Alabang Ibons vs. Globe The JML PRFU 10s League kicked off with a bang this Saturday at Southern Plains, Eagles Nest. First up was the women’s division with a battle between the warrior princesses. It was a tough start with both teams playing on pretty equal terms, with team Xena winning the first game by 24-20. Team Athena put their foot down in the second game against Xena and ran away with a 22-5 victory. The first men’s game showed that there are plenty of local talent in the youthful CRC team who defeated the Vipers 66-24. They displayed excellent ball skills and constantly created gaps in the opposition defence. The Vipers on the other hand were focused on their forwards and tried to play the game up the middle of the field, this style of play was not enough to best the fast feet and hands of the youthful CRC team. The CBRE Juniors Touch Rugby Tournament was held last Saturday, January 26, 2013, at International School Manila field in Fort, Taguig City. The first juniors’ tournament of the year featured the participation of a total of 14 teams from various schools, clubs and foundations. A total of 24 matches were played by the children. About a 100 kids played under the scorching hot sun hoping to prove that they are the best juniors’ team in their age group. All teams are part of the PRFU Juniors Development Program. Australia Intl. School Newly formed Australian International School Rugby team made its debut when they played in the Under 10s and Under 12s divisions. The new team managed to show everyone that they have the skills to compete against the more experienced teams like Clark Rugby Club and British School Manila. In the end they were able to score a few times against the veteran teams, making them a team to watch out in the future leagues. Clark Rugby Club proved to be the team to beat when then they outclassed everyone in the under 8, 10, and 12 divisions, while the Tuloy Foundation dominated the under 14’s and under 16s division outpacing everyone and dominating their division. The other teams did not give CRC and Tuloy an easy fight. Bulacan Rugby Club and Childhope Foundation showed a lot of potential despite being the underdogs. All the matches were fairly close but in the end the veteran teams claimed victorious. It was a good day of touch rugby. All the kids were enthusiastic despite the hot weather conditions and back to back games. The tournament saw the u8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 teams compete in the Touch Rugby competition from 8.30am – 11.30am. The teams who participated were:
The next round of the CBRE Juniors League will be on Saturday, February 16, 2013.
In 2011 the International School of Manila embarked on beefing up the Rugby Union program and under the leadership of Bill Brown this program has resulted in immediate results with the ISM teams winning all three of the 2013 MANSAC Schoolboys Divisions. ISM led the way in 2011 by introducing a middle school program and this was quickly followed by both BSM and EIS which allowed the first middle school competition to take place in the 2012/13 schoolboys series. It was also fantastic to see the introduction of the Clark Rugby Club into the schoolboys’ series and the all Filipino club from Pampanga entered teams in the Middle School and Junior varsity divisions. The 2013 MANSAC Schools tournament saw a record number of teams enter in the three divisions, Varsity, Junior Varsity and Middle School. These included Brent International School, Faith Academy, International School of Manila, European International School, British School Manila, and Clark Rugby Club. Teams from these schools played every Friday and Saturday from late November 2012 to the last weekend in January 2013 and cherished the opportunity to play competitive rugby union for their schools and clubs. Varsity
The competition in each division was intense with all teams winning games throughout the tournament and the occasional draw to throw a spanner in the works. It wasn't until the finals that ISM started to show their depth and strength when they ran out winners in the Varsity Boys final by 45 – 12 over Faith Academy. This ISM team will travel to Kuala Lumpur to now play in the ISAIS International Schoolboys regional finals and they will be very competitive coming of a successful season in the MANAC competition. The Varsity Final featured a host of players who played in the Philippine National u16s and u18s teams in 2012 and this set the platform for an exciting finals series. Congratulations to the ISM Varsity Boys team and coaching staff for a stellar season and good luck in the IASIS schoolboy’s competition. Junior Varsity The Junior Varsity semi finals were the closest fought games of the finals with ISM winning a close semi final by defeating Faith Academy 25 – 12. The second semi final proved to be the game of the day when Clark Rugby Club scored in the last minute to defeat BSM by 14 – 10. BSM had dominated much of the field position and led the game at halftime, it wasn’t until CRC received a penalty from a restart that they were able to show their fabulous attacking flair as they passed the ball from one side of the field to the other and put together eight attacking phases that eventually led to score the winning try. The Junior Varsity final was a one sided affair with the dominate ISM forwards controlling much of the match and it was obvious that the CRC were tiring from their hard fought semi final win. ISM claimed the Junior Varsity trophy by winning the final by 51 – 0. Middle School The Middle School boy’s finals witnessed EIS play ISM. Both these teams had faced off during the season and were very even entering the finals series. EIS had defeated BSM in their semi final by 45 – 7 and a strong ISM squad defeated CRC by 45 – 7. This set up a great showdown in the final. It was ISM who started the first half with a dominate display running in the first three tries and taking a 15 point lead. EIS then scored a try before the halftime break and showed glimpses of their attacking talent. ISM came out and closed the final out by 41 – 12 and claimed the schools third trophy for this year’s MANSAC schoolboys series. The 2012/13 MANSAC Schoolboys Rugby 10s Competition has been one of the most successful in recent years and all the schoolboy teams are improving and numbers are increasing. This bodes well for the selection of the Philippine National u14; u16 and u19s teams for 2013 and all the schoolboy players will have an opportunity to trial for these teams in the second half of 2013. A final word of thanks and appreciation must go to both ISM and BSM for allowing the tournament to be held at their rugby fields throughout the season. It was a great year of rugby for the all teams involved and the coaches and team managers must also be congratulated for the sportsmanship that was displayed throughout the tournament. Looking forward to seeing everyone back again for the 2013/14 MANSAC schoolboy’s season and playing rugby in the CBRE Junior Leagues and hopefully Philippine National teams in 2013. The PRFU were delighted to be invited to the 2012 Philippine National Games(PNG) by the Philippine Sports Commission and Philippine Olympic Committee. The games were held at in Sta Cruz, Laguna and Governor Jorge “ER” Ejercito Estregan was extremely supportive to host the Rugby 7s event and showcase this Olympic sport to everyone at the newly renovated RECS Sports Stadium. Eight Men’s teams and three women’s teams registered to compete for the inaugural Philippine National Games Gold, Silver and Bronze medals. The Men’s Division had the Eagles, Ibons, Bison/Tarsiers, Globe Immortals, MAAP Warriors, CBRE Vipers and Mavericks, Clark Rugby Club teams in competition, while the Women had Team Xena, MAAP Lady Warriors and Nomads. It was an early start with the PRFU supplying a bus for the participants to make the three hour journey south. The sun was shining and temperatures soared to the high thirties as the teams took the field to play Rugby 7s in the aim of winning positions for the upcoming SEA Games, which will be held in Myanmar in 2013. Rugby 7s is an exciting sport and promotes action, speed, agility and teamwork and 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 150 Filipino athletes take the field to compete to become the top Rugby 7s teams in the country. The Men’s competition saw the teams do battle in a round robin format and then break into A and B Divisions for the finals. The Alabang Eagles were ranked the number one team entering the competition and they would have to face some formidable opponents in the top division. The semi finals were the Eagles against the newly formed CBRE Vipers, which the Eagles won to move through to the final. In the other semi-final the young guns from Clark Rugby Club (CRC) who were all ex Bahay Bata orphanage players proved that size in Rugby 7s is not everything as they ran around their opponents displaying deft rugby skills and teamwork. Displaying excellent teamwork, the 16 – 18 year old Foundation players defeated their bigger and older opponents, the Globe Immortals, to set up a David and Goliath encounter in the Men’s A Division Gold Medal game. On this occasion, it was the Eagles who proved too strong for their younger counterparts and they won the inaugural PNG Final by 29 – 5. The Eagles thoroughly deserved this win and have written their names in the history books as the first Men’s team to win a PNG Gold Medal in Rugby 7s. The Men’s B Division Final was played between the MAAP Warriors and the newly formed Rugby 101 club the Bison-Tarsiers. It was a tribute to see the oldest Filipino Rugby Club, the MAAP Warriors play in this final, especially when they had travelled overnight all the way from Bataan. The MAAP Warriors had shown glimpses of brilliance throughout the round games and stalwart coaches Rick Hartley and Tony Shibley worked with the players to tighten up the defense for the final. This tactic certainly worked as MAAP ran out winners by 22 – 5. It was a great victory for the Warriors and is a tribute to the pioneer Filipino Rugby Club that they won their first ever PNG medal. The Women’s Final was the best game of the day. Both the Nomads and Team Xena sides had several National Team players and this proved to be the ingredient for an exciting and competitive final. Both sides were locked at 7 all at the final siren and it wasn’t until National team legend, Manila Santos, broke through the Nomads’ defense in extra time to score a runaway try from 60m out. The Golden Point gave Team Xena the Women’s Division Gold 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 the inviting Rugby 7s to be a sport at the 2012 Philippine National Games and Governor Jeorge “ER” Ejercito Estregan for hosting the tournament at the world class RECS Sports Stadium in Sta Cruz Laguna. Both PSC Commissioner, Jolly Gomez (PSC Commissioner) and Governor ER attended the PNG awards ceremony and were delighted at the level of skill, participation and sportsmanship displayed by all the Filipino teams that played in the 2012 Rugby 7s Philippine National Games tournament. Official PNG results that are registered with the Philippine Sports Commission for 2012: GOLD MEDAL SILVER MEDAL BRONZE MEDAL Photo gallery (all photos on this page by Michael Fernandez)
The PRFU is happy to announce announce that the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) have invited the PRFU to enter Rugby 7s as an official sport in the 2012 Philippine National Games. The Philippine National Games is an annual sports competition run by the POC & PSC as one of the qualifying competitions for selection in the upcoming South East Asian Games which will take place in Myanmar in 2013. National Sporting Associations were invited to host National League Competitions from May – June 2012 in PSC-sanctioned venues. The main section of the National Games (18 sports) were held in Dumaguete from May 26-June 2, while the remaining sports will host their National Games at either Rizal National Stadium, RECS Stadium in Sta. Cruz, Laguna and other venues throughout the country. The PRFU will host Rugby 7’s at the RECS Stadium in Laguna on Saturday, June 23 which will be the first time that Rugby Union will participate in the Philippine National Games. The PRFU have invited Filipino Heritage players from all PRFU clubs to participate in the event and will focus on promoting teams and players who can ultimately vie for positions in the National Rugby 7s teams which will compete at the SEA , Asian Games and 2016 Olympics. The PRFU have also invited the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) to also attend the one day competition in Sta Cruz as the PRFU look to start new development programs with the military in 2012. Among the teams that have confirmed participation are the Globe Immortals, Raging Bison, Tarsiers, Mavericks, Manila Vipers, Eagles, Maritime Academy of Asia Pacific (MAAP) and Team Xena. Members of the Philippine Volcanoes National Rugby team will also be on hand to lend their support to this event. For more information on the Philippine National Games, visit: http://png.psc.gov.ph/ |
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