya KIBISHEVA

Kazakhstan

7

-

40

7

Wenqing ZHAO

China

7

-

35

7

Yoko SUZUKI

Japan

7

-

35

9

Weerakkody Mudiyanselage THANUJA DILRUKSHI

Sri Lanka

3

9

33

10

Min YANG

China

4

6

32