Kazakhstan Grabs 2nd Place in HSBC Asian Five Nations
By John Redmond
Contributing Writer
The Nomads of Kazakhstan took second place in this year's HSBC Asian Five Nations Top 5 competition after defeating Hong Kong 25-6 Monday in a rain-drenched Almaty.
The win saw Kazakhstan finish with three victories from its four matches. The Kazakhs have moved up two places on their 2008 finish.
Japan was again the runaway champion this year after going undefeated through its four matches to finish on 24 points.
Kazakhstan's victory left it a distant second on 15 points, two ahead of Korea which finished in third place with 13 points from two wins and three bonus points.
Hong Kong finished in fourth place on 8 points, while Singapore finished last with 1 point. Singapore will now be relegated to the Division I championship in 2010 to be replaced by the Arabian Gulf, the winners of the 2009 Division I championship in Dubai.
The victory saw Kazakhstan improve from its showing at the inaugural HSBC Asian Five Nations Top 5 when it only managed a single win over the Arabian Gulf. Hong Kong, meanwhile, slipped to fourth place from its third-placed finish in 2008.
Torrential rains through much of the middle quarters of the Kazakhstan-Hong Kong encounter reflected a dour performance from both sides as they struggled for fluidity early on.
Kazakhstan soon focused on involving its talented back row in repeated charging runs from flanker Anton ``the Horse" Rudoy and captain and No. 8 Timur Mashurov.
Hong Kong's only respite early on was from a penalty, which was successfully converted by Hong Kong fly-half Kenzo Pannell to edge the visitors to a 3-0 lead.
That exchange would set the pattern for the day as Kazakhstan lost the penalty count in the match, but Hong Kong failed to translate its advantages into significant points.
All day, Hong Kong had trouble from set pieces, and in the 15th minute the visitors lost a lineout ― the first of six on the day ― that was scooped up by Rudoy, who took it forward well in the first phase. Quick recycling of the ball put No. 8 Mashurov into space against Hong Kong's outside backs.
The captain charged through from 10 meters without much difficulty to score the first try of the match. The resulting conversion from fullback Maxim Lifontov brought the score to 7-3 in favor of Kazakhstan.
In the 23rd minute, winger Daulet Akymbekov tore away from Hong Kong's cover defense to touch down for Kazakhstan's second try of the half. Lifontov's second conversion of the day brought the halftime score to 14-3 Kazakhstan.
Hong Kong's hopes of rallying in the second half were soon scotched by penalties in the 41st and 57th minute, both of which were converted by Lifontov to stretch the home side's lead to 20-3.
Hong Kong's only points in the second half came through replacement fly-half Keith Robertson, who slotted over a penalty attempt shortly after coming in to the match in the 60th minute to bring the score to 17-6.
As the clock ticked, the weather and the match deteriorated further with Kazakh indiscipline resulting in four yellow cards in the second half, each of them coming in pairs.
Despite playing with consistent two-man advantages for over 20 minutes, Hong Kong could not exploit the gaps and failed to score any more points during the remainder of the match.
In injury time, Kazakh center Ildar Abdrazakov tore away for another long-range try to bring the score to the final 25-6 marker.
Speaking after the game, a delighted Timur Mashurov captain of Kazakhstan said, ``Today's win is going to be a great boost for rugby in Kazakhstan. We are really happy to win in front of our home crowd today, but we know we have to do it again next year if we want to go to the Rugby World Cup in 2011.''
Next year's competition will be the final qualification stage for Asia for the 2011 event. The winner will be Asia's sole direct entrant to New Zealand, while the runners-up will enter a last chance qualifying heat.
A sanguine Hong Kong coach Dai Rees said that his charges could still take a lot from today's match.
He said, ``It is impossible to win matches when your set pieces are not functioning properly so in that respect it was a disappointing match. But in the long view, I am very pleased with the reaction of the team to the new system we are putting in place. I have always said that this team needs one championship under its belt for seasoning and we now have that.
``We will go back and regroup and come back bigger and better next year. It isn't easy to win here and next year Kazakhstan will have to travel to Hong Kong. We will be ready for them.''
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