The qualifying process for the 2027 Men's Rugby World Cup for Asian teams commenced in April 2024, with eight teams competing for one qualification spot (Asia 1) and one spot in a play-off match (Asia 2).
The Asian qualifying process concluded in July 2025, with Hong Kong qualifying for the World Cup (as Asia 1) for the first time, becoming the second Asian nation to appear in the World Cup.
Format The Asia Rugby Championship, governed by Asia Rugby, was the regional qualification tournament for Rugby World Cup 2027, with the top two divisions in the region acting as the process, and eight teams entering (Japan, who compete in the Pacific Nations Cup and are pre-qualified for the World Cup, did not enter).
Qualification took place over three rounds with a single repechage match between the second and third rounds;
Round 1 was the 2024 Asia Rugby Men's Division 1 competition, the second tier of Asian men's international rugby. A single elimination tournament for four teams which saw the winner advancing to a repechage match at the beginning of round 3.
Round 2 was the 2024 Asia Rugby Championship, which acted as a seeding round for the third round of the qualification process (the 2025 Asia Rugby Championship), with the top three teams following a round-robin competition, preserving their status in the top tier for Round 3 in 2025. The bottom placed team in Round 2 enters the pre-round 3 repechage match against the Round 1 winner; essentially a promotion/relegation play-off, with the winner progresses to the 2025 Asia Rugby Championship as the fourth seeded team in the final round of qualification, the loser is eliminated from World cup qualification.
Round 3 was the 2025 Asia Rugby Championship, with the winner of a round-robin competition qualifying for the World Cup as Asia 1, and the runner-up (Asia 2) advancing to a play-off match against Africa 2 to decide who progresses to the Final Qualification Tournament.
Entrants Eight teams competed during the Asian qualifiers for the 2027 Men's Rugby World Cup, with Japan the only team qualified from the Region prior to the qualification process.
(Rankings as of first qualification match in this region)
Nation Rank Began play Qualifying status 22 1 June 2024 Qualified as Asia 1 on 5 July 2025 87 30 April 2024 Eliminated by Sri Lanka on 30 April 2024 64 30 April 2024 Eliminated by Sri Lanka on 4 May 2024 49 2 June 2024 Eliminated by Sri Lanka on 19 April 2025 94 30 April 2024 Eliminated by Kazakhstan on 30 April 2024 30 2 June 2024 Eliminated by Hong Kong on 5 July 2025 39 30 April 2024 Eliminated by Hong Kong on 22 June 2025 61 1 June 2024 Advances to Asia / Africa play-off as Asia 2 on 5 July 2025
Round 1: 2024 Asia Rugby Men's Division 1
The 2024 Asia Rugby Men's Division 1 was contested between four teams in a knockout format.
The tournament was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka won the competition and advanced to the round 3 repechage match, whilst India, Kazakhstan and Qatar were eliminated.
Semi-Finals
Third Place play-off
Final
Final standings Pos. Team Qualification 1Advances to Round 3 repechage 2 Eliminated 3 Eliminated 4 Eliminated
Round 2: 2024 Asian Rugby Championship The 2024 Asian Rugby Championship was contested between four teams in a round-robin format held over three rounds.
Malaysia finished bottom to see them drop down to the Round 3 repechage match against the winner of Round 1 (Sri Lanka), whilst the remaining three teams progressed to the third round.
Matches
Round 3 repechage Sri Lanka won the repechage match to progress through to the third round, whilst Malaysia were eliminated.
Round 3: 2025 Asia Rugby Championship
The 2025 Asian Rugby Championship was contested between four teams in a round-robin format held over three rounds.
Hong Kong won the 2025 Asia Rugby Championship to qualify for the World Cup, whilst runners-up the Unite Arab Emirates advanced to the cross-regional play-offs. South Korea and Sri Lanka were eliminated.
Matches
Notes: With this result, Hong Kong qualified for the World Cup for the first time, and the United Arab Emirates advanced through to the play-offs for the first time.
References