Korea rugby drops to 4th place in Shanghai

Already on Saturday afternoon the regulars were shaking their heads and asking "have Korea brought their B team this year?"....even die-hard Korea fans who know their team start wobbly and finish strong in Shanghai were wondering whether the team was really up to it this year. With narrow wins and a thumping loss to HK in the round rbin (hastily re-set to two groups of 5 from the previously planned 4 groups of 3, following the withdrawal of Japan and the Kazakh's government refusal to buy their team some plane tickets), Korea got drawn against China in the semis and should have been favourities to go through but this time, China got their noses in front, then built a very strong lead that despite being pegged back by two second half tries by Korea, were comfortable winners. In the final, Hong Kong reigned supreme, disappointing the local crowd with a very one-sided victory, a far cry from the exctitement seen last year.
The crowd was disappointingly thin throughout, perhaps put off by the rain on Saturday and the hot sun on Sunday. For Korea fans, we hope that the team is re-building, but frankly, we dount it. For the record, Kim Won Young still looks the pick of the bunch for Korea....