Hong Kong China will appear at their first Men's Rugby World Cup tournament after winning their sixth consecutive Asia Rugby Emirates Men's Championship title in style.
Andrew Douglas' side completed a clean sweep of wins in the region's premier men's 15s tournament with a 70-22 win over hosts Korea, despite conceding a 20-minute red card near the end of the first half. The game had been effectively sewn up by then, with Hong Kong China taking a 42-3 lead into the break.
In a clinical all-round performance, forwards Alex Post and captain and number eight Joshua Hrstich bagged a brace of tries, while fly-half Nathan de Thierry was flawless off the tee, with nine kicks out of nine, before he was stretchered off with an arm injury with 14 minutes remaining. De Thierry was later named Player of the Match.
Hong Kong China had kicked off the tournament with a 43-10 victory against the United Arab Emirates before backing it up with a 78-7 win against Sri Lanka.
On confirming their place in Australia, Hong Kong China will become the 11th new team to appear at a Rugby World Cup since the tournament's inception in 1987.
Meanwhile, as the second-placed side in the Asia Rugby Men's Championship, the United Arab Emirates still have a chance of joining them in Australia. They will now meet the Rugby Africa Men's Cup runners-up for the right to compete at the Final Qualification Tournament.
"It's been overwhelming to be honest, just super proud of our playing group, our management, our coaching staff, people behind the scenes, there is a lot that goes into making a team successful," said an emotional Hrstich in a post-match interview.
"Also, the families and fans who have travelled, there is a lot of sacrifice, so thinking of all those people and just being grateful to them for giving us an opportunity to be great.
"We do have high expectations of ourselves and Korea, we knew they would put up a good fight, and they had a really good purple patch and tested us. I just want to congratulate them on another good ARC and wish them all the best going forward."
PEFECT START
In bright and breezy conditions in Incheon, Matt Worley got the reigning champions off to the perfect start when he finished off a well-worked set-piece move for his 17th try in 15 tests with just two minutes gone.
Korea then came away with points from their first visit to Hong Kong China's 22, thanks to Hyungoo Jang's penalty, but the momentum quickly swung back in the visitors' favour, especially when Namuk Kim was sent to the sin-bin for repeated team infringements.
Post, the most-capped player in Hong Kong China's squad, crossed twice from a driving maul, and in between those scores, Hrstich controlled the ball expertly at the back of an advancing scrum and Paul Altier showed his finishing ability to step and gas the Korean defence to run in a try from 50 metres out.
The flawless Nathan de Thierry nailed each of his conversions to make the most of each try, and it was all looking way too comfortable for Hong Kong China until Korea belatedly managed to get a foothold in the game.
After conceding points at a rate of one a minute, Korea enjoyed their best spell in the final five minutes of the first half. However, they were unable to capitalise, spurning three visits into the Hong Kong China 22 through missed lineouts and a forward pass.
20-MINUTE RED
Midway through this period of dominance, Hong Kong China were reduced to 14 men when outside centre Benjamin Axten-Burrett was given a 20-minute red card for making contact with the head of winger Yongheung Chang, Korea's liveliest threat.
Despite this setback, Hong Kong China managed to land one more blow before half-time after a brilliant piece of opportunism from flanker Bradley Janes. Hong Kong China lost an attacking lineout eight metres out, but Janes piled through to strip the ball off a Korean player and muscled his way over to score, De Thierry again converting to complete a perfect set of goal kicks in the first half.
Any thoughts that the second half would be an uphill battle for Hong Kong China were quickly dispelled when winger Harry Sayers crossed within five minutes of the restart. Taking scrappy ball from an attacking lineout, scrum-half Jack Combes rolled over and then sprang to his feet before darting through the defence and passing to Sayers, who strolled home.
Tom Hill had a try chalked off for offside not long after, but they didn't have to wait long for their next score, Hrstich going over from close range.
KOREA HIT BACK
The home crowd hadn't had much to cheer about, but finally, Korea's exciting back three clicked and Chang sped home in the left-hand corner. Following de Thierry's example, Jang slotted a brilliant conversion.
Hong Kong China retaliated with a brilliant individual try from sevens star Max Denmark. Making the most of his first opportunity with ball in hand, Denmark announced his arrival off the bench with an hour gone by fending off four tackles to score.
Not to be outdone, Chang came up with an excellent read to intercept a floated pass and race home for his second of the match. The excellent goal-kicking continued with Jang nailing the conversion, to bring the score back to 63-17 in Hong Kong China's favour.
It suited Korea that the game had opened up, and a big carry from Kim, following a break from winger Yeonsik Jeong, threatened to bring them a third try until the ball was lost in contact on the edge of the Hong Kong China 22. But with the bench making a big impact, there was no stopping replacement hooker Okgi Noh from crashing over from the back of a maul.
With the sapping heat taking its toll on the players, the pace of the game dropped off in the final 10 minutes. But shortly after Jeong received Korea's second yellow card, Luke van der Smit powered over for one last try, Altier converting in De Thierry's absence, to make the final score 70-22.
