Asian Five Nations
Korea return to Top Five in Asian Five Nations
ESPNscrum Staff
June 6, 2011
Korea wing Kim Kwang Min evades the Singapore defence, Korea v Singapore, Asian Five Nations, Korea, June 4, 2011
Korea wing Kim Kwang Min evades the Singapore defence © Asian Five Nations
Enlarge

Korea secured their place in the Top Five of the Asian Five Nations with a resounding 58-19 play-off victory over Singapore on Saturday.

Backs Kim Won Yong, Kim Sung Soo and Kim Nam Wook all bagged braces for the Koreans, who replace Sri Lanka in the top division for 2012.

Korea coach Kim Myung Joo will now cast his net in search of new talent, refusing to rule out searching for Korea-eligible players from the Japanese leagues.

"The players gave a good effort, but we still only played to our patterns for short periods," he said. "Fortunately this was enough to get the win and achieve our goal of returning to the Top Five. Reaching the Top Five is important for Korean rugby to regain our confidence after being relegated last year.

"This year we blended our domestic players with those playing professionally in Japan, both in the Top League and in the Kansai League. Now we want to throw the net a bit wider and look for Japan-born Korean players as well as from other established rugby nations.

"By bringing the full strength of Korean rugby to bear in the Top Five we can avoid putting ourselves in the situation of having to win promotion again."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

Live Sports

Communication error please reload the page.