Japan and Italy will battle it out for the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy title in Moscow on Sunday 30 May after both claimed victories in their decisive pool matches.
The tournament winners will qualify for next year\'s IRB Junior World Championship. Should Japan prevail, both they and Italy, as hosts of the JWC in 2011, will qualify
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Japan will be warmly welcomed to New Zealand next year after the team secured its berth for Rugby World Cup 2011 (RWC 2011) as winners of the 2010 Asian 5 Nations tournament
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Japan qualified for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand with an emphatic 94-5 victory over Hong Kong in the HSBC Asian Five Nations Top Five competition in Tokyo on Saturday.
A slick Japanese outfit went on a 14-try rampage in their final game in the qualifying campaign to grab the solitary direct entry for the World Cup given to Asia.
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Japan will face Hong Kong in the final round of the HSBC Asian 5 Nations on Saturday looking to book their place at Rugby World Cup 2011 in New Zealand.
Victory for the Brave Blossoms at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium in Tokyo (kick off 1400 local time) will confirm their entry into Pool A alongside hosts New Zealand, France, Tonga and Canada
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Japan, though, recovered from this early set back with Hirotomo Ono kicking a penalty before wing Takaaki Nakazuru touched down. Russia\'s cause was not helped by the loss of two players to the sin-bin in as many minutes, captain Kota Yamashita capitalising on the man advantage to score Japan\'s second try.
Russia did hit back with Denis Simplikevich\'s try cutting the deficit to only 15-12 at half time. Nikolay Pochechuev scored the hosts\' third try to leave them trailing by a single point with 10 minutes to go, only for Ono\'s boot and a late Lafaele Fakamisia Vaifu try taking Japan to victory.
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The IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy kicks off in the Russian capital Moscow on Tuesday with some mouth-watering matches in prospect, not least the Pool A encounter between defending champions Romania and 2008 winners Uruguay.
Italy will face the young and exciting Papua New Guinea in the other opening match, with the opening day also seeing Canada face Zimbabwe and hosts Russia tackle Japan in Pool B.
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IRB/ARFU staged a Women\'s Strategic Planning Conference in KL at the Cobra Club on May 18th. The conference was run by Sue Carty, Women\'s Development Manager, iRB and Jarrad Galagher, ARFU Regional Development Manager together with staff from ARFU, including Ross Mitchell, Hon Sec Gen.
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Japan coach John Kirwan described himself as "pretty happy" with his side\'s performance after they ran out 101-7 winners over Kazakhstan to move to within touching distance of a place at Rugby World Cup 2011.
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The Arabian Gulf ensured their last ever international match ended on a winning note with a 21-19 defeat of Korea in their HSBC Asian 5 Nations match at 7he Sevens in Dubai on Friday, the first time they had beaten their opponents in 17 years of trying.
The swansong comes following last year\'s announcement of the International Rugby Board\'s exciting plans to restructure the Game in West Asia with the creation of a number of new Unions in the area. To facilitate this major expansion it was confirmed the combined multi-state Union, the Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union, would cease to exist by the end of 2010.
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This year tournament was one of the most competitive tournaments with only the the 12 top teams qualifying representing all four Provinces Sind , Baluchistan, ( Punjab 2 teams ) , Fata, Islamabad ( 2 teams ), NWFP , Pakistan Police, Wapda , Pakistan Army and the Higher Education Commission .. www.pakistanrugby.com
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