Korea and Hong Kong each won their respective Asia Under 20 Championship semi finals against Thailand and Sri Lanka on Friday and now face each other for the region's one qualifying place at next year's IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy in Nairobi, Kenya.

Korea 36-19 Thailand

Korea kept alive their hopes of making it through to the Kenya showpiece by beating off the semi final challenge of Thailand 36-19 at the Sports Park in Buan, Korea.

Thailand led 12-7 at the break but in the second half the Koreans ran in four tries to storm to victory. 

Hong Kong 21-20 Sri Lanka

Hong Kong had Adam Rolston’s unerring boot to thank as they held on in the face of a superb Sri Lankan fight back to win 21-20 and book their place in the final.

Hong Kong scored in the second minute through flanker Andrew Bridle but the Sri Lankans were quick to reply, hooker Bilal Hassan slicing through to touch down for a 7-5 lead. Hong Kong full back Gavain Hadley was sent off for a dangerous tackle, but his team mates were galvanized into action and scrum half Rolston kicked them ahead before wing Kim Henderson scored their second try and two further Rolston efforts gave them a 21-7 half time lead.

The second half was a different story, however, and the Sri Lankan forwards and three quarters combined almost immediately after the restart to create a try for wing Dilshan Paul.

The deficit was cut further when scrum half Roshan Weeraratne was on target with a penalty goal and then fly half Niroshan Fernando crashed through the Hong Kong defence to score. Hong Kong held on though for a 21-20 win and a place in Monday’s final against Korea.

Kazakhstan 22-21 Malaysia

The opening game of day two also brought high drama with Malaysia and Kazakhstan fighting out a close match, Kazakhstan winning to book their place in the Plate final against Chinese Taipei for fifth place.
 
Kazakhstan drew first blood in the second minute of the game when full back Timur Abilkassymov scored. Three minutes later Malaysia reduced the lead through a neatly executed penalty by fly half Wan Zuckiflee and then edged ahead with scrum half Zulfikri Shuib’s well taken try. Kazakhstan hit back when Abilkassymov scored his second try and a further score by fly half Zhasulan Taspolatov gave them a 17-8 half time lead.

Malaysia reduced the deficit through a penalty two minutes after the restart and number 8 Mohamed Jamaliddin then crossed the Kazakhstan line to make the lead 17-16 but his opposite number Bahtiyar Skendidv scored to make it 22-16 to Kazakhstan. Malaysia snatched another try trail by just one point heading into injury time, but the referee Lee Seung Woo brought a prompt end to the match when a brawl broke out between the teams.

Chinese Taipei 49-7 Singapore

The other Plate semi final was more one-sided, Chinese Taipei easily beating Singapore 49-7 - largely thanks to Ching Chieh Hung, who scored four tries.
The Taipei outfit led 32-0 at half time and although Singapore did manage to score in the second half they were outplayed for much of the match.

Six of the eight teams have already qualified to compete in Kenya next year. Kenya will compete as hosts, Namibia as African Under 19 champions and the Cayman Islands as Junior Caribbean Champions, while Papua New Guinea booked their place from Oceania and Romania have already advanced from Europe. USA will compete as the side relegated from the 2008 Junior World Championship.

Either Korea or Hong Kong will complete the line-up alongside Chile or Paraguay from the South American U19 Championship, which is also currently underway.

Scorers

Korea: Tries - Sung Kyun Cha, Myeong Hwan Kim, Yong Hwan Song, Moo Hyun Park, Hee Chan Yang. Conversions - Hee Chan Yang (4) Penalty - Hee Chan Yang
Thailand: Tries - Pannapat Pooltharat, Napasorn Srisakorn, Cheeva Srianooch. Conversions – Sippavich Teekathananont (2)

Hong Kong: Tries - Andrew Bridle, Kim Henderson. Conversions – Adam Rolston. Penalties – Adam Rolston (3)
Sri Lanka: Tries – Bilal Liala Hassan, Paul Dilshan, Niroshan Fernando. Conversions – Rosnan Weerartne. Penalty – Kalana Amarasinghe

Kazakhstan: Tries – Timur Abilkassymov (2), Zhasulan Taspolotov, Bahtiyar Skendirov. Conversions – Rinat Faizullin
Malaysia: Tries – Zulfikri Shuib (2), Modh Jamaluddin. Penalty – Wan Zukiflee (2)

Singapore: Tries – Ronald Lim. Conversions – Robert Lim
Chinese Taipei: Tries – Ching Chieh Hung (4), Wei Cheng Cheng, Tung Ching Hsieh, Po Chien Huang (2), Hao I Chiu. Conversions – Chao Hsiang Yeh (2)

Final day fixtures - 10 November

Korea - Hong Kong (1st/2nd place)
Sri Lanka - Thailand (3rd/4th place)
Kazakhastan - Chinese Taipei (5th/ 6th place)
Malaysia - Singapore (7th/8th place)