1999 Rugby World Cup – Asia qualification

The Asian Rugby Football Union was allotted one place in the 1999 Rugby World Cup by direct qualification (Asia 1) and one place in the repechage tournament. Eight teams participated in the qualification tournament for Asia which was held in three stages. The first two stages (Rounds 1 and 2) were played in 1997 and the last stage (Round 3) was played in 1998.

The three lowest ranked sides played a single round robin tournament (drawn for home or away), with top placed team progressing to the next round and the other two teams dropping out. Rounds two was played in a similar fashion – the three lowest ranked remaining sides (i.e. the winner of the previous round and the next two lowest ranked teams) played a single round robin tournament (drawn for home or away).

The final stage changed the pattern in that the top two teams from round three progressed to round four, and all matches were played in Singapore. A four team single round robin was played and Japan secured their (Asia 1) qualification for RWC 1999 as the top placed side, with korea in second place progressing to the repechage.[1][2]

Round 1

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Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
1   Sri Lanka 2 2 0 0 48 30 +18 6
2   Thailand 2 1 0 1 31 41 −10 4
3   Singapore 2 0 0 2 26 34 −8 2
Source: [citation needed]
Date Team #1 Score Team #2 Venue
1 February 1997 Singapore 11–16 Thailand Singapore
15 February 1997 Thailand 15–30 Sri Lanka Bangkok, Thailand
19 April 1997 Sri Lanka 18–15 Singapore Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Round 2

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Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
1   Chinese Taipei 2 2 0 0 82 40 +42 6
2   Sri Lanka 2 1 0 1 64 46 +18 4
3   Malaysia 2 0 0 2 28 88 −60 2
Source: [citation needed]
Date Team #1 Score Team #2 Venue
29 November 1997 Malaysia 15–37 Sri Lanka Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
20 December 1997 Chinese Taipei 51–13 Malaysia Taipei, Republic of China
17 January 1998 Sri Lanka 27–31 Chinese Taipei Bangkok, Thailand

Round 3

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All round 3 games were held in Singapore.

Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
1   Japan 3 3 0 0 221 25 +196 9
2   South Korea 3 1 0 2 104 81 +23 5
3   Chinese Taipei 3 1 0 2 57 227 −170 5
4   Hong Kong 3 1 0 2 39 88 −49 5
Source: [citation needed]
Date Team #1 Score Team No. 2
24 October 1998 South Korea 12–40 Japan
24 October 1998 Chinese Taipei 30–12 Hong Kong
27 October 1998 Japan 134–6 Chinese Taipei
27 October 1998 Hong Kong 20–11 South Korea
31 October 1998 Chinese Taipei 21–81 South Korea
31 October 1998 Hong Kong 7–47 Japan

Japan qualified for RWC 1999, South Korea qualified for repechage.

References

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  1. ^ "1999 Rugby World Cup Qualifier Results". ESPN Scrum. 1 September 1996.
  2. ^ "1999 Rugby World Cup Qualifier Points Tables". ESPN Scrum. 1 September 1996.