Sri Lanka hosts South Korea on 13 June in Colombo

Asia Rugby Emirates Men’s Championship 2025

Wednesday, 4 June 2025 00:06 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Shamseer Jaleel

The premier event of 2025 will be the Asia Rugby Emirates Men’s Championship, with a direct qualification spot for Rugby World Cup 2027 on the line. With Japan already qualified, the championship winner will secure their place at the global event. The runner-up will continue their World Cup qualification journey, facing Africa 2 in July (date TBC), with hopes of advancing to the final qualification tournament in Q4 of 2025.

Tournament will kick off in Colombo at the Racecourse ground on 13 June when Sri Lanka host South Korea. The national outfit is already under training in Colombo under the leadership of its Rugby Director, Inthi Marikar. The pool, already reduced to 34 players, are hard at training with just 8 day away from the kick-off of their first of the three encounters.

Defending champions, Hong Kong, South Korea, UAE and newly promoted Sri Lanka will battle it out for the 2 positions on offer. Hong Kong, having won this title on 5 previous occasions, will aim at their debut at the RWC 2027 in Australia. They are already hard at training one month prior in Australia. Meanwhile the South Korean outfit is playing Kenya in their warm up encounters.

2025 Emirates Men’s Championship schedule

13 June: Sri Lanka vs South Korea (Colombo)

14 June: UAE vs Hong Kong China (UAE)

21 June: South Korea vs UAE (Incheon, South Korea)

22 June: Hong Kong China vs Sri Lanka (Hong Kong, China)

4 July: Sri Lanka vs UAE (Colombo)

5 July: South Korea vs Hong Kong China (Incheon, South Korea)

This year’s appointments of match officials highlight the collaborative strength of Asia’s officiating ecosystem, featuring experienced referees from the UAE Rugby Federation (UAERF), Japan Rugby Football Union (JRFU), Hong Kong China Rugby (HKCR), Korea Rugby Union (KRU), and Thailand Rugby Union TRU).

13 June – Colombo SLR v KOR

Referee: J P Clement (UAERF)

Assistant Referees: Jaco de Witt (UAERF) , Jriji Aymen (SARF)

TMO Tony Duminy (UAERF)

Performance Reviewer: Shane Barr

14 June – Dubai UAE v HKG

Referee K Furuse (JRFU)

Assistant Referees: Takehito Namekawa, Koki Yamauchi (JRFU)

TMO Tasuku Kawahara (JRFU)

Performance Reviewer Simon Dodd

21 June – Incheon: KOR v UAE

Referee: Morgan White (HKCR)

Assistant Referees: Craig Chan, Francesco Cammisa (HKCR)

TMO Shane Barr (HKCR)

Performance Reviewer Peter Hudson

22 June – Hong Kong China: HKG v SLR

Referee: Takehito Namekawa (JRFU)

Assistant Referees: Ibuki Tetsuka (JRFU), Top Dechdanai (TRU)

TMO Tasuku Kawahara (JRFU)

Performance Reviewer: Simon Dodd

4 July – Colombo: SLR v UAE

Referee Craig Chan (HKCR)

Assistant Referees: Matt Rodden, Sunny Lee (HKCR)

TMO Simon Dodd (UAERF)

Performance Reviewers: Dilroy Fernando, Dewi Rowlands

5 July – Incheon: KOR v HKG

Referee Ibuki Tetsuka (JRFU)

Assistant Referees: Koki Yamauchi, Tetsuya Hirakawa (JRFU)

TMO Tasuku Kawahara (JRFU)

Performance Reviewers: Peter Hudson, Tasuku Kawahara

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