Unions Cup 2025 Match 2 Review – Thailand Edge Out Chinese Taipei

rugbyasia247 Posted On July 10, 2025

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Unions Cup 2025 Match 2 Review - Thailand Edge Out Chinese Taipei

In the second game of the Unions Cup 2025 at the Kaohsiung National Stadium, Thailand repeated their victory over Chinese Taipei from last year to move into the final, but the hosts nearly pulled off an excellent comeback after trailing 0-17 at the break to narrowly lose 19-20.

Photo Credit – Mr Wu

Assistant Coach to the Chinese Taipei Men’s 15s rugby team Sun-Wei-Chiang told us before kickoff that the squad they had selected was a very young team and quite different to the side that played the Unions Cup in 2024, and he hoped they will bring a lot of that youthful energy as they want to be competitive (players that have come through the U20 programs that have done well in recent years.)

“They are young boys, so they will get better and better, and it’s a building block to developing the team. Having this tournament means we can plan better and make progress, and we want to aim to be in Division 1 but the pathways are not clear in the region,” added the Assistant Coach.

They told the players before the fixture to enjoy it and play with freedom, and try to cut down on mistakes and focus on discipline, not to be afraid to have a go. The team took a half to get going, but once they played with the freedom the management wanted, they were very impressive at times. Playing at home means they have the honour and extra pressure, but they gave a good account of themselves for everyone to see.

Photo Credit – Mr Wu

Thailand Captain Yodsakorn Watcharakongsak said after the close game, “We must credit the Chinese Taipei team as they put up a really good fight and came back at us in that second half, but I am happy with the guys for staying in that fight until the end. In the second half, we struggled a little, but it was a good game, and they really made us fight for it, but we are excited to be going to a final.”

The clash on Saturday sees them take on a more physical side in the form of the Philippines, and the captain added that they would need to “tighten up on defence and make sure they make their one-on-one tackles, but hopefully it will be a good close game like this one.”

Of the impressive stadium, he said it was an amazing experience to play there, and the quality of the ground was really good.

Thailand Assistant Coach Pachara Hongsayaporn reflected, “We need to play better as a group as we had a tendency to play as individuals in that game but it’s been a long time since we played a match together in 15s, and there is a lot to look forward to when we play the Philippines on Saturday.

This Unions Cup is important for all of the teams competing as it means we have regular 15s rugby. Having more teams in Asia playing 15s is good for development, as there is a lot of Sevens rugby already, so having more teams join the tournament in years to come will help us all develop, in Thailand, and in Asia,” said the Thai Assistant Coach.

(Thanks to players Latthaphon Lormongkol and Darryn Mathee for the translations.)

Photo Credit – Mr Wu

Match Report – Thailand 20-19 Chinese Taipei

The match referee was Just Wang from Singapore Rugby with Sunny Lee (HLCR) one of the Assistant Referees.

Thailand opened the scoring with a well-worked try in the left corner after a tap to lead 7-0. This followed an opening period of territorial and possession dominance, although both teams made mistakes early on, with dropped balls resulting in a stop-start momentum to the fixture.

The Thai side was patient with the ball in hand and worked through several phases to maintain possession and keep the pressure on the hosts, who struggled to get any front-foot ball in the opening quarter.

The Chinese Taipei side’s discipline did give way despite what the coaching team had asked for as they had a player sin-binned and Thailand took the three points on offer to lead 10-0.

At scrum time, neither side had any ascendancy, but the game was scrappy after the opening 25 minutes, with some poor final passes and balls not going to hand. Another loose period of play within the Chinese Taipei 22m, saw the big Thai prop benefit after he was lurking on the left wing and the ball found its way to him to crash over and extend the lead to 17-0 on the half an hour mark.

Photo Credit – Mr Wu

The hosts tried to find a way to cross the Thai try line, and the best chance came after more than 15 phases of play late in the half, but the ball was held up, and the whistle went at the break after both teams had more half chances go awry.

In the second half, the hosts struck straight away after Thailand knocked on the kick off and from the ensuing scrum, Chinese Taipei ran in a well-worked try under the posts to make it 17-7.

The comeback was slightly derailed when they incurred a second yellow card in the match in the 46th minute. Thailand slotted a penalty but didn’t make many inroads with the extra player.

There was another long period of a fight-scrappy period of the game with no one getting the upper hand, entered the final quarter with time running out for the team in blue, Chinese Taipei.

Their lineouts had functioned well for most of the game as they had a very tall and lean flank who towered over the other, and they converted that into a good driving maul to score a second try and close it to 20-12 with 10 minutes left.

A slight malfunction meant the water sprinkler came on for the final minutes behind the Thailand try line area as Chinese Taipei desperately looked for another score with the clock ticking down – they did get that score (their third try) and converted it to make it a one point game as they trailed 19-20 but the Thailand team held on the final whilst to some relief.