2026 Asia Rugby Championship

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Dates23 May – 14 June 2026
Countries
Matches played6
2026 Asia Rugby Championship
Dates23 May – 14 June 2026
Countries
Tournament statistics
Matches played6
2025
2027

The 2026 Asia Rugby Championship[a] is the tenth annual rugby union series for Asia Rugby. The tournament was confirmed in January 2026 to kick off in May,[1] with the same four nations returning from the previous edition (2025): Hong Kong, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and the United Arab Emirates.[1]

The defending champions are Hong Kong whom won the title after defeating South Korea 22–70 and simultaneously qualifying for the 2027 Rugby World Cup for the first time.[2]

The format of the series will be a single play-off match, followed by a single round-robin where the four teams play each other once, with the games reversed from the 2025 to allow for an equal share of home games over two years. The team finishing on top of the standings at the end of the series will be declared the winner. The team finishing at the bottom of the standing in contention for relegation.

Hong Kong enter the competition as reigning champions, having won the competition for the sixth time in 2025.

Participants

Team Stadium Head coach Captain World Rugby Ranking
Home stadium Capacity Location Start[b] End[c]
 Hong Kong TBA Logan Asplin TBA 23rd
 South Korea Incheon Namdong Asiad Rugby Field 4,968 Namdong, Incheon Lee Myung-geun TBA 37th
 Sri Lanka Colombo Racecourse 10,000 Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo Dushanth Lewke TBA 47th
 United Arab Emirates The Sevens Stadium 15,000 Dubai, Emirate of Dubai Jacques Benade TBA 40th

Warm-up matches

New Zealand U85kg tour of Sri Lanka

First match

25 April 2026
19:00 SLST (UTC+05:30)
Sri Lanka 16–27 New Zealand U85kg
Try: Madusanka 4' m
Dilshan 10' m
Con: Nanayakkara (0/2)
Pen: Nanayakkara (2/2) 40+1', 53'
Cards: Dilshan yellow card 10' to 20'
ReportTry: Sia 4' m
Asiata 12' m
Treeby 75' m
Con: Cordell-Hull (0/2)
Percival (0/1)
Pen: Cordell-Hull (3/3) 1', 35', 43'
Percival (1/1) 61'
Cards: Asiata yellow card 52' to 62'
Colombo Racecourse, Colombo
Referee: Morgan White (Hong Kong)

Second match

3 May 2026
19:00 SLST (UTC+05:30)
Sri Lanka v New Zealand U85kg
Nittawela Rugby Stadium, Kandy

Standings

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD TF TA TB LB Pts Qualification
1  Hong Kong 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2  South Korea 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3  Sri Lanka 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4  United Arab Emirates 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Potential relegation

Fixtures

Notes

References

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