The winner of the Asia Rugby Championship 2018 will take on Tahiti for the right to play in the RWC 2019 global repechage tournament that will decide the 20th and final qualifier.
A 22-9 victory over Sri Lanka in the Asia Rugby Championship Division I title decider resulted in Malaysia winning promotion to the region’s Top 3 competition, where they will compete with Hong Kong and Korea in the final stage of the region’s qualification process.
Malaysia and Sri Lanka won both their opening games, against the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates respectively, to set up the crunch clash in Ipoh Padang. Ranked 16 places higher than the tournament hosts, Sri Lanka started the game as favourites but not even the loss of three men to the sin-bin could deny Malaysia a shock victory.
Eliminated: Sri Lanka, Philippines and United Arab Emirates
Key dates in 2018:
April-June: Asia Rugby Championship
June/July: Asia/Oceania play-off
Asia Rugby Calendar 2018
Asia Rugby 2017 , The road to 2019 qualification
Tahiti Will Take On Arc 2018 Winner | #RWC2019
Malaysia Move Into Top 50 | #ARC2017 D1 | Asia Rugby
Malaysia’s dream of RWC Qualification continues as they win the ARC Division I
Malaysia, after a nervous first half riddled with errors and dropped balls came to life in the second half in front of their vociferous fans putting Sri Lanka to the sword as they claimed the Asia Rugby Championship Division I title in Ipoh, Malaysia, 22 – 9. And with it, a spot in next year’s top …
