Honoka Tsutsumi scored an incredible extra time sudden death try to beat China 22-17 and win the the second round of the Asia Rugby Women’s Sevens Series in Huizhou.
With the hosts leading 17-7 with less than a minute to go in regular time, Chiharu Nakamura and then Raichelmiyo Bativakalolo drew the scores level in dramatic fashion to take the match into overtime.
The last time Japan didn’t win the Cup was in 2015, but China could not prevent that run continuing despite a vastly improved performance from the one that saw them lose 19-5 in the Korea 7s final in round one.
Fixtures and Results >>>#ARM7s Men China 7s
Fixtures and Results>>>> #ARW7s Women China 7s
Earlier, Balzhan Koishybayeva scored twice to help Kazakhstan beat a spirited Hong Kong 19-17 to finish third in China.
Kazakhstan had stunned Japan on day one to reach the semi-finals, but lost 21-10 to hosts China in the last four. Wanyu Wang, who ended the weekend as the leading try scorer with seven tries, scored two tries for the hosts in the victory to set up a repeat of the final in Korea.
Kazakhstan’s victory over Japan was the Sakura Sevens’ first defeat in the Asia Rugby Sevens Series in two years, but they put that behind them to win another Cup title.
Uthumporn Liamrat scored a hat-trick as Thailand won the Plate with an impressive 36-0 victory over Malaysia. Malaysia’s two victories over the weekend ensured they finished one place higher than they did two week’s ago in Korea.
🇯🇵🏉🚀Honoka Tsutsumi scores her 11th try of the series to stun China and record an incredible Cup title for @jrfumedia! pic.twitter.com/2xQEEF77ht
— Asia Rugby (@asiarugby) September 15, 2019
There were tears of elation as Singapore beat Sri Lanka 15-10 in extra-time sudden death.
With the scores locked at 10-10 at full-time, it was Hui Min Chong who powered over to give her side their first win of the 2019 Series, sparking emotional celebrations and demonstrating what these competitions mean to the players.
FINAL STANDINGS
1. Japan
2. China
3. Kazakhstan
4. Hong Kong
5. Thailand
6. Malaysia
7. Singapore
8. Sri Lanka
