Japan win Asian Sevens

Japan have won their first major women's rugby title.

Published by John Birch, November 10th, 2013

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Japan win Asian Sevens

The investment of the Japenese RFU into women's rugby gained its first result today when Japan won not just the second leg of the Asian Championship in Pune, but also the overall title.

They lost in the final in thefirst legsix weeks ago by the just 14-10 against China, but this weekend it was a different story... but not that different.

The top four in Thailand were clearly again the top four this weekend in India, and the final two pool games became effectively semi-finals between China and Kazakhstan in Pool A, Japan and Hong Kong in Pool B.

However, before that there were some notable results. Thailand in particular were delighted to gain revenenge over Sri Lanka, who were unable to repeat they sensational fifth place in the first leg. A narrow 5-0 win by Thailand was enough to push them into the 7th place play-off where they lost again, this time to Singapore.

In Pool B Iran showed significant signs of improvement, scoring a try against Japan, two against Hong Kong, and then beating Philippines 10-7 with a last-minute try.

In the first "semi-final" China beat Kazakhstan 19-10 to win Pool A, two early tries opeing up an advantage that Kazakhstan could not close. Kazakhstan beat China at the Hong Kong Sevens, but since then China seem to have opened a significant gap over their long-standing rivals.

Pool B came down to Japan v Hong Kong, and as was the case in Thailand, it was close game with Japan just taking it 21-17.

Kazakhstan took the third place game - and with it third place in Asia - with a 30-12 win over Hong Kong, but clearly Hong Kong have improved and could threaten the top three in 2014.

With so much at stake the first half of the final was a nervy affair, but Japan lead at the break 14-7. The second half was just as tight, with China pulling level before Japan's captainChiharuNakamura scored the winning try in the final minute.

With a seven point advantage in the second leg exceeding China's four point win the first leg, Japan also took over overall title.

Group A

Group B

9th/10th

7th/8th

5th/6th

3rd/4th

Final

JAPAN declared overall series champions

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