A gulf in preparation

After successive defeats to Hong Kong and Japan, Arabian Gulf coach Wayne Marsters knows a big improvement is needed by his team to avoid relegation from the inaugural HSBC Asian Five-Nations tournament.

Today the Arabian Gulf are in Qatar to take on South Korea. The match, to be played at the impressive Al Arabi Stadium in Doha, comes a week after the Arabian Gulf suffered a demoralising 114-6 loss to Japan in Osaka. In the first round they were humbled 20-12 in a close game against Hong Kong in Al Ain.

They have a bye next week before ending their campaign on May 24 in Taldykorgan against Kazakhstan.

"We need to win one if not both of our upcoming games," said Marsters.

"We're going to target the South Korea game, because Hong Kong beat Korea the last time they played each other and we were really close to Hong Kong, so we are sure we can be a lot more competitive than we were against Japan."

The loss to Japan highlighted the different levels of Asian teams.

The Japanese team is made up of professional rugby players compared to the part-time players of Arabian Gulf. On top of that Japan, ranked 16th in the world, were the only Asian team to play at the Rugby World Cup last year.

The Arabian Gulf, ranked 49th, brings together players from across the Gulf region, but as they are only part-time players the team is at a disadvantage to other sides in the competition.

"We have definitely done more training than in the past, but when compared to the other teams we still don't get to spend a lot of time together," said Marsters.

"We have been training once or twice a week for three months but it has still been difficult compared to Japan who have full-time players and Hong Kong and South Korea who are semi full-time as well."

Arabian Gulf were lucky to suffer no injuries in last week's game. They face Korea, who lost their opening match to Japan 39-17 before being awarded a bye last week. Mike Riley will come back into the side to the front row, which will add some much needed stability and strength up front, reveals Marsters.

Ayman Razek, who did not see action in Japan due to a slight knee strain, will likely start in his favoured wing position adding more zip and composure to the backline.

Last week's debutant Manu Barry rotates out of the squad as does Dubai Hurricanes winger Graham Brown with Gulf Sevens representative Wayne Esselmont getting his chance to impress after being a patient squad member for the last three months. Dubai Exiles' second rower Jonathon Brookes will also get his first run-on start.

Victory is vital as the last placed team in the league will be relegated while 20 other nations, including China, India, Iran and Uzbekistan will have the chance to fight their way into the top five by competing in two other divisions below.

The championship replaced the Asian Rugby Football tournament, which takes place every other year.

Asian Rugby

The growth of rugby in Asia will receive a huge boost by Japan hosting the international junior championships, the IRB said after announcing the hosts for the 2009 under-20s tournament.

Rugby's world ruling body, the International Rugby Board, said Japan's existing facilites and infrastructure would provide a solid base on which to showcase the talents of the sport's future stars.

"Awarding it to Japan is a very exciting development in the evolution of the competition," said IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset.

"Rugby in Japan continues to grow, which is reflected in the increasing number of spectators supporting the annual Top League company championship."