Asian Five Nations
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| sport | Rugby union |
| Association | Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) |
| League foundation | 2008 |
| Teams | 5 |
| Title holder |
 Japan
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| Website | a5nrugby.com |
The Asian Five Nations ( also called HSBC Asian Five Nations in connection with the main sponsor HSBC ) are an annual tournament in the rugby union sport that has been held since 2008 , in which five national teams from Asia take part. The winner of the tournament is considered the unofficial Asian champion, the last one descends into a lower division and is replaced by another team.
history
The tournament, introduced in 2008 and organized by the Asian Rugby Football Union , includes all 25 existing national teams in Asia, which are divided into different divisions. There is an opportunity for all teams in the first, second and third division to move up by reaching first place. Below the four upper divisions there are regional tournaments, in which the participants do not get a chance to advance, because they are still too far behind the other nations in terms of quality.
On February 21, 2008, the International Rugby Board announced that another major tournament would be added to the rugby calendar in April. With the introduction of the Asian Five Nations, which is based on the European Six Nations variant, the IRB promised itself a further development of the sport in Asia. The games will be broadcast live on television in Asia.
The tournament is part of the qualification process for the 2011 World Cup . The 2010 winner will represent Asia at the most important tournament for rugby union national teams.
For the 2009 edition, a third division was introduced in which the winners of the regional tournaments play against each other.
Attendees
The following national teams will take part in the 2013 edition:
Top 5 (April / May):
Tournament rules
The tournament winner is determined in four rounds according to the principle of everyone against everyone .
Points are distributed according to the following system:
- 5 points if you win
- 3 points if there is a tie
- 0 points in the event of a loss (before possible bonus points)
- 1 bonus point for four or more successful attempts, regardless of the final score
- 1 bonus point for a defeat with less than seven game points difference