It is advantage Japan in the race to compete at Women’s Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 after they claimed the first of two tournament titles on offer on the Asia Rugby Women’s Sevens Series in the Korean coastal city of Incheon this past weekend.
The Sakura Sevens and beaten finalists China top the series standings, on 12 and 10 points respectively, and occupy the two qualifying places set aside for Asian teams at next year’s showpiece event in San Francisco.
Current Sevens Standings Series Table
#ARW7s Results from Korea
Japan finished top of Pool A after comfortable wins over Singapore and Thailand book-ended a tough tussle with Kazakhstan, in which Honoka Tsutsumi scored twice to earn her side a 17-15 victory.
China’s passage through day one was a little more straightforward as they put 30 points on Sri Lanka and Korea before shutting out Hong Kong to win their final Pool B fixture 22-0.
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Both Japan and China breezed through their respective quarter-finals, winning 53-0 and 31-0 against Korea and Singapore.
The Sakura Sevens then despatched Hong Kong 28-0 in the first of the semis, but Kazakhstan once again showed their mettle to give Asia’s second ranked team, China, a real fright. The Kazaks led twice in the match but Xiaoming Yu’s try sealed a tense 17-14 victory for the Chinese.
Kazakhstan marked their return to the international fold after a two-year absence with the bronze medal following a 24-7 victory over Hong Kong in the third-place play-off.
In the final, the Sakura Sevens raced into a 14-0 lead but China roared back to come within a try with a couple of minutes left on the clock. Japan’s cause was hampered by the loss of Miyo Bativaklolo to the sin-bin, but the six players left on the field defended heroically in the face of intense pressure to hold on and take the title.
