The 12th edition of the Asia Rugby Women’s Championship kicks off in Almaty, Kazakhstan on 23 May, with Japan, Hong Kong, and Kazakhstan competing for the title of Champions of Asia. The winner and runner-up will earn qualification for the new World Rugby three-tier annual global women’s international 15s competition WXV.
The Asia Rugby Women’s Championship began in 2006 with hosts China winning the inaugural tournament in Kunming. Since then, Kazakhstan has won five times, Japan four times, and China and Hong Kong China once each.
This year’s Asia Rugby Champion will qualify for WXV2 in 2023, and the runner-up will compete in WXV3. Additionally, WXV will provide a pathway to Rugby World Cup 2025, with at least the top five non-qualified teams at the end of WXV 2024 earning qualification for the tournament.
The first match on May 23rd will feature Hong Kong (ranked 15th) taking on hosts Kazakhstan (ranked 19th) at the Almaty Sports Training Complex, Abaya Almaty at 16:00 (+6 GMT) the winner will face Japan in the final on May 28th at the same venue at 15:00 local time.
The Asia Rugby Women’s Championship 2023 will be live-streamed on Asia Rugby’s Facebook page and YouTube channel, AsiaRugbyLive.
WXV 2
Asia Rugby Women’s Champion will compete in the WXV 2 competition which will consist of six teams, playing in a cross-pool format. Participating teams for 2023 will include two teams from Europe, the fourth-placed team from the Pacific Four Series, alongside one team from Oceania, Asia and Africa.
The sixth-placed regional position in the WXV 2 competition at the end of each season will be relegated to WXV 3.
WXV 3
Runner-up of the competition we play in WXV 3 which will also be played as a cross-pool format, made up of six teams: two from Europe and one from Asia, Oceania, Africa and South America. The regional position of the winner of WXV 3 will be promoted to WXV 2 and the bottom team will play off against the next best-ranked side, according to the World Rugby Women’s Rankings powered by Capgemini on the Monday after the final match of WXV that year.
Asia Rugby Women’s Championship 2023
23rd May
Game 1 Hong Kong China v Kazakhstan Live Link
KO 16:00 (2pm HK time)
28th May -Final
Final: Japan v (Winner of Game 1) Live Link
KO 15:00
Hong Kong v Kazakhstan
Asia Rugby Championship 2023
Date: 4pm, 23 May, 2023
Venue: Almaty, Kazakhstan
Additional reporting: Asia Rugby
Images: HKrugby