The 2009 Asian Five Nations, known as the 2009 HSBC Asian 5 Nations due to its sponsorship by HSBC, was the second series of the rugby union Asian Five Nations, the flagship competition devised by the International Rugby Board to develop the sport in the Asian region.
The teams that competed in the Top Five were:
- Japan
- South Korea
- Hong Kong
- Kazakhstan
- Singapore
The tournament played a role in qualifying for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, with Singapore, the last place team, being relegated to Division 1. As the 2010 edition will serve as the final round of Asian qualifying, Singapore is effectively eliminated.
Read more about 2009 Asian Five Nations: Division One, Division Two, Division Three
Famous quotes containing the words asian and/or nations:
“Exploitation and oppression is not a matter of race. It is the system, the apparatus of world-wide brigandage called imperialism, which made the Powers behave the way they did. I have no illusions on this score, nor do I believe that any Asian nation or African nation, in the same state of dominance, and with the same system of colonial profit-amassing and plunder, would have behaved otherwise.”
—Han Suyin (b. 1917)
“Other nations use “force”; we Britons alone use “Might.””
—Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966)