The third Asian 5 Nations rugby tournament kicks off this weekend when Hong Kong hosts Korea at the Hong Kong Football Club this Saturday. This year's tournament will double as the Asian qualifier for Rugby World Cup 2011 in New Zealand and will see the five teams play each other home-and-away during April and May.
Japan starts with a bye meaning that they'll be forced to fight from behind from the very start... OK, that wasn't very funny - the results of this tournament will basically be able to summarised as follows: Japan will crush everyone (earning yet another thoroughly undeserved direct qualification to the RWC) and Korea will crush everyone that's not Japan. Hong Kong and Kazakhstan will be able to play knowing that they are under no threat of relegation, as the Arabian Gulf will disband in to its constituent nations after this year's tournament.
Potentially the most significant development this year was actually Sri Lanka winning the second-tier Division 1 tournament played earlier this month. Their success in the four-team knock-out tournament means that they will take their spot in the 2011 Asian 5 Nations. With 122 000 registered players, Sri Lanka has the second highest rugby-playing population in Asia (behind Japan) and the country can only benefit from taking the step up in competition for the first time next year.
In Division 2, the Philippines team is unlikely to feature Craig Wing and China will be favoured to take out that tournament. Indonesia hosts Division 3 and this may be their only chance of taking out the tournament after struggling last year... Give them time - the team's existed for less than a decade and have only just been accepted in to the IRB ;) This year also features the inaugural Division 4 tournament and a "Regional Divsion" featuring three South-East Asian teams and, erm, Qatar. Go figure.
