2018 Asia Rugby Championship

Date	28 April – 2 June
Countries	Hong Kong  Malaysia  South Korea
Final positions
Champions	Hong Kong (1st title)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	6
Tries scored	51 (8.5 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Matthew Rosslee (58)
Most tries	Conor Hartley (4) Jang Jeong-min (4) Liam Slatem (4)
Website	www.asiarugby.com
← 2017 2019 →

The 2018 Asia Rugby Championship was the fourth annual rugby union series for the top-level Asia Rugby nations. The Asia Rugby Championship in 2018 formed part of the World Cup qualifying process and, as such, did not include Japan who had already qualified as the 2019 Rugby World Cup host. Hong Kong and South Korea were joined by Malaysia, promoted from Division 1, to compete in the 2018 series. Other Asian nations played in the lower division tournaments.

The format of the tri-nations series is a double round-robin where the three teams play each other twice on a home and away basis. The team finishing on top of the standings at the end of the series is declared the winner. The 2018 series winner Hong Kong advanced to a cross-regional play-off series against Oceania 4, Cook Islands, to earn a berth in the repechage tournament.

Teams

The teams involved, with their world rankings prior to the 2018 tournament in brackets:^[1]

Nation	Home stadium	City	Head coach	Captain
Hong Kong (22)	Hong Kong Football Club Stadium	Hong Kong	Leigh Jones	James Cunningham
South Korea (31)	Incheon Namdong Asiad Rugby Field	Incheon	Choi Changryul	Lee Yong-seung
Malaysia (45)	National Stadium	Kuala Lumpur	Lee Nyuk Fah	Mohd Syahir Asraf Rosli

Standings

Pos	Nation	Games				Points			Bonus points	Total points
		Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	For	Against	Diff
1	Hong Kong	4	4	0	0	227	44	+183	3	19
2	South Korea	4	2	2	0	128	91	+37	2	10
3	Malaysia	4	0	4	0	40	260	-220	0	0
Points were awarded to the teams as follows: Win - 4 points Draw - 2 points 4 or more tries - 1 point Loss within 7 points - 1 point Loss greater than 7 points - 0 points

Fixtures

Source: asiarugby.com^[2]

Week 1

28 April 2018 16:30 MST (UTC+8)

Malaysia	10–35	South Korea
Try: Vunimoku 61' c Con: Bin Sudin 62' Pen: Bin Sudin 70'	Report	Try: Jang Jeong-min 9' m, 48' c Penalty try 25' Kim Kwang-sik 80' c Con: Oh Youn-hyung 49', 80' (2/3) Pen: Oh Youn-hyung 3', 21', 37'

National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur Attendance: 15000 Referee: Tim Baker (Hong Kong)

FB 15 Muhamad Amirul Aqil Kamsol RW 14 Mohamad Aiman Jamaluddin OC 13 Vatimio Rabebe IC 12 Sakiusa Terence Gavidi LW 11 Mohd Azmir Zanul Abdin FH 10 Mohd Syahir Asraf Rosli (c) SH 9 Muhd Nur Ikqwan Nordin N8 8 Timoci Vunimoku OF 7 Mohamad Amin Jamaluddin BF 6 Sae Faalupega RL 5 Nathanael Tan Aik Ming LL 4 Aporosa Duwailea TP 3 Mohd Aliff Al Hafiz Abdul Kari HK 2 Amirul Mukminim Amizan LP 1 Amirul Sani 41' to 51' Replacements: 16 Mohd Nurazman Ramli 17 Mohd Farid Sujari 18 Lawrence Petrus 19 Syarif Nurhidayat Muzhaimey 20 Mohamad Syarif Saiful Aazwan Bin Sudin 21 Mohammad Rosmanizam Roslan 22 Aliff Sazrie Bin Azmi 23 Mohamad Sofian Mohd Kamil Coach: Lee Nyuk Fah

FB 15 Lee Jae-bok RW 14 Jang Jeong-min OC 13 Lee Jin-kyu IC 12 Kim Nam-uk LW 11 Kang Jin-gu FH 10 Oh Youn-hyung SH 9 Lee Myung-jun N8 8 Lee Yong-seung (c) OF 7 Jang Seok-hwan BF 6 Kim Hyun-soo RL 5 Lee Jin-seok LL 4 Kim Ho-bum TP 3 Kang Tae-hyeon HK 2 Kim Jeep LP 1 Na Kwan-young Replacements: 16 Seok Dong-hee 17 Kim Kwang-sik 18 Park Jong-yeol 66' to 76' 19 Cha Sung-kun 20 You Ji-hoon 21 Shin Ki-cheol 22 Kim Jin-hyeok 23 Jang Seong-min Coach: Choi Chang-ryul

Week 2

5 May 2018 16:30 MST (UTC+8)

Malaysia	8–67	Hong Kong
Try: Saukuru 36' m Pen: Bin Sudin 77'	Report	Try: Lamboley 15' m, 28' m Neville 32' c Slatem 40' c Yiu 43' c, 48' m Pincott 51' c Hartley 61' c J Parfitt 67' c Keith 69' c Con: Rosslee 33', 40', 44', 52', 62', 68' 71' (7/10) Pen: Rosslee 23'

National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur Attendance: 15000 Referee: Shuhei Kubo (Japan)

FB 15 Samuela Tamanisau RW 14 Mohd Azmir Zanul Abdin OC 13 Vatimio Rabebe IC 12 Sakiusa Terence Gavidi LW 11 Mohamad Aiman Jamaluddin FH 10 Mohd Syahir Asraf Rosli (c) SH 9 Muhd Nur Ikqwan Nordin N8 8 Etonia Vaqa Saukuru OF 7 Syarif Nurhidayat Muzhaimey BF 6 Timoci Vunimoku RL 5 Sae Faalupega LL 4 Aporosa Duwailea 13' to 23' TP 3 Mohd Aliff Al Hafiz Abdul Karim HK 2 Amirul Mukminim Amizan LP 1 Amirul Sani Replacements: 16 Mohd Nurazman Ramli 17 Mohd Farid Sujari 18 Lawrence Petrus 19 Mohamad Amin Jamaluddin 20 Syahmi Afiq Edan 21 Mohamad Syarif Saiful Aazwan Bin Sudin 22 Aliff Sazrie Bin Azmi 23 Asyraf Norudin Coach: Lee Nyuk Fah

FB 15 Jack Neville RW 14 Salom Yiu Kam Shing OC 13 Tyler Spitz IC 12 Max Woodward LW 11 Max Denmark FH 10 Matthew Rosslee SH 9 Liam Slatem N8 8 Thomas Lamboley OF 7 Toby Fenn BF 6 Nicholas Hewson RL 5 Jamie Pincott LL 4 James Cunningham (c) TP 3 Dylan Rogers HK 2 Benjamin Roberts LP 1 Daniel Barlow Replacements: 16 Alexander Harris 17 Adam Fullgrabe 18 Jack Parfitt 19 Kyle Sullivan 20 Michael Parfitt 21 Conor Hartley 22 Robert Keith 23 Jamie Lauder Coach: Leigh Jones

Week 3

12 May 2018 16:30 KST (UTC+9)

South Korea	21–30	Hong Kong
Try: Jang Jeong-min 10' c Lee Yong-seung 49' c Lee Jae-bok 61' c Con: Oh Youn-hyung 12', 50', 61' (3/3)	Report	Try: Spitz 24' m Slatem 37' c Con: Rosslee 38' (1/2) Pen: Rosslee 4', 19', 31', 44', 58', 68'

Namdong Asiad Rugby Stadium, Incheon Attendance: 1000 Referee: Shuhei Kubo (Japan)

FB 15 Lee Jae-bok RW 14 Jang Jeong-min OC 13 Kim Jin-hyeok IC 12 Kim Nam-uk LW 11 Kang Jin-gu FH 10 Oh Youn-hyung SH 9 Lee Myung-jun N8 8 Lee Yong-seung (c) OF 7 Jang Seok-hwan BF 6 Cha Sung-kun 35' to 45' RL 5 Lee Jin-seok LL 4 Kim Ho-bum TP 3 Kang Tae-hyeon HK 2 Kim Jeep LP 1 Na Kwan-young Replacements: 16 Seok Dong-hee 17 Kim Kwang-sik 18 Park Jong-yeol 19 Han Kun-kyu 20 Kim Jeong-min 21 Shin Ki-cheol 22 Park Hong-sik 23 Jang Seong-min Coach: Choi Chang-ryul

FB 15 Jack Neville RW 14 Salom Yiu Kam Shing OC 13 Tyler Spitz IC 12 Max Woodward LW 11 Max Denmark FH 10 Matthew Rosslee SH 9 Liam Slatem N8 8 Thomas Lamboley OF 7 Toby Fenn BF 6 Nicholas Hewson RL 5 Kyle Sullivan LL 4 James Cunningham (c) TP 3 Dylan Rogers HK 2 Benjamin Roberts LP 1 Daniel Barlow Replacements: 16 Alexander Harris 17 Adam Fullgrabe 18 Jack Parfitt 19 Jamie Pincott 20 Kane Boucaut 21 Conor Hartley 22 Ben Rimene 23 Jamie Lauder 24 Michael Parfitt Coach: Leigh Jones

Week 4

19 May 2018 16:30 KST (UTC+9)

South Korea	67–12	Malaysia
Try: Jang Seong-min 6' c, 18' c Kim Ho-bum 24' c Kim Nam-uk 29' c, 70' c Lee Jae-bok 34' c Jang Jeong-min 56' c Kim Jeong-min 64' m Kim Jin-hyeok 75' c Con: Oh Youn-hyung 7', 19', 26', 30', 35', 57', 71', 76' (8/9) Pen: Oh Youn-hyung 47' Drop: Oh Youn-hyung 68'	Report	Try: Tamanisau 42' c Mohamad Aiman Jamaluddin 73' m Con: Kamsol 43' (1/2)

Namdong Asiad Rugby Stadium, Incheon Referee: Stephen Copeman (Hong Kong)

FB 15 Lee Jae-bok RW 14 Jang Jeong-min OC 13 Kim Jin-hyeok IC 12 Jang Seong-min LW 11 Kim Nam-uk FH 10 Oh Youn-hyung SH 9 Shin Ki-cheol N8 8 Lee Yong-seung (c) OF 7 Hwang In-jo BF 6 Cha Sung-kun RL 5 Jang Seok-hwan LL 4 Kim Ho-bum TP 3 Park Jong-yeol HK 2 You Ji-hoon LP 1 Na Kwan-young Replacements: 16 Noh Ok-gi 17 Seok Dong-hee 18 Kang Taehyeon 19 Lee Kwang-ho 20 Kim Jeong-min 21 Lee Myung-jun 22 Kim Kun-hui 23 Shin Min-su Coach: Choi Chang-ryul

FB 15 Muhamad Amirul Aqil Kamsol RW 14 Mohamad Aiman Jamaluddin OC 13 Samuela Tamanisau IC 12 Vatimio Rabebe LW 11 Mohd Azmir Zanul Abdin (c) FH 10 Mohd Syahir Asraf Rosli SH 9 Muhd Nur Ikqwan Nordin N8 8 Etonia Vaqa Saukuru OF 7 Syarif Nurhidayat Muzhaimey BF 6 Timoci Vunimoku RL 5 Sae Faalupega LL 4 Muhammad Danial Noor Hamidi 20' to 30' TP 3 Mohd Aliff Al Hafiz Abdul Karim HK 2 Amirul Mukminim Amizan LP 1 Lawrence Petrus Replacements: 16 Mohd Nurazman Ramli 17 Mohd Farid Sujari 18 Nas Affie Mohd Salleh 19 Mohamad Amin Jamaluddin 20 Hamizan Rosli 21 Mohamad Syarif Saiful Aazwan Bin Sudin 22 Aliff Sazrie Bin Azmi 23 Asyraf Norudin Coach: Lee Nyuk Fah

Week 5

26 May 2018 16:00 HKT (UTC+8)

Hong Kong	91–10	Malaysia
Try: Pincott 3' c Denmark 6' c Hartley 16' c, 19' c, 43' c Lauder 20' c, 75' c Penalty try 26' Tsang 30' c Delaforce 53' c Neville 57' c Keith 66' c Fullgrabe 80' c Con: Rimene 4', 17', 20', 21', 31', 44', 54', 58', 67', 76', 80' (11/11) Rosslee 7' (1/1)	Report	Try: Saukuru 33' c Con: Bin Sudin 34' Pen: Kamsol 61'

Hong Kong Football Club Stadium, Hong Kong Referee: Shuhei Kubo (Japan)

FB 15 Robert Keith RW 14 Conor Hartley OC 13 Tyler Spitz IC 12 Matthew Rosslee LW 11 Max Denmark FH 10 Ben Rimene SH 9 Jamie Lauder N8 8 Kane Boucaut OF 7 Philip Whitfield BF 6 Nicholas Hewson RL 5 Jack Delaforce LL 4 Jamie Pincott TP 3 Jack Parfitt HK 2 Jamie Tsang (c) LP 1 Adam Fullgrabe Replacements: 16 Edward Soppet 17 Callum McFeat-Smith 18 Ronan Donnelly 19 Thomas Lamboley 20 Michael Parfitt 21 Cris Pierrepont 22 Henry Poon Yau Him 23 Jack Neville 24 Kyle Sullivan Coach: Leigh Jones

FB 15 Mohamad Aiman Jamaluddin RW 14 Samuela Tamanisau 13' to 23' OC 13 Vatimio Rabebe IC 12 Atunasia Lacadamu Takubu LW 11 Mohd Azmir Zanul Abdin FH 10 Mohd Syahir Asraf Rosli (c) SH 9 Aliff Sazrie Bin Azmi N8 8 Etonia Vaqa Saukuru OF 7 Mohamad Syarif Saiful Aazwan Bin Sudin BF 6 Timoci Vunimoku RL 5 Sae Faalupega LL 4 Mohd Aliff Al Hafiz Abdul Karim 50' to 60' TP 3 Lawrence Petrus HK 2 Amirul Mukminim Amizan LP 1 Mohd Farid Sujari Replacements: 16 Mohd Nurazman Ramli 17 Hamizan Rosli 18 Nas Affie Mohd Salleh 19 Syarif Nurhidayat Muzhaimey 20 Mohamad Amin Jamaluddin 21 Muhammad Danial Noor Hamidi 22 Muhamad Amirul Aqil Kamsol 23 Asyraf Norudin Coach: Lee Nyuk Fah

Week 6

2 June 2018 16:00 HKT (UTC+8)

Hong Kong	39–5	South Korea
Try: Rosslee 13' c Slatem 24' c, 38' c Yiu 30' c Lauder 75' m Con: Rosslee 14', 25', 31', 39' (4/5) Pen: Rosslee 8', 50'	Report	Try: Lee Yong-seung 54' m

Hong Kong Football Club Stadium, Hong Kong Referee: Shuhei Kubo (Japan)

FB 15 Robert Keith RW 14 Salom Yiu Kam Shing OC 13 Jack Neville IC 12 Max Woodward LW 11 Conor Hartley FH 10 Matthew Rosslee SH 9 Liam Slatem N8 8 Thomas Lamboley OF 7 Toby Fenn BF 6 Nicholas Hewson RL 5 Kyle Sullivan LL 4 James Cunningham (c) TP 3 Dylan Rogers HK 2 Ben Roberts LP 1 Daniel Barlow Replacements: 16 Jamie Tsang 17 Adam Fullgrabe 18 Jack Parfitt 19 Michael Parfitt 20 Kane Boucaut 21 Cris Pierrepont 22 Jamie Lauder 23 Max Denmark 24 Tyler Spitz Coach: Leigh Jones

FB 15 Lee Jae-bok RW 14 Jang Jeong-min OC 13 Jang Seong-min 73' to 80' IC 12 Kim Seongu LW 11 Kim Nam-uk FH 10 Oh Youn-hyung SH 9 Shin Ki-cheol N8 8 Lee Yong-seung (c) OF 7 Hwang Injo BF 6 Cha Sung-kun RL 5 Lee Jin-seok LL 4 Jang Seok-hwan TP 3 Kang Tae-hyeon 34' to 44' HK 2 You Ji-hoon LP 1 Na Kwan-young Replacements: 16 Noh Ok-gi 17 Seok Dong-hee 18 Park Jong-yeol 19 Lee Kwang-ho 20 Kim Jeong-min 21 Lee Myung-jun 22 Park Hong-sik 23 Kim Jinhyeok Coach: Choi Chang-ryul