Sri Lanka vs Korea Preview – Asia Rugby Emirates Men’s Championship 2025

Sri Lanka and Korea get the historic Asia Rugby Emirates Men’s Championship 2025 underway in Colombo on Friday, 13th June at the Racecourse Grounds with the Koreans favourite to win the opening encounter.

By now, we all know the stakes – the winner of the Asia Rugby Emirates Men’s Championship 2025 will qualify for the Men’s Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia, while the runner-up progresses to the Asia/Africa play-off. We actually have not heard anything from Asia Rugby about what happens to the bottom-place team at the end of the Championship.

Korea are in flux at the moment and over the past few years has suffered some record losses to champions Hong Kong China, lost to the UAE to finish 3rd in the Championship last year, and currently sit at their all-time low of 35th in the World Rugby rankings. The KRU also voted in a new president of Korea’s rugby union in 2025, and it has not been smooth sailing since he took over.

They will be expected to beat the Sri Lanka Tuskers in the opening round, but it won’t be smooth sailing. Historically, they have only ever lost to Sri Lanka once and have been the victors eight times. The last time they met, though, was 11 years ago, and the Koreans won at home 59-3. Interestingly enough, the Tuskers have not lost a test in nearly six years since the Philippines defeated them in May 2019, 39-22.

The Korean side is captained by a former Kubota Spears player, prop Na Kwan Young, who is one of only two players with more than 20 caps in the squad. There are only a handful of survivors from last year’s championship.

Sri Lanka, after the highs of reaching the top tier of Asian rugby earlier in 2025 by beating Malaysia, then hosted the NZ U85kg team for two matches. They lost both encounters, but the tour raised the profile of the sport.  Since then, they have also faced challenges.

The Head Coach, Sanath Martis, quit (even the World Rugby pre-tournament notes missed this), players were unhappy about the lack of payments, and sports administrators have been in the courts. New Zealander Rodney Gibbs was brought in very recently as head coach to oversee their AREMC 2025 campaign but has had limited time to asses the players.

They also lost the services of the regular captain Nigel Ratwatte due to illness (chikungunya) for the whole campaign, and others have also been sidelined by the same illness, according to reports in Sri Lanka (both Jayathu Rajaratne of Havelocks and Shaahid Zumri from Kandy SC).

Australian-born Sri Lankan Adam Gauder has come in for Rajaratne, and inside centre Tarinda Ratwatte has been named as captain for the first time. He has previously captained the Sri Lanka Youth Under-20 team at the Junior World Rugby Tournament in 2014 and led his school rugby team, Trinity College Kandy, to victory in the prestigious Bradby Shield in 2014.

• Referee: J.P. Clement (UAERF)
• Assistant Referees: Jaco de Witt (UAERF), Jriji Aymen (SARF)
• TMO: Tony Duminy (UAERF)
• Performance Reviewer: Shane Barr

Match Permutations – Sri Lanka vs Korea

• Korea can climb three places to 32nd if they beat Sri Lanka by more than 15 points.
• If that is the result, the Sri Lankans would drop four places.
• If Sri Lanka wins, they could rise to match their all-time best of 37th, while a new record of 36th will be set if the margin is more than 15 points.
• Korea will drop below Sri Lanka and Germany if they lose by more than 15 points, but will remain the higher-ranked team if the margin is less than that.

Sri Lanka Men’s XV Squad vs Korea – June 13 2025

How To Watch the 2025 Asia Rugby Emirates Men’s Championship

All six matches of the 2025 Asia Rugby Emirates Men’s Championship will be streamed live and free via RugbyPassTV and Asia Rugby Facebook and YouTube.

International Rugby News 2025

• Ultimate Guide to 2025 Asia Rugby Emirates Men’s Championship – RWC 2027 Qualification
• Japan Sakura 15s Taiyo Life JAPAN RUGBY CHALLENGE SERIES 2025 Against Spain.
• Japan Sakura Fifteens and Brave Blossoms 2025 Domestic Fixtures Announced.
• Hong Kong China Men Will Play Sri Lanka at Kai Tak Youth Sports Ground For AREMC 2025.