2008 Asian Five Nations#Regional Divisions
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}
{{For|divisional competitions|2008 Asian Five Nations division tournaments}}
{{Infobox rugby tournament
| name = 2008 Asian Five Nations
| image =
| imagesize =
| caption =
| date = 26 April 2008 – {{nowrap|24 May 2008}}
| countries = {{noflag}}Arabian Gulf
{{ru|HKG}}
{{ru|JPN}}
{{ru|KAZ}}
{{ru|KOR}}
| champion = JPN
| count = 16
| cup =
| cup winner =
| matches = 10
| attendance =
| tries =
| top scorer =
| most tries =
| website = {{URL|http://www.asian5nations.com}}
| preceded by = 2007
| succeeded by = 2009
}}
The 2008 Asian Five Nations, known as the 2008 HSBC Asian 5 Nations due to its sponsorship by HSBC, was the inaugural series of the newly formatted Asian rugby union tournament, the Asian Five Nations. It is the flagship competition devised by the International Rugby Board to develop the sport in the Asian region. Ten matches were played over five weekends from 26 April to 24 May, with Japan winning all four of their games to become the first Asian Five Nations champions on 18 May 2008.
Scoring system: 5 points for a win, three for a draw, one bonus point for being within seven points of the winning team, and one for four tries.
Teams
The teams involved, with their world rankings pre tournament, were:
- {{noflag|Arabian Gulf}} (43)
- {{ru|HKG}} (30)
- {{ru|JPN}} (18)
- {{ru|KAZ}} (33)
- {{ru|KOR}} (23)
Final table
| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
!rowspan=2 width="8%"| Position !rowspan=2 width="18%"| Nation !colspan=4 width="32%"| Games !colspan=4 width="32%"| Points !colspan=2 width="16%"| Table points | ||||||||||
| width="8%"| Played
!width="8%"| Won !width="8%"| Drawn !width="8%"| Lost !width="8%"| For !width="8%"| Against !width="8%"| Difference !width="8%"| Tries !width="8%"| Bonus Points !width="8%"| Points | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bgcolor=#ccffcc
|1 | align=left|{{ru|JPN}}
|4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 310 | 58 | +252 | 48 | 4 | 24 |
| 2 | align=left|{{ru|KOR}}
|4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 150 | 104 | +46 | 14 | 3 | 18 |
| 3 | align=left|{{ru|HKG}}
|4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 96 | 154 | −58 | 11 | 1 | 11 |
| 4 | align=left|{{ru|KAZ}}
|4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 100 | 172 | −72 | 11 | 2 | 7 |
| bgcolor=#ffcccc
|5 | align=left|{{noflag|Arabian Gulf}}
|4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 65 | 233 | −139 | 6 | 1 | 1 |
- Bottom team, Arabian Gulf, are relegated to Division One for 2009 edition.
=Fixtures=
| width="100"|Date | width="250"|Match | width="100"|Result | width="300"|Venue |
| 2008-04-26 | Korea – Japan | 17–39 | Munhak Stadium, Incheon |
| bgcolor=#eeeeee
|2008-04-26 | Arabian Gulf – Hong Kong | 12–20 | Al Ain |
| 2008-05-03 | Japan – Arabian Gulf | 114–6 | Kintetsu Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Osaka |
| bgcolor=#eeeeee
|2008-05-03 | Hong Kong – Kazakhstan | 23–17 | Hong Kong |
| 2008-05-09 | Arabian Gulf – Korea | 20–43 | Al Arabi Stadium, Doha |
| bgcolor=#eeeeee
|2008-05-11 | Kazakhstan – Japan | 6–82 | Almaty |
| 2008-05-18 | Japan – Hong Kong | 75–29 | Tohoku Denryoku Big Swan Stadium, Niigata |
| bgcolor=#eeeeee
|2008-05-18 | Korea – Kazakhstan | 40–21 | South Korea |
| 2008-05-24 | Kazakhstan – Arabian Gulf | 56–27 | Taldykorgan |
| bgcolor=#eeeeee
|2008-05-24 | Hong Kong – Korea | 24–50 | King's Park, Hong Kong |
[http://www.rugbyjapan.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=345&Itemid=26 Report on JRFU website]
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Portal|Sports}}
- [http://www.rugbyjapan.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=308&Itemid=1 Japan Rugby Football Union]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20101018182032/http://www.irb.com/newsmedia/mediazone/pressrelease/newsid=2022343.html#inaugural+asian+five+nations+kick]
- [http://www.itsrugby.co.uk/result-asiannations5-2007.html Asian 5 nations] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929171214/http://www.itsrugby.co.uk/result-asiannations5-2007.html |date=29 September 2011 }} on itsrugby.co.uk
{{Asian Five Nations}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:rugby union}}
Category:2008 in Hong Kong sport