The Asian 5 Nations battle for third place ended with the Philippines falling to South Korea 22-52 in a match played in Southern Plains field in Laguna on Saturday 24 May. 

The favored Koreans were hot off the mark with two quick tries in the opening minutes of the game. The hosts held their own by responding with tries from Volcanoes captain, Oliver Saunders and full back Michael Letts. A successful conversion and penalty kick, also by the Philippines’ skipper saw the first half end with Korea leading the Philippines 28 – 15.

The visiting team started the second half much like the first, with two quick tries and successful conversions. The Volcanoes replied with a try from an interception by Matt Saunders, successfully converted by Alexander Aronson which brought the score to 22 – 47 in favor of Korea. Errors by the host team allowed Korea one more try in the last five minutes of the game resulting in a full time score of 22 – 52. 

“It was a tough game. Korea played very well and we made it hard for ourselves especially in the 2nd half with too many mistakes and not playing enough territory” said Captain Oliver Saunders after the match. “In saying that, we never gave up and played hard to the final whistle. Always proud of our team’s efforts.”

The result means that the Philippines finishes in its original rank of fourth in the Asian 5 Nations series and will join fifth place Sri Lanka as the top seeds in Division 1 next year, with Kazakhstan and Singapore. The new grouping is a result of the competition’s restructuring the Elite Division from Asia’s top five teams, to just three.

Of the series, Saunders further shares, “It’s been a hard 6 weeks for our squad. Each week we have improved our performance and that's something important that we always focus on doing. We saw a lot of new faces in the team this season, and that showed early on in the campaign, but they all gelled into our squad quickly.”

In closing, Saunders shared his thoughts on what’s next for the Volcanoes. “After maintaining our number four ranking in Asian 15s, hopefully we can do well in the Sevens arena too.” Rugby Sevens is the faster version of the game which will be played in the Asian Games in September. 

The Philippine Rugby Football Union is proud to announce the players that have been selected for the Philippines' Asian 5 Nations match against South Korea on Saturday, May 24.

Head coach: Stuart Woodhouse
Asst. coach: Nathan Holman
Manager: Matthew Cullen
Physiotherapist: Dean Mottee

The match will be played at 3:30pm on Saturday, May 24 at the Southern Plains Field, Calamba Laguna (Silangan Exit). Admission is free.

The winner of the match will earn a third place finish in the A5N Premier Division. Due to the restructuring of the competition in 2015 reducing the top tier teams from five to only three, the losing team will join Sri Lanka in Division 1 next year.

The Asian 5 Nations is the premier Rugby Union competition in Asia held among the top five national Rugby sides in the region: Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong,  Philippines and Sri Lanka.

For more information on the A5N visit: www.asian5nations.com

The PRFU was delighted once again to be invited to this year's Philippine National Games (PNG) by the Philippine Sports Commission and Philippine Olympic Committee. The games were held last May 17 at Nomad Sports Club in Merville Subdivision, Parañaque City. 

This year's PNG 7s saw an increase in number of registered teams. From last year's 12 men's teams and 4 women's teams, this year saw 15 men's teams and 4 women's teams. Now on it's third year, this PNG 7s was made more special with the debuts of three regional teams - the Davao Durians, the Cagayan de Oro Rugby Club, and the Cebu Lady Dragons.

Rugby 7s is an exciting sport and promotes action, speed, agility and teamwork. It is a perfect sport for any young Filipino athletes who enjoy the challenge of playing a dynamic contact sport. The PRFU restricted participation to the PNG Rugby 7s tournament to Filipino Heritage players only.  It was exciting to see over 200 Filipino athletes take the field to compete to become the top Rugby 7s teams in the country.

The mighty Alabang Eagles team captured the Cup division title for the third consecutive year with a 45-0 win against the CBRE Maverick Vipers A. Composed by Volcanoes and National Development Team players, the Eagles proved once again why they are the best sevens team in the country.  They scored a whopping total of 126 points for the whole tournament with no points scored against them. Rupert Zappia set up most of his team’s tries and was later awarded the MVP medal. The CBRE Maverick Vipers A team fought hard in the finals game but was outran and out muscled by the more experienced Eagles team. The Maverick Vipers had to overcome a gutsy Cebu Dragons side in the semis to earn the right to face the Eagles. The Maverick Vipers team won by a successful conversion kick (14-12) to gain a spot in the finals. 

The women’s division finals match was once again the most exciting game in the tournament. Manila-based Xena won by a slim margin (14-12) against VISMIN’s pride, the Cebu Lady Dragons. With both teams having a record of 2 wins and a draw after the pool rounds, it was the Cebu ladies which topped the ranking with 35 F-A points compared to Xena’s 27 F-A points. Awesome defense by both ends resulted to scoreless 2 minutes into the game.  An opportunity opened up for Xena when an overlap of players on the blind side of a ruck 80 meters from the score line saw a 2 versus 1 situation. Winger Nikki Lira used her superb speed to outrun her defender and score in between the posts to score the game’s first try. It was skipper Ada Milby who ran the length of the field to score Xena’s second try when an advantage was given after a knock on play. Both tries were converted and half time score was 14-0 for Xena.

Cebu Lady Dragons were able to regroup on the break and came out on fire at the second half. Skipper Luisa Jordan led the charge with a huge tackle and counter ruck right after their kick off. The Lady Dragons stole the ball and caught Xena unprepared for defense. Ching Alerta found a gap and scored the Lady Dragons’ first try of the match which was successfully converted.  With a few minutes remaining in the match, Jordan made a break on the wing 60 meters from the try line and was able to offload the ball to a supporting Dixie Yu.  Yu outran her defenders and scored her team’s second try. Try wasn't converted and score remained at 14-12. Few seconds remained in the match and Xena only needed to maintain possession of the ball while the Lady Dragons needed to steal the ball. A penalty for a high tackle from a Cebu player gave the chance to Xena to kick out the ball and secure their win. Hats off to both teams for a very exciting and intense finals match for PNG 7s. Lira was awarded the MVP of the tournament for scoring the most points for her team and for her courageous defense. Watch these teams play again against each other in the PRFU Women’s 15s Invitational tournament next month.

Alabang Ibons won the Plate championship against the QCPU Questors B team with a score of 15-7. The Ibons team, composed mostly of former university basketball players, used their size to their advantage against the speedy QCPU boys. Most of these players only started playing the sport mid last year and has already shown a lot of potential because of their natural athletic abilities. The QCPU boys played well and managed to sneak in a try and conversion but time was not enough for them to make a comeback. Ibons’ Kenneth Balasote was awarded the Plate MVP.  

University rivals QCPU Questors A and UMAK Herons A faced off again in a finals match for this year’s PNG 7s. Last year, the QCPU boys beat the UMAK boys in a tightly-contested Plate finals match to secure their gold medal finish. This year, QCPU gave the same results and won 15-0 to secure another gold medal finish. Because of his speed and strength combination and overall team leadership, QCPU captain Mark Jerald Esteban was awarded the MVP of the Bowl division.

Newly formed Cagayan de Oro Rugby Club proved they are a team to watch out for in the future when they won the Shield finals match (27-5) against the UMAK Herons B. Playing only for a few months, the Rafters impressed the spectators with their impressive tackling technique and strength in contact. Noel Villa, founder and playing coach for the Rafters, led the team’s attack. Luis Banaag showed everyone that there’s no backing out in a game of Rugby when he continued to play the remaining games after he got hit hard from a previous game. For his courageous effort, he was awarded the Shield MVP medal.  

The PNG allowed the PRFU to showcase the growing sport of Rugby 7s and the Filipino athletes were extremely proud to compete to win National PSC medals. Rugby 7s is now played at the SEA, Asian and Olympic Games, and the PSC are looking to build further Rugby 7s programs to claim medals at these events.

The PRFU would like to thank the Philippine Sports Commission for inviting Rugby 7s to be a sport once again at the 2014 Philippine National Games and Nomad Sports Club for once again hosting the tournament.

Official PNG results that are registered with the Philippine Sports Commission for 2014:


GOLD MEDAL

SILVER MEDAL

BRONZE MEDAL

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER

Men's Cup Division: Rupert Zappia
Ladies Division: Nikki Lira
Men's Plate Division: Kenneth Balasote
Men's Bowl Division: Mark Jerald Estebam
Men's Shield Division: Luis Banaag

FINAL RANKINGS


Cup Division
Alabang Eagles
CBRE Maverick Vipers A
Clark Rugby Club
Cebu Dragons


Women's Division
Xena
Cebu Lady Dragons
UMAK Lady Herons
QCPU Lady Questors


Plate Division
Alabang Ibons
QCPU Questors B
Immortals
Davao Durians


Bowl Division
QCPU Questors A
UMAK Herons A
MAAP Warriors B
CBRE Maverick Vipers B


Shield Division
CDO Rugby Club
UMAK Herons B
MAAP Warriors A

Photo gallery (All  photos on this page by Mark Cristino)

The Philippine Volcanoes snatched a win from Sri Lanka’s clutches at the last second of play at the Asian 5 Nations tournament in Colombo.

The host country scored first with a penalty kick early in the first half which was answered by the Volcanoes with a try from perennial scorer, Matt Saunders. The rest of the first half was a seesaw battle which ended with the Philippines leading 19 – 17, with the Volcanoes’ tries coming from David Feeney, Steve Howorth and two conversions by Captain Oliver Saunders.

A try from an unlucky bounce and a converted penalty kick gave Sri Lanka the lead in the second half with the Volcanoes failing to capitalize on one of the Tuskers getting sent off the field with a yellow card. With the score at 25 – 19 in favor of Sri Lanka in the 86th minute (overtime due to time lost for injuries) Volcanoes scrum-half Jake Letts drove the ball over the Tuskers forward pack for a try, bringing the score to 25 – 24. Fly half Alex Aronson was tasked to convert the try for an additional 2 points. Aronson’s kick was unsuccessful, however the referee declared that the Tuskers charged towards the Philippine kicker too early and ordered a re-kick. Aronson’s second attempt from 23 meters was successful, giving the Philippines a 26-25 victory over Sri Lanka.

"It was a brutal encounter and a great win away from home in front of a vocal home ground" said Head Coach Stu Woodhouse after the match.  "It was Sri Lanka's last game and we showed some good character to overcome the odds late in the game to come away with our first win." 

The Volcanoes’ most-capped player Jake Letts had this to say about his heroic try “It just happened so quickly. I saw a little gap and was able to dart through. The next thing I remember, I was forcing myself to score the try. I was worried that I would lose the ball. Luckily, I didn’t.”

“For the second kick I just thought that this was the moment that you dream of when you play sports” shared Alex Aronson, “I tried to calm myself down, go through my routine and just kick it. I’m just glad it was successful. I don’t know what I would have done if I let my teammates down; they all played so hard.”

“Our boys showed a lot of resilience. I’m very proud of our team for never giving up. The culture & brotherhood that the Volcanoes have is something special to be a part of. It’s great to finally give our supporters a win.” said Captain Oliver Saunders. 

The victory gives the Philippines its first win in the A5N series, ensuring that the Volcanoes don’t finish at the bottom of the Elite Division in 2014.
 
The Volcanoes face South Korea on home soil in their final game of the series on Saturday, May 24 at Southern Plains Field in Laguna.

May’s Get Into Rugby(GIR) Festival Juniors Tournament sponsored by CBRE for 2014 was held on May 3rd at the Southern Plains Eagles Nest Clubhouse.  Running as a morning festival in preparation for the afternoon game between Japan and the Philippine Volcanoes for the A5N series, there was an impressive turnout for the day including the newly formed Marikina Juniors and Alabang Eagles Juniors teams.

The u10 games between BSM and Eagles Juniors started the day off with a big win for the new team playing in their first tournament. Winning two games and one draw, the Eagles Juniors are off to a promising start. The U12 division proved to be more difficult for the Eagles as they played against the very established teams like CRC and SOS. Their knowledge and game experience clearly made a difference in their games. Hapons came out looking to set the precedence like their senior side would play in the afternoon and played with fervor and discipline. They won two of their 3 games, with just a marginal loss to CRC at 1-2. Mavericks had good day in this division as they pushed to play four games instead of the standard three. Quest SOS, Leighton Tuloy, and CRC continue to be powerhouses in this division either winning or drawing all their games. 

The u14 division included the debut of the Marikina Juniors. They didn’t win their games, but they learned a lot from these first games and are excited about returning for future tournaments.   All teams played well but the game to watch in this division was between CBRE Mavericks and Leighton Tuloy. A tight game with both teams battling to come out on top. In the final moments, Tuloy scored the winning try for a final score of 4-3.

The lower final scores in the u16 division, show that defensive skills are developing in this age group. The mainstay teams like Leighton Tuloy, CRC and Quest SOS continue to lead the packs, but up and coming teams like G4S Childhope and HMR Southridge and Don Bosco teams are putting up good fights and the scores continue to narrow. 

The tournament was followed by the Asian 5 Nations game between the Philippine Volcanoes and 13th ranked team in the world, Japan. Players from the juniors teams joined the Volcanoes and the Hapons joined Japan on the field for the playing of national anthems to round out this full day of rugby. Thank you to Alabang Eagles, CBRE and all our sponsors for a successful tournament. The next GIR Festival Juniors Tournament sponsored by CBRE is scheduled for August 30.