Korea victorious over rivals

Korea beat its fiercest rugby rival Japan for the second time in 24 hours to take the gold medal at the first ever Asian Rugby Sevens Series event, the Shanghai Sevens. In the 3rd/4th place decider Hong Kong topped Chinese Taipei 24-10 at the two day event.Korea, playing one less match today due to the tournament format, had an early scare in its opener this afternoon, the second semi final, narrowly beating Chinese Taipei 12-10. The losers were unable to force extra time after missing a difficult conversion after their last second try.Japan also had to fight tooth and nail to each the final. In the tournament’s third round, Japan, Korea and China were all seeded in the pool of death with Korea beating Japan for the first time this weekend on Saturday 28-17. Korea then went on to draw with the hosts China in the last match of yesterday’s tournament play 17-17.That result meant that Japan would need to beat the hometown heroes in their first match this morning. Paced by a trio of talented Tongans, Manase Folau, Pohiva Lotoahea and Mifiposeti Paea, Japan did just that, opening their day two account with a comprehensive 33-5 victory over China.That result would have been even worse had it not been for some brilliant work by Chinese veteran and star Zhang Zhiqang, who was tireless as the lynchpin of the attack whilst playing a vital role in organizing China’s defence. Relegated to the Plate competition, China never looked back, dominating its opponents throughout including wins over Singapore 48-0 and India 21-0 to reach the Plate final against Thailand.In that game, China proved too much for their opposition yet again but the plucky Thais at least managed to get on the scoreboard, as China romped home 59-5 in front of an ecstatic and very vocal crowd.After beating China, Japan progressed through to the Gold medal match semi final against the winners of the other pool, Hong Kong, who at that point were the only remaining undefeated team in the tournament. In the semi final, Japan outlasted Hong Kong 17-5 in a match that was closer than the scoreline allows and one that could have gone either way for most of the match.After the defeat to Japan, Hong Kong was shunted into the Bronze medal match where they beat Chinese Taipei for the second time today this time by a margin of 24-10, with Hong Kong’s Rowan Varty scoring two tries to add to a prolific weekend for the talented backline star.Chinese Taipei, took the opportunity to blood a few new players and are looking to be a force to be reckoned with alongside the big three of Japan, Korea and Hong Kong at the Kota Kinabalu Sevens in end October.As the sun went down on a beautiful Shanghai day, the stage was set for another classic Asian rugby rivalry between the two dominant teams in much of the Asian Rugby Football Union’s 40-year history – Japan and Korea.In the final, Japan’s trio of Tongan stars seemed finally to feel the effects of playing pretty much continuously throughout the tournament as the first signs of fatigue emerged.Fatigued or not, nothing seemed to be able to slow down the Korean VII who jumped out to a 21-point lead behind the play of tournament MVP Kim Won Yong who was omnipresent throughout the weekend for the Koreans.He showed up strongly in the last match of the weekend as he crossed the line early for Korea’s first try of the final.Kim seemed to be everywhere the ball was in the final, as the Koreans engaged in some free-flying, attacking rugby which entertained the crowd while at times giving the Japanese opportunities to get back in the match.At the halftime the score was Korea 21, Japan 5 with tries to Kim and a first half brace to hard charging No. 8 Han Kun Kyu, a star of Korea’s Asian Five Nations campaign, who showed he is equally versatile at sevens.Three conversions from fly-half Hong Jun Ki brought Korea to its 21, while Japan’s sole try of the first stanza was tallied by Tomohiro Shokai.Korea was tenacious in the second half, opening their lead to 35-5 after tries to Mun Sang Yong and Lee Chang Suk and two more conversions by Hong Jun Ki. Japan replied again through Shokai who converted his own try to bring the score to 35-12.Shokai was also heavily involved in Japan’s fight back in the second half as he scored another try and two conversions to edge the Japanese back into contention. Lotoahea helped Japan claw further back with another try that was successfully converted by Shokai to bring the score to 35-19.But Korea put paid to Japan’s dreams of a miracle comeback as fly half Hong Jun Ki tried and added the conversion in the 9th minute of the second half to put Korea onto the winner’s podium, 42-19.The frenetic finale was the perfect finish for an exciting first ever Asian Rugby Sevens Series event with each of the top 5 teams showing that little separates them at the elite end of sevens rugby, similarly to the IRB World Sevens Series.Now the action of the Asian Rugby Sevens Series switches to the Kota Kinabalu Sevens on 31 October and 1 November.