Korea will be hoping to make the most of home advantage by winning the Asian Under 20 Championship and securing the region’s place at the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy 2009 in Kenya next April.
The Koreans finished sixth in the inaugural IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy in Chile earlier this year and open the defence of their Asian crown against eighth seeds Kazakhstan – who return for the first time since 2005 – in Buan on Tuesday.
Hong Kong and Sri Lanka, who finished second and third last year in Brunei, will both hope to deny Korea another title and wins on the opening match day against Chinese Taipei and Singapore respectively will see them meet in the semi final on Friday.
Chinese Taipei, though, should not be underestimated, they may only be seeded seventh this time around but were runners up in 2006 and played in Division B of the IRB Under 19 Championship that year and again in 2007.
The other opening match pits Malaysia against Thailand, the fourth and fifth seeds with the winner to face either Korea or Kazakhstan in the semi finals and keep alive their hopes of playing at the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy 2009.
Meanwhile due to late withdrawals only two teams remain in Division 2 – the Philippines and Guam and as a result the pair will play each other in a two-match series in Manila, not in Korea as had initially been planned.
