Following the final round of the 2025 Asia Rugby Emirates Men’s Championship, we now know the final standings and the permutations as Hong Kong China again took the title and will head to RWC 2027, while the UAE finished second two years in a row. What’s next for all four men’s teams, including Korea and Sri Lanka?
In our pre-tournament guide, we predicted the outcome and ranking of the four teams, and to our credit, we were 100 per cent accurate.
1. Hong Kong China Rugby
Victory over Korea meant that Hong Kong China finished the Asia Rugby Championship on 15 points, beating all three opponents along the way wth bonus-point wins, scoring 28 tries and ending with a points differential of +152. They scored 191 points and only conceded 5 tries.
Their place-kicking was also excellent, with Nate De Thierry and Paul Altier slotting a lot of points (a total of 24 from 28 conversions).
Matt Worley was the tournament’s top try scorer with 5 tries (he now has 17 in 15 tests). The pack in particular deserve a lot of praise for three dominant performances, and of course, the coach and management group for a well-executed strategy which was delivered on the field.
World Rugby said, “Currently ranked 23rd in the World Rugby Men’s Rankings, Hong Kong China will now turn their attention to the Rugby World Cup 2027 Draw, scheduled to take place in December 2025, where they will learn the identity of their pool-stage opponents.”
Simon Amor, HKCR Executive Director of Performance and Representative Rugby, said the planning for the World Cup has been ongoing and that soon they will look to “establish a programme for the next two years that is the best fit for the uniqueness of Hong Kong and that can take our team to the next level.”
We expect this will mean a bigger group of full-time contracted players, but there remains the question of who they will regularly play over the coming years to be battle-hardened against higher-level opposition. You would think European and African tours would be on the cards, while the local Premiership gets underway in October of 2025 – will there be changes to the domestic competition too?
Photo Credit – HKCR
2. UAE
The UAE were runners-up for the second consecutive year and now will head to Uganda at the end of July to play the African Men’s runner-up in the Asia/Africa Play-Off (which likely will be one of Namibia, Zimbabwe, or Kenya).
World Rugby commented, “The United Arab Emirates finished second in the Asia Rugby Championship 2025 and remains in contention for qualification. They will face the runners-up of the Rugby Africa Cup 2025, taking place in Uganda from 8 to 19 July 2025, in a cross-regional play-off match on 26 July.
The winner of that encounter will progress to the Final Qualification Tournament, keeping alive their hopes of securing a place at Rugby World Cup 2027 on home soil in Dubai (8-18 November).”
The UAE were not great against the champions, did very well to overcome Korea in Incheon, and nearly let the second-place slip away with a stop-start performance in Colombo. They need better conditioning and discipline, which is the team’s Achilles’ heel. They have had a player sin-binned in every AREMC 2025 match and need to improve that side of their game.
The addition of Max Johnson at flyhalf and Brad Janes has really bolstered the team, with flanker Janes scoring in all three matches. With their Shaheen programme (albeit mostly consisting of Fijian-born players – we are not sure of their eligibility for the UAE national side), they will have more depth – the 7s side won the Borneo and Algarve 7s Elite tounaments this year.
The team scored 11 tries and conceded plenty of points too but the two bonus point wins were crucial. The updated World Rugby rankings have seen them climb to a best-ever 40th.
Photo Credit – Asia Rugby
3. Korea
Korea finished third two years in a row – they have had three years of disapointing results, really, including their sevens programme results – and they have now had record losses in both their 7s and 15s under the previous and current Korea Rugby Presidents.
Where to now for KRU is the question. In-fighting, disrupted local leagues, disjointed AREMC preparation, and an unclear blueprint of what and where they want to be. They have outstanding athletes, a loyal and supportive fan base, and an excellent national rugby stadium.
With the likes of Bahrain, India, Kazakhstan and others looking to improve and step up, it will be interesting to see how the unions quickly come up with sustainable plans to map out their goals and how they are implemented.
The team scored the second-most tries in the competition (14), but the defence was porous and they had the second-worst points differential. Finishing in third place means they can’t drop down from the AREMC, but they won’t have a pathway to RWC 2027.
With the ongoing feud between current Korea Rugby Union President Young Bock Shim and former President Choi Yoon – rugby will tend to be the loser as politics plays itself out.
They have, over the past 18 months, released a Netflix show ‘Rugged Rugby: Conquer or Die’ to will try to promote the game and an upcoming rugby-themed Korean drama, “Try; We Become Miracles”, which is due to be broadcast on local SBS. It should be noted, as we have reported before, that there is no girls’ or women’s rugby to speak of in Korea.
The team has slipped down to 36th in the World Rugby rankings.
Photo Credit – Asia Rugby
4. Sri Lanka
Following Sri Lanka’s defeat to the UAE in the final round, which rooted the newcomers to the bottom of the AREMC table without a win, it means they will need to compete in the Asia Rugby Emirates Playoff Match to be in the Championship in 2026 (with the opposition and further details TBC).
Their fans have been some of the most passionate, vocal and toxic in the online conversations – and instead of looking inwards at their own issues; the Head Coach quitting, players being undermined and unpaid, and ultimately not being good enough at this level (albeit it was their first time of trying in more than a decade) – they have instead pointed to the ethnicity and eligibility of players notably in the HKCR and UAE ranks (even though they are all eligible and many were born or raised in their respective countries/representative regions).
Maybe someone should remind the Tuskers fans that of all the unions represented at the Asia Rugby Emirates Championship, only one was found guilty in recent years of fielding ineligible players and fined accordingly – and that was the Sri Lanka Rugby Union.
It was a breath of fresh air having them in the competition and they can play some fantastic running rugby but they really struggled with an under-strength pack.
The team scored the fewest tries (8) but was very competitive against Korea and the UAE. The side has dropped down to 46th in the World Rugby rankings.
Photo Credit – Asia Rugby
Final Results – Asia Rugby Emirates Men’s Championship 2025
- Friday 13 June: Sri Lanka 34-38 Korea (Colombo, Sri Lanka)
- Saturday 14 June: United Arab Emirates 10-43 Hong Kong China (Dubai, UAE)
- Saturday 21 June: Korea 36-38 UAE (Incheon, Korea)
- Sunday 22 June: Hong Kong China 78-07 Sri Lanka (Kai Tak Youth Sports Ground, Hong Kong)
- Friday 4 July: Sri Lanka 21-29 UAE (Colombo, Sri Lanka)
- Saturday 5 July: Korea 22-70 Hong Kong China (Incheon, Korea)
Final Standings
- Hong Kong China (15 points) Qualify for RWC 2027
- UAE (10 points) Move to the next phase of RWC 2027 Qualification
- Korea (7 points)
- Sri Lanka (2 points)
Asian International Rugby News 2025
- Sacrifice, Passion, and A Close Knit Group – Hong Kong China Men’s 15s Now Target the World Stage at RWC 2027.
- HKCR Alex Post – “For For Us To Reach the Pinnacle of the Sport Can Only Mean Good Things for the Exposure and the Growth of the Game in Hong Kong.”
- RWC 2027 Final Qualification Tournament To Be Hosted by Dubai in November.
- Pacific Nations Cup 2025 Details Announced.
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