Defending champions and hosts Korea, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and Thailand will contest the semi finals of the Asian Under 20 Championship after enjoying comfortable opening victories at the Sports Park Stadium in Buan on Tuesday.
The four nations are now one step closer to securing the region’s place at the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy 2009, which takes place in Kenya next April with six of the eight teams already confirmed in the hosts, the USA, Namibia, Papua New Guinea, Romania and Cayman Islands.
Top seeds Korea showed why they are favourites to retain the crown with a fantastic display of running rugby to run out 57-17 winners over Kazakhstan, who fought to the bitter end on their first appearance since 2005 but ultimately were outscored by eight tries to three.
Sung Bae Lee, Hee Chan Yang, Sang Hun Yim (2), Wong Ji Jung, Moon Hyun Park, Sung Kyun Cha and Nam Uk Kim scored Korea's eight tries, with Pavel Stihin, Zhasulan Taspolotov and Ivan Voroben replying for Kazakshtan.
Hong Kong made to work hard
Hong Kong, the side Korea beat in last year’s Under 19 final to qualify for the inaugural IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy in Chile where they finished sixth, were made to work hard for their victory by seventh seeds Chinese Taipei having only led 14-5 at half time.
Chinese Taipei dominated the scrums, but Hong Kong’s loose forwards did a great job at the breakdown and were backed up by some ferocious tacking by their outside backs as the second seeds scored four second half tries to triumph 44-10.
Kim Henderson scored two of Hong Kong's five tries with Gavain Hadley, Andrew Bridle and Edmund Rolston also crossing the line, cancelling out Chinese Taipei tries from Chai Wang Lee and Tung Ching Hsieh.
Hong Kong will now face Sri Lanka in the semi finals on Friday – just as they did in 2007 – after the Sri Lankan Under 20s kicked off their campaign with an entertaining 48-32 defeat of a much-improved Singapore side.
High scoring affair
Sri Lanka had only arrived in Korea 10 hours before the match kicked off, but showed no sign of tiredness in the cool conditions despite the determined effort from the Singapore team, their extra pace and tough tackling ultimately the key with their backs particularly impressive.
Captain Dinusha Chathurange sliced through the Singapore defence to open the scoring in the sixth minute, but the sixth seeds hit back with a Noah Pflam penalty and converted try to lead Sri Lanka 10-5 after 20 minutes.
Sri Lanka, though, did not panic, they simply regrouped and were rewarded with tries from Chanaka Gunaratne and Poornika Delpachithra, both converted by Roshan Weeraratne to edge ahead 19-10 with only minutes to go before half time.
They paid the price though for trying to run the ball from their own 22, Singapore full back Boon Rong Teo collecting the loose ball to cut the deficit to just four points at the break and give his side hope of causing an upset against the third seeds.
Thailand upset the seedings
Sri Lanka had other ideas with Sajith Saranga, Kalana Amarashinghe, Chathurange and Delpachithra all scoring second half tries, although Singapore refused to buckle and ensured the scoreline had a respectable look to it with two more tries of their own.
The opening game of the Championship had pitted Malaysia against Thailand, the fourth and fifth seeds respectively. It proved to be a tight affair with the first try not coming until the 36th minute when Thai centre Voratham Klinthong crashed over.
Sumei Thammaporn scored another try to give Thailand a 12-0 lead at the break and although Malaysia tightened their defence in the second half, they couldn’t find a way through to get on the board as three Klin Liksanasompong penalties and a last gasp try from Sippavich Teekathananont sealing a 26-0 victory.
Thailand next face Korea in the semi finals on Friday, while Malaysia must regroup and face Kazakhstan in the playoffs for fifth to eighth places, which will also involve the other losing teams on the opening day Chinese Taipei and Singapore.
Day two schedule - Friday 7 November
Kazakhstan v Malaysia
Chinese Taipei v Singapore
Korea v Thailand (semi final)
Hong Kong v Sri Lanka (semi final)
