Dates confirmed for Asian XVs Championship

Action from Hong Kong v Kazakhstan in 2014 (Photo:Peter Poon)

It has been confirmed that the seventh Asian Championship will be played between 25th April and 23rd May. For the first time the tournament will not be played at a single venue over a single week, but will instead involve the continent's three leading teams travelling to play one game at home and one away.

In addition two of the three games are likely to be part of “double headers”, being played at the same time as games in the men’s Asian Championship.

The tournament will open in on 25th April when Hong Kong travel to Almaty to meet Kazakhstan. The Kazakhstanis have never lost to Asian opposition, but Hong Kong pushed them to within three points in Hong Kong last year and it will be interesting to see if the professional players can translate their sevens form into the fifteens game.

This will be the only game not played alongside a match in the men’s championship as the Kazakhstani men are not in the top division of Asian rugby.

Two weeks later on 9th May Kazakhstan travel to Fukuoka to meet Japan, the game being played alongside the men’s game between Japan and Korea. Japan were disappointed to finish third last year having been well-beaten by Kazakhstan, but this will be their first home test match since 2012 and their first ever official home Asian Championship fixture.

The tournament will conclude on 23rd May when Japan visit the Aberdeen Sports Ground in Hong Kong with their men’s teams also meeting on the same day. Hong Kong’s 15-14 win over Japan last year was their first ever in a series that goes back to 1998.

We hope to give more coverage to the championship nearer the games.

Asian Championship: Previous winners

*There was a "second division" tournament in 2010 and 2011, but no official elite championship. In addition there was also a "second division" tournament in 2012.

Thanks to Linda Olsen (Hong Kong) and Anastassiya Khamova (Kazakhstan) for information.

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