After 22 Rugby World Cup qualification matches played in 2008 and 2009, it comes down to the Top 5 competition in 2010 to decide Asia’s single direct entry team to the next IRB Rugby World Cup in the land of the long white cloud, New Zealand, in 2011. The year ahead will see everything on the line for all ten matches of the Asian Five Nations Top 5 competition. 

The winner of the five-week competition will enter Pool A alongside the hosts New Zealand, France, Tonga and Canada. The runners up of the A5N’s elite competition next year will go through a repechage process that involves an initial Americas - Asia playoff match against Uruguay in July 2010. This match will be played in either Asia or the Americas depending on which team has the higher IRB World Ranking at the time of qualification. Uruguay is currently ranked 21st in the world after their qualification process while Korea, Kazakhstan and Hong Kong are 24th, 27th and 39th respectively with their qualifying process yet to begin. The winner of the Asia v Americas match will move on to a home and away series versus the winners of the Europe – Africa playoff series. The winner of the cross-continental repechage will be the bottom seed in Pool B alongside Argentina, England, Scotland and Europe’s second direct entry to the Rugby World Cup 2011. 

The first in the three-year process of the IRB Rugby World Cup 2011 Asian qualifiers were the Division I and Division II tournaments held in Taipei and Bangkok, as part of the Asian Five Nations inaugural year in 2008.  The winners, Singapore and Thailand, were both promoted up a division in 2009. 

The Division I championship at the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 ground in Dubai, saw another two matches played with the Arabian Gulf keeping their Rugby World Cup dream alive with their victory.  With its risk of relegation, the 2009n A5N Top 5 competition was the second qualification tournament for RWC 2011. The relegated team from the Asian Five Nations 2009 - Singapore was replaced by the Arabian Gulf, losing out on their chance for a space in New Zealand. 

The Asian Rugby Football Union has been represented at every Rugby World Cup since 1987, with Japan being the only team so far to have qualified for the rugby world’s elite competition. 

Will Japan’s Brave Blossoms continue their streak? Will Kazakhstan, surprise runners-up in Asia in 2009, improve enough to step onto the global stage? Or will traditional powerhouse Korea and up and coming Hong Kong become the first to rewrite Asian Rugby’s record book? Only time and the results of the HSBC Asian Five Nations 2010 Top 5 competition will tell who is on the road to New Zealand next year…

 

Rugby World Cup 2011 Qualification Process Overview

2008

Asia Division 2 - India, Malaysia, Pakistan and Thailand - Winner (Thailand) promoted to Division 1 for 2009

Asia Division 1 - Chinese Taipei, Singapore and Sri Lanka - Winner (Singapore) promoted to 2009 Top 5

2009

Asia Division 1 – Arabian Gulf promoted to 2010 Top 5 – Singapore relegated to Division 1 in 2010

2010

Asian 5 Nations Top 5 champion qualifies directly to RWC 2011 as Asia 1 in Pool A

Asian 5 Nations runner-up plays Uruguay in Asia / Americas play-off in July; winner of that match advances to play winner of Europe / Africa play-off