Japan once again proved it is the dominant team in the region as the men’s and women’s teams both beat Hong Kong convincingly to claim their respective Asia Rugby Championship titles.

The women kicked off Saturday's double-header at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground in Tokyo with a 30-3 victory, before a youthful-looking Brave Blossoms side ran in eight tries to win 59-17 and make it a one-two for the host nation.

Japan’s men went into the game needing just one point to clinch the title, their ninth in a row since the competition became an annual affair, following three big wins against Korea, home and away, and on their travels to Hong Kong.

They included a number of the under-20 side who will compete next month’s World Rugby U20 Championship in their starting line-up, with Junior Japan captain Masato Furukawa named on the bench.

But it was the visitors who started brightest and they found themselves 10-0 up after Ben Rimene kicked an early penalty and then converted Adrian Griffiths’ try, the first Japan had conceded in the three-team tournament.

Japan, however, responded with tries for Naohiro Kotaki, Takuya Ishibashi (main picture) and Ataata Moeakiola - another of the U20 brigade - taking them into a 24-10 lead at the break.

It took less than 60 seconds of the second half for Japan to get the bonus point they needed to be certain of the title, Hiroki Yamamoto with the decisive score.

James Cunningham pulled five points back for Hong Kong shortly after, but Japan went on to score four unanswered tries to finish their campaign in style.

Ishibashi grabbed his second five-pointer in the 47th minute before turning provider with a superb pass to put Doga Maeda away for Japan’s sixth try.

Moeakiola also bagged a second and there was still time for Japan’s pack to cap another dominant display with a penalty try after the Hong Kong eight were pushed back in a scrum close to their line.

JAPAN WOMEN FINISH IN STYLE

Earlier, Japan’s women proved too strong for their Hong Kong counterparts, although they had to work harder for victory than they did in beating the same opposition 39-3 three weeks earlier.

Prop Saki Minami drove over from close range to open the scoring for Japan. Sixteen minutes in, Hong Kong were rewarded for some sustained attacking play with a penalty which Aggie Poon Pak-yan put through the poles.

Japan doubled their tally, though, when winger Mizuki Homma sped over the line to hand the home side a 10-3 lead at the break.

A determined and persistent Hong Kong again matched Japan in the opening stages of the second half, but a try to Miki Terauchi after 16 minutes of play took some wind out of the visitor’s sails.

The Sakura struck again nine minutes later, with Yuki Sue crossing after a sustained attacking effort from Japan. This opened the floodgates and turned what had been a tightly fought contest into another blow out, with tries to Riho Kurogi and Ai Hyugaji in the final 10 minutes stretching the margin out to 27 points.

Neither the men's or the women's result had any impact on the World Rugby Rankings. Japan’s men and women are unchanged in 10th and 17th position respectively while Hong Kong are still ranked 23rd in both the men's and women's rankings.