2025 Asia Rugby Championship

2025 Asia Rugby Championship

Dates	13 June – 5 July 2025
Countries	Hong Kong   South Korea   Sri Lanka   United Arab Emirates
Final positions
Champions	Hong Kong
Relegated	Sri Lanka
Tournament statistics
Matches played	4
← 2024 2026 →

The 2025 Asia Rugby Championship ^[a] is the ninth annual rugby union series for Asia Rugby. The tournament features Hong Kong, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates, with Sri Lanka returning for the first time since 2014 following their Championship playoff victory against the fourth placed team from 2024, Malaysia. Malaysia joins the other Asian nations played in the lower-tier division tournaments. ^[1]

Background and format

The format of the series is a single play-off match, followed by a single round-robin where the four remaining teams play each other once. The team finishing on top of the standings at the end of the series is declared the winner. The team finishing at the bottom of the standing are relegated. ^[2] The competition will begin on 13 June 2025 and will conclude on 5 July 2025. ^[3]

Hong Kong enter the competition as reigning champions, having won the competition for the fifth time in 2024. ^[4]

The competition doubles as the final stage of the Asian continental qualifier for the 2027 Men's Rugby World Cup in Australia. The winner of the competition will qualify directly to the World Cup, where it will join Japan who qualified by placing in the 2023 Rugby World Cup, while the runner-up will enter a playoff against Africa 2, the runner-up from the 2025 Africa Cup for the chance to make the 2027 RWC Final Qualification Tournament.

Participants

Team	Stadium			Head coach	Captain	World Rugby Ranking
	Home stadium	Capacity	Location			Start [b]	End [c]
Hong Kong	Kai Tak Youth Sports Ground	5,000	Kai Tak, Kowloon	Andrew Douglas	Joshua Hrstich	23rd
South Korea	Incheon Namdong Asiad Rugby Field	4,968	Namdong, Incheon	Lee Myung-geun	Lee Jin-kyu	35th
Sri Lanka	Colombo Racecourse	10,000	Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo	Sanath Martis	Nigel Ratwatte	39th
United Arab Emirates	The Sevens Stadium	15,000	Dubai, Emirate of Dubai	TBD		50th

Warm-up matches

Division 1/Championship play-off

19 April 2025 16:00 SLST (UTC+5:30)

Sri Lanka	59–19	Malaysia
Try: J. Madushanka 5' m, 63' c Ranjan 23' c A. Madushanka 32' c Ekanayake (3) 36' c, 49' c, 53' c Marasinghe 41' c Wickramarachichi 77' m Con: Zubair Dora (7/9) 24', 33', 36', 43', 50', 54', 64' Cards: Kekeorale Gadara 67' to 77'	Report	Try: Vaqa Saukuru (3) 11' c, 60' c, 72' m Con: Aqil Kamsol (1/1) 11' Bin Nasrudin (1/2) 62' Cards: Vaqa Saukuru 24' to 34' Tamanisau 42' to 52'

Colombo Racecourse, Colombo Referee: Jaco de Wit (United Arab Emirates)

• Malaysia were relegated to the Asia Rugby Championship Division 1.

New Zealand U85kg tour of Sri Lanka

First test

4 May 2025 15:45 SLST (UTC+5:30)

Sri Lanka	10–50	New Zealand U85kg
Try: Wickramarachchi 18' c Con: Ratwatte (1/1) 19' Pen: Ratwatte (1/1) 44' Cards: Chathuranga 35' to 45'	Report	Try: Asiata (2) 5' c, 72' m Petford 11' m Megson 25' m Laity 36' c Percival 57' c Morrison (2) 61' m, 75' c Con: Percival (4/6) 6', 26', 36', 57' Cordell-Hull (1/2) 76' Cards: Laity 17' to 27' Asiata 45' to 55'

Nittawela Rugby Stadium, Kandy Attendance: 10,000 [5] Referee: JP Clements (United Arab Emirates)

Second test

10 May 2025 18:30 SLST (UTC+5:30)

Sri Lanka	6–32	New Zealand U85kg
Pen: Ratwatte (2/2) 22', 54'	Report	Try: Percival (2) 11' m, 20' m Swarts 27' c Gellert 60' c Morrison 70' m Con: Percival (1/3) 27' Reily (1/2) 60' Pen: Reily (1/1) 56'

Colombo Racecourse, Colombo Attendance: 25,000 [6] Referee: Jaco de Wit (United Arab Emirates)

Standings

2025 Asia Rugby Championship Champions

Relegation to 2026 Asia Rugby Division 1

Pos.	Team	Matches				Points			Bonus points	Total points
		Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Diff.
1	Hong Kong	3	3	0	0	191	39	+152	3	15
2	United Arab Emirates	3	2	0	1	77	79	–2	2	10
3	South Korea	3	1	0	2	96	142	–46	3	7
4	Sri Lanka	3	0	0	3	41	145	–104	2	2
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

Round 1

13 June 2025 16:00 SLST (UTC+5:30)

Sri Lanka	34–38	South Korea
Try: Zubair 15' c Bandara 40' c Thilakaratne 41' c Jansen 45' m Ekanayake 76' m Con: Ratwatte (3/5) 16', 40', 41' Pen: Ratwatte (1/1) 20' Cards: Jansen  70'	Report	Try: Jeong Min 5' c Ok Gi 37' c Nam Uk 47' c Seok Hwan 54' m Yeon Sik 61' m Penalty try 70' Con: Hyun Goo (3/5) 6', 38', 48'

Colombo Racecourse, Colombo [7] Attendance: 2,000 Referee: JP Clements (UAE)

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14 June 2025 19:30 UAEST (UTC+4)

United Arab Emirates	10–43	Hong Kong
Try: Janes 19' c Con: Johnson 20' Pen: Johnson 30' Cards: Guerin  58' Botes  68'	Report [8]	Try: Donnell 12' c Denmark 24' m Chapman 36' c Worley 46' c Penalty try 60' Scott 71' c Con: De Thierry 13' 38' 57' Altier 70' Pen: De Thierry 3' Cards: Hrstich  63' Hrstich  73'

The Sevens Stadium, Dubai Referee: Katsuki Furuse (Japan)

Round 2

21 June 2025 15:00 KST (UTC+9)

South Korea	36–38	United Arab Emirates
Try: Penalty try 27' Jae Jun 32' c In Bum 35' c Jun Young 41' m Hyun Soo 45' c Con: Hyun Goo (3/4) 33', 36', 46' Pen: Hyun Goo (1/1) 64'	Report	Try: Sejean 10' c Volavola (3) 20' c, 69' c, 72' m Stapley 40' c Janes 58' m Con: Johnson (4/6) 11', 20', 40', 70' Pen: Barnard  27'

Incheon Namdong Asiad Rugby Field, Incheon Attendance: 500 Referee: Morgan White (Hong Kong China)

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22 June 2025 16:30 HKT (UTC+8)

Hong Kong	78–7	Sri Lanka
Try: Scott 11' c van der Smith (3) 16' c, 63' c, 77' m Worley (3) 19' m, 55' c, 80' c Hrstich 23' c Altier (2) 30' c, 43' m MacKinlay-West 67' c Sayers 70' c Con: De Thierry (2/3) 11', 16' Altier (7/8) 14', 30', 56', 64', 67', 71', 80'	Report	Try: Bandara 38' c Con: Ratwatte (1/1) 39'

Kai Tak Youth Sports Ground, Kowloon Attendance: 1,500 Referee: Jaco De Wit (UAE)

Round 3

4 July 2025 16:00 SLST (UTC+5:30)

Sri Lanka	21–29	United Arab Emirates
Try: Rifan 19' c Karunathilake 43' m Con: Ratwatte (1/2) 20' Pen: Ratwatte (3/3) 11', 23', 40' Cards: Gamage  65'	Report	Try: Stapley (2) 6' c, 72' c Janes 13' m Naisau 38' c Con: Johnson (3/4) 7', 39', 72' Pen: Johnson (1/1) 30' Cards: Semple  60'

Colombo Racecourse, Colombo Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Craig Chan (Hong Kong China)

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5 July 2025 15:00 KST (UTC+9)

South Korea	22–70	Hong Kong
Try: Yong Heung (2) 57' c, 64' c In Bum 68' m Con: Jeong Wook (2/3) 58', 65' Pen: Jeong Wook (1/1) 15' Cards: Nam Uk  20' Yeon Sik  77'	Report	Try: Worley 2' c Post (2) 13' c, 28' c Hrstich (2) 21' c, 54' c Altier 24' c Sawye 40' c Sayers 45' c Denmark 61' c van der Smith 78' c Con: De Thierry (9/9) 3', 14', 21', 25', 29', 40', 46', 55', 62' Altier (1/1) 79' Cards: Axten-Burrett  37'

Incheon Namdong Asiad Rugby Field, Incheon Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Ibuki Tetsuka (Japan)

Notes

1. Known as the 2025 Asia Rugby Emirates Men's Championship for sponsorship reasons.
2. As at 9 June 2025.
3. As at 7 July 2025.

References

1. "Guide To The Asia Rugby 2025 International Tournaments". RugbyAsia247. 24 March 2025.
2. "Asia Rugby: Le calendrier 2025 connu!". Asierugby (in French). 23 February 2025.
3. "Asia Rugby Unveils Exciting 2025 Calendar". Asia Rugby. 24 February 2025. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
4. Ishak, Fadhli (3 January 2025). "ARC top flight expanded, UAE get the nod". New Straits Times . New Straits Times Press.
5. Wall, Jamie (5 May 2025). "NZ Under 85kg rugby side makes history with debut victory". Radio New Zealand . Archived from the original on 4 May 2025. Retrieved 11 May 2025.
6. Wall, Jamie (11 May 2025). "NZ U85kg side complete historic clean sweep". Radio New Zealand . Archived from the original on 11 May 2025. Retrieved 11 May 2025.
7. "Asia Rugby Unveils Exciting 2025 Calendar". Asia Rugby. 24 February 2025.
8. "Asia Rugby Championship: Douglas frustrated by Hong Kong's winning start to World Cup bid". SCMP. 15 June 2025. Retrieved 15 June 2025.