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The Asian women’s sevens heads into its final leg for 2013 this weekend as teams meet in Pune for the ARFU Women’s Asian Rugby Sevens Series (AWARSS).

Eleven Asian teams will slug it out this weekend at the second and final leg of the Asian women’s sevens circuit in Pune, India. The last instalment of the ARFU Women’s Asian Rugby Sevens Series (AWARSS) will be held at the Balewadi Sports Complex for the third year running.

Tournament Format

The odd number of teams proved challenging for organisers this round and the format of the games will be exciting for both players and spectators. Unlike previous tournaments where teams were grouped in to pools followed by semifinal knockout stages for the Cup, Plate and Bowl, the teams will be grouped into two pools of five and six and their pool ranking will determine their playoff positions immediately.

Hence where the top four teams would previously had a shot at the Cup Finals through the semi-final process, only the top team of both pool will now qualify for the Cup Finals. Accordingly, every team has to be on top of their game for each pool stage match for there will be no second bite at the cherry – any slip up will have a far greater impact on the team’s final position than through the previous tournament format.

Potential Playoffs

Top seed China are in Group A with Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and India whilst Group B comprises second seed Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, UAE and Iran.

Favourites to make the Cup Finals will surely be China and Japan who a fortnight ago played out an all-Asian Cup Final at the Asia Pacific Women’s Sevens 2013 in Shanghai.

In Group A, Kazakhstan will have to unseat first leg and defending AWARRS Champions, China, if they want to make the Cup Finals. Thailand (ranked 8th) will certainly have an axe to grind with Sri Lanka (ranked 5th) who put them out of the running for the Plate in Bangsaen with a win over the hosts in the pool stages seven weeks ago. Hosts, India, who can boast of having former sevens star Henry Paul as their coach, are certainly facing a challenging weekend.

Over in Group B, Hong Kong who have recently appointed Black Fern legend Anna Richards as their new sevens coach, will be looking to upset the Japanese to break into the top two. Singapore (ranked 6th) and Philippines (ranked 7th) will be hoping to come in at least third in this pool and will not only have to face each other but an unknown UAE and Iran team.

All in all, a great weekend of rugby lies ahead and a great way to close the Asian women’s sevens season.

Fixtures for the second leg of the AWARRS 2013 available for download at http://www.arfu.com/womens-rugby/fixtures-and-results

Asian Women’s Rugby Sevens Championship 2013- Draws
Pool A    ——–  Pool B
China ———– Japan
Kazakhstan —- Hong Kong
Sri Lanka —— Singapore
Thailand ——- Philippines
India ———– UAE
Iran

Matches Schedule:
9th November, 2013
1 9.00 CHINA vs INDIA
2 9.20 KAZAKHSTAN vs THAILAND
3 9.40 JAPAN vs IRAN
4 10.00 HONG KONG vs HILIPPINES
5 10.20 SINGAPORE vs UAE
6 10.40 SRI LANKA vs INDIA
7 11.00 CHINA  vs THAILAND
Break
8 14.20 KAZAKHSTAN vs  SRI LANKA
9 14.40 JAPAN vs PHILIPPINES
10 15.00 SINGAPORE vs IRAN
11 15.20 HONG KONG vs UAE
12 15.40 CHINA vs SRI LANKA
13 16.00 KAZAKHSTAN vs INDIA
14 16.20 JAPAN vs SINGAPORE
15 16.40 PHILIPPINES vs UAE
16 17.00 HONG KONG vs IRAN
10th November, 2013
17 9.00 Pool THAILAND vs SRI LANKA
18 9.20 Pool PHILIPPINES vs IRAN
19 9.40 Pool JAPAN vs UAE
20 10.00 Pool HONG KONG vs SINGAPORE
21 10.20 Pool CHINA vs KAZAKHSTAN
22 10.40 Pool THAILAND vs INDIA
23 11.00 Pool UAE vs IRAN
24 11.20 Pool SINGAPORE vs PHILIPPINES
25 11.40 Pool JAPAN vs HONG KONG
Break
Teams to be ranked A1 – A5 and B1 – B5 depending on their finishing positions in their Pool
26 13.00 9/10 A5 B5
27 13.20 7/8 A4 B4
28 13.40 5/6 A3 B3
29 14.00 3/4 A2 B2
30 14.20 2/1 A1 B1
14.50
Cup Presentations

Follow the scores and on site photographs at ARFU’s facebook pagehttps://www.facebook.com/asian.rugby

2013 Current Rankings after first leg, Bangsaen
1.  China
2.  Japan
3.  Hong Kong
4.  Kazakhstan
5.  Sri Lanka
6.  Singapore
7.  Philippines
8.  Chinese Taipei
9.  Thailand
10. Guam
11. Korea
12. Laos