A last-gasp try from Salom Yiu Kam-shing (pictured) earned Hong Kong a narrow 38-37 victory over 13-man Korea in Incheon on Saturday to keep alive their hopes of finishing second in the inaugural Asia Rugby Championship. 

Winger Yiu Kam-shing crossed over in extra-time to score his second try of the match under the posts and the successful conversion by Niall Rowark enabled Hong Kong to snatch victory from their opponents, who had played the last 30 minutes with 14 men after a red card was shown to tight-head prop Kim Kwang-sik for a shoulder charge on John Aikman.

The home team actually finished with 13 men on the park when centre Kim Nam-uk was sin-binned for an off-the-ball incident and the two-man advantage gave Hong Kong renewed hope as they grabbed their chance with second-row Adrian Griffiths delivering the try-scoring pass to Yiu Kam-shingwho covered 40 metres to score.

Korea, who had won their first meeting in the Asia Rugby Championship Top 3 33-26 last month at the Hong Kong Football Club, looked well on the way to securing another win as they stretched their 19-12 lead at half-time to 29-12.

But indiscipline cost them dear, with Hong Kong scoring second-half tries through replacement Tyler Spitz, second-row Paul Dwyer and all-action captain Nick Hewson to make it a one-score game before Yiu Kam-shing supplied the telling blow right at the death.

"It was a courageous performance from the guys. We made too many errors and dug a hole for ourselves but they showed a lot of heart to fight back,” said pleased head coach Andy Hall. “That last try certainly changed my post-match talk. But it was a lot of character which got us through in the end.” 

The victory earns Hong Kong 1.67 rankings points – enough to lift them above Zimbabwe and Germany and into 27th place in the latest World Rugby Rankings. Korea fall three places to 25th with RWC 2015 qualifiers Namibia, Portugal and Chile all climbing one as a result.

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The race for second

Both Hong Kong and Korea have eight points in the elite competition in Asia – Korea earning two bonus points despite the loss for scoring four tries or more and finishing within a seven-point margin – and the runners-up spot will only be decided after next Saturday’s final encounter between Hong Kong and Japan.

RWC 2015 bound Japan, who have already been crowned champions, will be favourites to remain unbeaten in the competition having beaten Hong Kong 41-0 in Tokyo.

“Second place will be down to points differential, but right now we are not thinking of that ... we just want to savour this result,” Hall added.  

Hong Kong have a +29 points differential over Korea but will need to work hard to maintain that edge when the ever-dangerous Japan visit Aberdeen Stadium this coming Saturday.

Elsewhere in Asia, the United Arab Emirates bounced back from their one-point midweek loss to Malaysia with a 16-12 win over Chinese Taipei in Division 2 to earn 1.92 rankings points and a climb of four places to a new high of 83rd.

Malaysia recorded their second win in the space of four days after a 53-7 victory against Thailand but while they were crowned Division 2 champions, their rankings position remains unchanged with their 0.2 of a rating point gained not enough for them to overhaul Mexico in 57th place. Chinese Taipei fall two places to 64th and Thailand drop one to 73rd.

Pumas too strong for improved Uruguay

Uruguay turned in a much-improved performance from their defeat to Chile in the South American Championship the previous weekend but they still came out second best to Argentina in the opening match ofthe CONSUR Cup 2015.

Three Jeronimo Etcheverry penalties handed Los Teros a 9-5 lead inside at the end of the first quarter at the Estadio Charrúa in Montevideo but the Pumas, who’d scored the only of the game up to that point through number eight Facundo Isa, added three more tries in the space of 13 minutes to lead 24-9 at half-time. Martin Landajo and Martin Cortese both crossed the Uruguayan line with a penalty try and two conversions from Santiago González Iglesias accounting for the rest of their points.

Iglesias converted his own try 12 minutes after the break to extend Argentina’s advantage further before Uruguay reduced the deficit to 29-14 with a try from right winger Leandro Leiva. Replacement Juan Novillo ensured the Pumas had the last word when he crossed the line and tagged on the extra two points for a final score of 34-16.

Neither side’s World Rugby Ranking was affected by the result given the considerable gap between the nations, Argentina remaining in eighth and Uruguay 21st.

Argentina take on Paraguay in the second round of the CONSUR Cup, in Ascuncion this coming Saturday.

Photo credit: HIRO/RJP