HSBC Asian Five Nations Div. I rugby kicks-off

The national XVs teams of the Chinese Taipei Rugby Football Union, the Singapore Rugby Football Union and the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union will kick-off the HSBC Asian Five Nations Division one Tournament in Tainan, Chinese Taipei tomorrow.

The Division one Tournament will now be played under a round robin format after China failed to secure travel visas in time. The new round robin format necessitated a tournament re-draw, (conducted in Hong Kong on the evening of Saturday 8 November) with Sri Lanka remaining as the overall top seed, followed by Singapore and Chinese Taipei as the second and third seeds respectively. All matches will be played at the Tainan Rugby Stadium.

Ross Mitchell, Honorary Secretary General of ARFU commented on China’s absence saying, “The Asian Rugby Football Union regrets the late withdrawal of China from the Asian Five Nations Division I Tournament but wishes the China Rugby Union success with the remainder of their representative rugby programme this year and their many other rugby initiatives.

The Division one tournament will continue as scheduled in a round robin format with hosts Chinese Taipei, Singapore and Sri Lanka and we are confident that it will be a great success.”

The schedule of the round robin draw is as follows:

Match 1: Singapore versus Sri Lanka, Tuesday 11 November, 7.00 p.m. kick-off

Match 2: Chinese Taipei versus Singapore, Thursday 13 November, 3.00 p.m. kick-off

Match 3: Chinese Taipei versus Sri Lanka, Saturday 15 November, 3.00 p.m. kick-off

The top finishing team from this year’s division one Tournament will be promoted to the elite HSBC Asian Five Nations Top 5 Competition for 2009, joining reigning champions Japan and the other Top 5 teams Korea, Hong Kong and Kazakhstan.

Points will be awarded in this week’s HSBC Asian Five Nations Division I matches on the following basis:

* Win: 5 points

* Draw: 3 points

* 4 or more tries: 1 point

* Loss by 7 points or less: 1 point

All points will be awarded at the completion of the Match and no extra time shall be played. In the event of teams being on equal points on completion of the three matches, the winner will be determined with reference to the process as laid out in the Asian Five Nations Tournament Manual.

Tainan, Chinese Taipei