2027 Men's Rugby World Cup – Asia qualification

2027 Men's Rugby World Cup – Asia qualification

Tournament details
Dates	30 April 2024 – June 2025
No. of nations	8
← 2023 2031 →

Qualifying for the 2027 Rugby World Cup for Asia commenced in April 2024, with eight teams competing for one qualification spot (Asia 1) and one spot (Asia 2) in a play-off match.

Format

The Asia Rugby Championship, governed by Asia Rugby, is the regional qualification tournament for Rugby World Cup 2027, with the top two division in the region acting as the process. In a three-round phased system; Round 1 will be the Asia Rugby Men's Division 1 competition, which will see three straight knock-out matches decide the winner of the competition and earning them a place in the final round of Asian qualification process.

Round two, will be the 2024 Asia Rugby Championship, which will act as a seeding round for the 2025 competition, with the top three teams joining the winner of Round 1 in the final round of Asian qualification process. The bottom placed team will be eliminated from qualification contention.

The final round will be the 2025 Asian Rugby Championship, with the winner qualifying for the World Cup, and the runner-up advancing to a play-off match against Africa 2 to decide who progresses to the Final Qualification Tournament.

Entrants

Eight teams will compete during for the Asian qualifiers for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, with Japan the only team thus far qualified from the Region. (Rankings as of first qualification match in this region)

Nation	Rank	Began play	Qualifying status
Hong Kong China	24	1 June 2024
India	87	30 April 2024	Eliminated by Sri Lanka on 30 April 2024
Japan	10	N/A	Qualified with Top 12 finish at 2023 World Cup
Kazakhstan	64	30 April 2024	Eliminated by Sri Lanka on 4 May 2024
Malaysia	49	30 April 2024	Eliminated by UAE on 21 June 2024
Qatar	94	30 April 2024	Eliminated by Kazakhstan on 30 April 2024
South Korea	30	2 June 2024
Sri Lanka	44	2 June 2024
United Arab Emirates	61	1 June 2024

Round 1: 2024 Asia Rugby Men's Division 1

The 2024 Asia Rugby Men's Division 1 was contested by four teams in a knockout format. The tournament was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka won the competition and advanced to Round 3 of the Qualification process, whilst India, Kazakhstan and Qatar were all eliminated.

	Semi-finals				Final
	Qatar	31
	Kazakhstan	33
					Kazakhstan	7
					Sri Lanka	45
	Sri Lanka	45
	India	10
					3rd/4th Playoff Final
					Qatar	34
					India	25

Semi-Finals

30 April 2024 16:00 IST (UTC+05:30)

Qatar	31–33	Kazakhstan
Try: Penalty Try 1' c Lotter 34' c Rakabu 40' c Bezuidenhout 53' c Con: Tremayne (3/3) 35' 40' 54' Pen: Tremayne (1/2) 64' Cards: Lotter  75'	Report	Try: Litvinov 4' c Petukhov 26' c Nazhibayev 45' m Chsherbakov 56' c Lymar 66' c Con: Nazhibayev (4/5) 4' 27' 57' 67' Cards: Akymbeov  1' Ivanov  37'

Colombo Racecourse, Sri Lanka Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Ishanka Abeykoon (Sri Lanka)

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30 April 2024 19:00 IST (UTC+05:30)

Sri Lanka	45–10	India
Try: Dissanayake (2) 15' c, 45' m Nanayakkara (2) 18' c, 55' c Ekanayake 33' c Ratwatte 74' c Sampath 80' c Con: Ratwatte (4/6) 16' 19' 34' 57' Sampath (1/1) 80' Cards: Madushanka  62'	Report	Try: P. Tanwar 63' c Con: Punia (1/1) 64' Pen: Punia (1/1) 3' Cards: Hansdah  40'

Colombo Racecourse, Sri Lanka Attendance: 6,500 Referee: Just Wang (Singapore)

Third Place play-off

4 May 2024 16:00 IST (UTC+05:30)

Qatar	34–25	India
Try: Philips (2) 2' c, 68' m Lock 6' c Beracibi 13' c Rakabu 19' c Con: Rakabu (1/2) 3' Tremayne (2/2) 7' 14' Pen: Tremayne (1/1) 57' Cards: Hughes  15' Swart  74'	Report	Try: P. Tanwar 53' c V. Patil 76' c N. Khatri 79' m Con: Punia (2/3) 55' 77' Pen: Punia (2/2) 5' 10' Cards: S. Shukla  21' Singh  56'

Colombo Racecourse, Sri Lanka Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Ishanka Abeykoon (Sri Lanka)

Final

4 May 2024 19:00 IST (UTC+05:30)

Sri Lanka	45–7	Kazakhstan
Try: Doray 10' m Weerathunge 18' m Nanayakkara 24' c Ratwatte 31' c Ekanayake 36' c Jansen 41' c S. Silva 75' c Con: Ratwatte (4/6) 25' 32' 38' 42' Sampath 76' (1/1) Cards: de Silva  61'	Report	Try: Magomedov 57' c Con: Nazhibayev (1/1) 58' Cards: Imam  17'

Colombo Racecourse, Sri Lanka Attendance: 20,000 Referee: James Fairbourne (UAE)

Round 2: 2024 Asian Rugby Championship

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	B	Pts	Qualification
1	Hong Kong China	3	3	0	0	189	18	+171	3	15
2	United Arab Emirates	3	2	0	1	103	103	0	2	10
3	South Korea	3	1	0	2	94	108	−14	3	7
4	Malaysia	3	0	0	3	30	187	−157	0	0	Eliminated from World Cup qualification

Source:
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers for teams tied on points: 1) Number of matches won; 2) Difference between points for and against; 3) Total number of points for; 4) Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams; 5) Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled.

Matches

1 June 2024 15:30 HKT (UTC+8)

(1 BP) Hong Kong China	52–5	United Arab Emirates
Try: McCormick-Houston 16' c Laidler (2) 19' c, 23' m Hill (2) 33' c, 43' c Altier 48' c Post 74' c Higson-Smith 77' m Con: Hill (5/7) 17', 34', 45', 50', 76' Sawyer (1/1) 20' Cards: McCormick-Houston  50'	Report	Try: Vecanua 5' m

Hong Kong Football Club Stadium, Hong Kong China Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Katsuki Furuse (Japan)

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2 June 2024 14:00 KST (UTC+9)

(1 BP) South Korea	55–5	Malaysia
Try: Jin Kyu (2) 7' m, 71' c Hyeon Je 14' c Jeong Wook (3) 24' c, 30' m, 39' c Yong Un 26' c Chan Ju 45' m Yeon Sik 66' m Con: Seung Jae (5/9) 15' 25' 27' 40' 72'	Report	Try: Amok 49' m

Incheon Namdong Asiad Rugby Field, South Korea Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Jaco De Wit (UAE)

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8 June 2024 14:00 MST (UTC+8)

Malaysia	6–70	Hong Kong China (1 BP)
Pen: Chapman (2/2) 10', 56' Cards: Amizan  17'	Report	Try: Post 7' c Penalty try 17' Altier (2) 20' c, 33' c McNutt 21' c Hrstich (2) 36' c, 57' c Penesa 44' c Scott 67' c Pincott 69' c Con: Altier (7/) 8' 19' 22' 35' 36' 46' 59' Avitabile (2/2) 68' 70'

UPM Stadium, Serdang Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Justin Wang (Singapore)

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9 June 2024 19:30 GST (UTC+04)

(1 BP) United Arab Emirates	36–32	South Korea (2 BP)
Try: Semple 10' c Galant 45' m Gavin 50' m Davetawalu 64' c Con: Gavin (2/4) 11', 65' Pen: Gavin (3/3) 3', 34', 60' Drop: Gavin (1/1) 69'	Report	Try: Yong Un 7' c Jong Eun 18' m Jin Kyu 28' m Mun Jeong Ho 36' c Chan Deul 55' m Con: Seung Jae (2/5) 8', 37' Pen: Seung Jae (1/3) 5'

The Sevens Stadium, Dubai Attendance: 500 Referee: Matthew Rodden (Hong Kong)

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21 June 2024 19:30 GST (UTC+04)

(1 BP) United Arab Emirates	62–19	Malaysia
Try: Oakeley (2) 2' m, 26' c Barnard 8' c McKee 13' c Vecanua (2) 33' c, 50' m Naisau (3) 40' c, 63' c, 79' m Walsh 75' m Con: Gavin (6/10) 9', 15', 27', 34', 40', 64' Cards: Caldwell  16' Galant  41'	Report	Try: Muzhaimey 17' c Isamil 22' m Preston 46' c Con: Champman (2/3) 18', 47' Cards: Amizan  47'

The Sevens Stadium, Dubai Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Morgan White (Hong Kong)

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22 June 2024 16:30 HKT (UTC+8)

(1 BP) Hong Kong China	67–7	South Korea
Try: Hill 3' c van der Smit (3) 23' c, 66' c, 69' c Altier 29' c Sayers 40' c Avitabile 48' m Hrstich 55' c McNutt 79' c Con: Altier (7/8) 4', 24', 31', 40', 56', 67', 70' McNeish (1/1) 80' Cards: Avitabile  53'	Report	Try: Penalty try 53'

Hong Kong Football Club Stadium, Hong Kong China Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Takehito Namikawa (Japan)

Round 3: 2025 Asian Rugby Championship

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Hong Kong China	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Qualifies as Asia 1
2	South Korea	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Advances to Asia-Africa play-off match
3	Sri Lanka	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	United Arab Emirates	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Source:
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers for teams tied on points: 1) Number of matches won; 2) Difference between points for and against; 3) Total number of points for; 4) Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams; 5) Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled.