Japan outclassed Hong Kong 75-29 here Sunday to win the inaugural Asian Five Nations rugby trophy with a clean sweep of four straight wins.
Japan, Asia's top-ranked rugby nation, ran in 11 tries -- converting 10 of them -- in their final game but allowed Rowan Varty to score a hat-trick for a dogged Hong Kong side who are vying with South Korea for second spot.
"I'm very happy as a coach because we've got plenty to work on but still we won," Japan coach and former All Black hero John Kirwan said.
"We've worked hard for the last five weeks. We still have plenty to work on looking forward to the Pacific Nations tournament."
South Korea beat Kazakhstan 41-20 in the weekend's other game at Incheon.
Kirwan, who took the job last year and led Japan as the only Asian team in the World Cup in France, sees the new regional event as a springboard for the Pacific Nations Cup in June and July -- and for the next World Cup in 2011.
Shaun Webb, Bryce Robbins and Go Aruga each scored a brace at the Big Swan stadium in Niigata as the Japanese took advantage of their superior fitness.
Having earlier beaten South Korea 39-17 away, demolished the Arabian Gulf 114-6 at home and overwhelmed Kazakhstan 82-6 on the road, Japan finished the tournament with the maximum possible 24 points.
For Hong Kong, it was a first defeat in three outings before next weekend's penultimate round of matches when they host South Korea while Kazakhstan take on the Arabian Gulf in a battle of winless sides.
Head coach John Walters thought his all-amateur side competed well for the first 15 minutes but "a little lack of concentration let us down."
Hong Kong captain and Number 8 Semi Iafeta said: "We managed to run in some tries, something that we haven't done against Japan for a while, and we took our chances.
"We played to the best of our ability," he added.
Japan needed 16 minutes to open the scoring with centre Yuta Imamura diving overo a kick from standoff and New Zealander James Arlidge.
Winger Robbins ran in Japan's second try three minutes later and fellow New Zealander Shaun Webb the the third before Japan scored a pushover in the 28th minute.
Hong Kong hit back with two penalty goals by standoff Justin Temara in the 10 minutes before the break, but Webb scored his second try of the game on the stroke of half-time.
Arlidge converted all tries in the first half as Japan led 35-6.
Hong Kong chalked up their first try five minutes after the break through Varty, firing up Japan to answer back with a six-try onslaught.
Kenzo Pannell's penalty goal sparked off a minor Hong Kong scoring binge in the final 10 minutes with Varty running in two unconverted tries.
"Hong Kong really challenged us early. It took us a little bit of time to adjust it," Kirwan said.
"We expected Hong Kong would be the best side in Asia besides us. They came out very physical. We made mistakes and they capitalised on them."
This tournament is the pinnacle of four newly-formed tiers of competition across 25 Asian rugby unions, with the last-placed team in the top tier being relegated to the 2009 division one competition.
The standard of rugby in Asia lags far behind countries such as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and England, but the International Rugby Board sees plenty of potential here, and the Five Nations was launched as a platform to develop and expand the sport across the region.
AFP
