2025 Asia Rugby Championship
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| Dates | 13 June – 5 July 2025 |
|---|---|
| Countries | |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Hong Kong |
| Relegated |  Sri Lanka |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 4 |
← 2024 2026 → | |
The 2025 Asia Rugby Championship[a] is the ninth annual rugby union series for Asia Rugby. The tournament features Hong Kong, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates, with Sri Lanka returning for the first time since 2014 following their Championship playoff victory against the fourth placed team from 2024, Malaysia. Malaysia joins the other Asian nations played in the lower-tier division tournaments.[1]
The format of the series is a single play-off match, followed by a single round-robin where the four remaining teams play each other once. The team finishing on top of the standings at the end of the series is declared the winner. The team finishing at the bottom of the standing are relegated.[2] The competition will begin on 13 June 2025 and will conclude on 5 July 2025.[3]
Hong Kong enter the competition as reigning champions, having won the competition for the fifth time in 2024.[4]
The competition doubles as the final stage of the Asian continental qualifier for the 2027 Men's Rugby World Cup in Australia. The winner of the competition will qualify directly to the World Cup, where it will join Japan who qualified by placing in the 2023 Rugby World Cup, while the runner-up will enter a playoff against Africa 2, the runner-up from the 2025 Africa Cup for the chance to make the 2027 RWC Final Qualification Tournament.
Participants
| Team | Stadium | Head coach | Captain | World Rugby Ranking | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home stadium | Capacity | Location | Start[b] | End[c] | |||
| Hong Kong |
Kai Tak Youth Sports Ground | 5,000 | Kai Tak, Kowloon |  Andrew Douglas |
Joshua Hrstich | 23rd | 22nd |
 South Korea |
Incheon Namdong Asiad Rugby Field | 4,968 | Namdong, Incheon | Lee Myung-geun |
Lee Jin-kyu | 35th | 36th |
| Sri Lanka |
Colombo Racecourse | 10,000 | Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo | Sanath Martis |
Nigel Ratwatte | 39th | 46th |
 United Arab Emirates |
The Sevens Stadium | 15,000 | Dubai, Emirate of Dubai | TBD | 50th | 40th | |
Warm-up matches
Division 1/Championship play-off
| 19 April 2025 16:00 SLST (UTC+5:30) |
| Sri Lanka | 59–19 |  Malaysia |
| Try: J. Madushanka 5' m, 63' c Ranjan 23' c A. Madushanka 32' c Ekanayake (3) 36' c, 49' c, 53' c Marasinghe 41' c Wickramarachichi 77' m Con: Zubair Dora (7/9) 24', 33', 36', 43', 50', 54', 64' Cards: Kekeorale Gadara  67' to 77' | Report | Try: Vaqa Saukuru (3) 11' c, 60' c, 72' m Con: Aqil Kamsol (1/1) 11' Bin Nasrudin (1/2) 62' Cards: Vaqa Saukuru 24' to 34'Tamanisau 42' to 52' |
| Colombo Racecourse, Colombo Referee: Jaco de Wit (United Arab Emirates) |
- Malaysia were relegated to the Asia Rugby Championship Division 1.
New Zealand U85kg tour of Sri Lanka
First match
| 4 May 2025 15:45 SLST (UTC+5:30) |
| Sri Lanka | 10–50 | New Zealand U85kg |
| Try: Wickramarachchi 18' c Con: Ratwatte (1/1) 19' Pen: Ratwatte (1/1) 44' Cards: Chathuranga 35' to 45' | Report | Try: Asiata (2) 5' c, 72' m Petford 11' m Megson 25' m Laity 36' c Percival 57' c Morrison (2) 61' m, 75' c Con: Percival (4/6) 6', 26', 36', 57' Cordell-Hull (1/2) 76' Cards: Laity 17' to 27'Asiata 45' to 55' |
| Nittawela Rugby Stadium, Kandy Attendance: 10,000[5] Referee: JP Clements (United Arab Emirates) |
Second match
| 10 May 2025 18:30 SLST (UTC+5:30) |
| Sri Lanka | 6–32 | New Zealand U85kg |
| Pen: Ratwatte (2/2) 22', 54' | Report | Try: Percival (2) 11' m, 20' m Swarts 27' c Gellert 60' c Morrison 70' m Con: Percival (1/3) 27' Reily (1/2) 60' Pen: Reily (1/1) 56' |
| Colombo Racecourse, Colombo Attendance: 25,000[6] Referee: Jaco de Wit (United Arab Emirates) |
Standings
| 2025 Asia Rugby Championship Champions |
| Relegation to 2026 Asia Rugby Division 1 |
| Pos. | Team | Matches | Points | Bonus points | Total
points | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Diff. | ||||
| 1 | Hong Kong |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 191 | 39 | +152 | 3 | 15 |
| 2 | United Arab Emirates |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 77 | 100 | –23 | 2 | 10 |
| 3 | South Korea |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 96 | 142 | –46 | 3 | 7 |
| 4 | Sri Lanka |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 62 | 145 | –83 | 2 | 2 |
| Points were awarded to the teams as follows: Win — 4 points; Draw — 2 points; 4 or more tries — 1 point; Loss within 7 points — 1 point; Loss greater than 7 points — 0 points | ||||||||||
