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Match results of PRFU 7s League held last September 13, 2014 at Nomad Sports Club, Parañaque City. Congratulations to all the winning teams! CUP DIVISION: CHAMPION: Alabang Eagles 1st runner up: Alabang Falcons 2nd runner up: Makati Mavericks A 3rd runner up: Manila Nomads PLATE DIVISION: CHAMPION: Makati Mavericks B 1st runner up: Immortals 2nd runner up: Alabang Ibons 3rd runner up: Manila Hapons WOMEN'S DIVISION: CHAMPION: Xena 1st runner up: UMAK BOWL DIVISION: CHAMPION: Clark Jets 1st runner up: UMAK 2nd runner up: Questors 3rd runner up: Makati Mavericks C 4th runner up: MAAP Warriors    The Association of Local Colleges and Universities (ALCU) Games were held last Monday and Tuesday, March 3-4, 2014, at University of Makati oval. This tournament marked the third time Touch Rugby was included in the association's calendar sports. Three women's teams and three men's teams competed for the champion title in their respective divisions.  In the men's division matches, it was host school University of Makati (UMAK) Herons and the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) who battled it out for league supremacy. The rookie team Taguig City University (TCU) fought hard on all their games but were ultimately bested by the other teams' experience. The finals match between UMAK and PLM was the highlight of the tournament. UMAK Herons, who had the home field advantage and the cheers from a predominantly UMAK crowd, made their presence felt early with a diving try just seconds after the kick off. PLM capitalized on a defensive error and made a break on the wing to score their first try of the game. It was a seesaw battle from then as both teams answered back try after try. A yellow card issued to a UMAK player gave PLM the chance to win the match but the UMAK boys' awesome defense prevented them from doing so. Full time ended and the score was still 4-4 draw. Extra time was needed to determine the winner of the match. A draw and pass to the wing 3 minutes into extra time gave the PLM boys the golden point they needed to secure the crown. Hats off to both team for playing well in the finals match.  In the ladies matches, University of Makati (UMAK) Herons and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) battled it out for the women’s title. The UMAK Lady Herons, led by three national team standouts, were undefeated in the round games. PLM had a draw in their round game against the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Muntinlupa (PLMun) but due to higher for-against quotient, they were able to secure their spot in the finals. The Lady Herons experience and teamwork gave them an advantage against the newly-formed PLM team. Despite this advantage, PLM still managed to score a try against UMAK. Match ended with a 6-1 win for the UMAK ladies. Good job to both teams for a well-fought match. This tournament introduced Rugby's new “set and roll” rule. Traditionally, players put the ball on the ground and stepped over it upon being touched. Under the new rule, players had to kneel on one or both knees upon getting touched. Two handed touch below the chest level was also implemented plus the 'open play' option when ball is knocked back. The quick line out rule was also introduced in this year's games. This variation is more consistent with the rules of full contact rugby. All teams were able to adjust to the new rule and played fun, high-level games throughout the tournament. ALCU Games is an annual event. PRFU's goals are to include more member schools in the rugby division and be able to play full contact rugby 7s matches in the future.  The Alabang Eagles Rugby Club proved once again they are the best 7s team in the country. After they made history as Philippine National Games Rugby 7s inaugural champions last June, the Eagles won the Cup finals in the PRFU Head & Shoulders 7s League last October 26, 2013 at Nomads Sports Club.  Led by Volcano player Tim Bweheni and National Development Team player Jovic Paypon, they beat a gutsy Cebu Dragons side 24-0. The boys from Alabang showed a combination of speed and strength plus awesome teamwork. The Dragons, led by former Volcano Noel Flowers, fought hard until the last second but failed to answer the Eagles' attacks. Great job to both teams for this hard-fought and exciting finals match. Finals MVP was awarded to Jovic Paypon. In the Plate finals, it was the Alabang Ibons who ran away with the trophy with a convincing win 38-0 over the Manila Hapons. Former Volcano David Carman led the Ibons' attack while teammate Johnny Leo scored the tries by using his stepping skills and superb speed. Leo was later awarded the MVP of the finals match.  The Bowl finals saw a David vs Goliath matchup between the Falcons and the Clark Rugby Club Boys. The CRC boys, despite the disadvantage in height, showed everyone why 7s rugby is a game of speed. With Falcons leading most of the game, the CRC boys almost made a comeback with their 2 hard-earned tries in the last few minutes. Full time and score ended with a 21-12 Falcons win over CRC. For his outstanding effort and never-give-up attitude, CRC's Michael Maralas was named the finals MVP.  Cebu Lady Dragons captured the Women's division 7s crown with a 26-0 win over rival Manila Mayhem. Finals MVP Aiumi Ono, led the Lady Dragons' attack during the finals game. Manila Mayhem gave a good fight despite the absence due to injuries of 3 of their key players. Great job to both teams and congratulations to the Cebu Lady Dragons for a well-deserved win. This finals match was the Lady Dragons' tribute game to their long-time captain, Ono, who is set to leave for Japan in a few weeks. She is one of the pioneers of the Lady Volcanoes 7s and 15s squad and a PRFU Regional Development Officer. PRFU wishes miss Aiumi Ono best of luck. The union highly-appreciates her contributions to the development of the grassroots program in the country.                No team photo:
Manila Nomads (Cup) Makati Mavericks (Plate) Falcons (Bowl) UMAK Questors (Bowl) Clark Rugby Club (Bowl)  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 June 1 at Nomad Sports Club in Merville Subdivision, Parañaque City. Twelve men’s teams and four women’s teams registered to compete at the second Philippine National Games. The Men’s Division had the Alabang Eagles, CBRE Maverick Vipers teams A and B, Nomads-CRC, Cebu Dragons, Globe Blacks, Globe Blues, Globe Classics, University of Makati Herons, Quezon City Polytechnic University Questors teams A and B, and Clark Jets Rugby teams in competition. The Women's Division had Team Athena, Team Xena, University of Makati Lady Herons, and Quezon City Polytechnic University Lady Questors. 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 Men’s competition saw the teams battle in a round robin format in their respective pools and then break into Cup, Plate, and Bowl for the finals. The Alabang Eagles, Cebu Dragons, CBRE Maverick Vipers A, and Nomads-CRC were ranked the number one team in their respective pools after the round games. Thus, these teams entered the Cup Division. It was the debutante university teams, QCPU team A and UMAK, who surprised everyone and managed to win against more experienced teams in their pools. These universities have only been playing the sport for almost a year now but they proved that rugby 7s is their forte. They proved that size in Rugby 7s is not everything as they ran around their opponents, displaying deft rugby skills and teamwork. As a result, they came in second in their pools and entered the Plate Division for the finals. They were joined by Globe Blacks and Globe Classics in that division. QCPU team B, Globe Blues, CBRE Maverick Vipers team B, and Clark Jets made up the Bowl Division after the pool rounds.  The Women's Division saw the more experienced teams winning over the debutante teams. Team Athena and Team Xena, both led by some Lady Volcanoes players, won over the university teams in their round robin games. QCPU Lady Questors and UMAK Lady Herons gave good fights but it was the experience in playing rugby 7s that spelled the difference for these teams. At the end of the round games, it was Team Xena who ranked first by beating Team Athena 17-0. In a tightly contested match, UMAK beat QCPU 5-0, making them 3rd ranked going into the finals. In the Bowl finals, CBRE Maverick Vipers team B proved too strong for their younger counterparts and claimed the gold by winning 19 – 0 over QCPU Team B. Clark Jets, who are all former Bahay Bata orphanage players, easily won over Globe Blues 26-0 to claim the bronze medal. These kids, who are mostly 14 to 18 years old, defeated their bigger and older opponents with their superb speed and excellent teamwork. Rivals UMAK and QCPU team A faced off in the Plate finals after beating their opponents in contrasting fashion in the semis. UMAK cruised past Globe Classics 27-10, to gain a spot in the finals. QCPU team A had to overcome a tough and physical Globe Blacks team in the semis. QCPU team A was able to prevail over the Blacks 10-5 in another tightly-contested match. Final score for the Plate finals gold medal match was QCPU team A 19 to 5 UMAK Herons. Globe Blacks won over the Globe Classics 19-7 in the battle for bronze.  In the Women's finals, Team Athena made their presence felt early as they scored a try of a loose ball 3 minutes into the match. It was more of a defensive battle after as both teams were tackling hard to prevent each other from gaining ground. Just before the half, a gap in the defensive line of Xena opened up and gave another scoring chance for Athena. Half time score was 12-0 in favor of Athena. Xena was able to regroup after the break and made use of their forwards to crash through defence and gain ground. Unfortunately, errors in catching the ball stopped Xena's momentum and turned things around. With seconds winding down, an interception off a pass enabled Athena to seal their win 17-0 and gave them the gold in the women's division. On the other hand, UMAK Lady Herons relied on speed and strength to win over their university rival, QCPU Lady Questors, 20-0 and capture the bronze.  The Cup finals saw last year's winners, Alabang Eagles, battle against the much-improved CBRE Maverick Vipers team A in a classic showdown. Alabang Eagles had to beat PNG debutantes Cebu Dragons 19-0 first to gain a spot in the finals. CBRE Mavericks team A had to overcome the speedsters of Nomads-CRC and beat them 10-0 to be able to face the Eagles in the finals. The Eagles proved too strong for the Mavericks as the defending champions scored tries off crisp passing and excellent footwork. Mavericks gave their all, scoring a try from an offload from their speedy backs and another one from excellent passing on their forwards side. Both tries were converted but it wasn't enough to dethrone the defending champions. Once again, the Eagles proved to everyone why they are the best 7s team here in the country. As a result, they won the gold again with a score of 26-14. Hats off to the Mavericks for giving a really good fight. Cebu Dragons won over the Nomads-CRC 19-7 in the bronze medal match. Not wanting to come home empty-handed, the Dragons showed no mercy and relied on their structure and awesome speed at the wings to outlast their rivals and win the bronze. 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 2013 Philippine National Games and Nomad Sports Club for hosting the tournament. PSC Commissioner Jose Luis "Jolly" Gomez, PSC Commissioner Salvador "Buddy" Andrada, and some of the Volcanoes Rugby World Cup team 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 2013 Rugby 7s Philippine National Games tournament. Official PNG results that are registered with the Philippine Sports Commission for 2013: GOLD MEDAL
SILVER MEDAL
BRONZE MEDAL
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER Ladies Division: Ada Milby Men's Cup Division: Kit Guerra Men's Plate Division: Carl Urmenita Men's Bowl Division: Julian Feleo  Photo gallery (All action photos on this page by Mark Cristino. All team photos on this page by Chris Hettel) The Association of Local Colleges and Universities (ALCU) Games were held last Monday, March 4, 2013, at Dizon National High School in San Pablo, Laguna. This tournament marked the second time Touch Rugby was included in the association's calendar sports. Two women's teams, three men's teams, and four mixed teams competed for the champion title in their respective divisions.  photo credit: US NCA In the ladies exhibition matches, rivals University of Makati (UMAK) Herons and Quezon City Polytechnic University (QCPU) Questors battled it out for the women’s title. The first game saw the Herons, led by Rugby Sevens Development player Loujen Saldo, win by a single point for a final score of 2-1. The Questors gave their all in the second game, aiming to force a winner-take-all third match. It was a close round, but a breakaway by Herons winger Cha Bolando in the penultimate minute scored the winning try. The Herons ended the match with another 2-1 lead against the Questors, and Cha Bolando was awarded Most Valuable Player for the Ladies Division.  photo credit: US NCA The men's division finals match was the highlight of the tournament, as UMAK Herons and QCPU Questors battled for the league supremacy. The Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) team fought hard on all their games but were ultimately bested by the other teams' experience. UMAK Herons, led by National Team Under 18s players Chester Anin and Raphael Ordoñez, were poised to defend their title, but QCPU Questors had other plans. Driving hard through UMAK's defensive wall, QCPU scored repeatedly by passing the ball out wide to speedy wingers. The Herons had difficulty adjusting to the Questors' pace and were unable to match the skill level. In the end, the QCPU Questors took the men's crown with a 4-0 sweep.  photo credit: US NCA The mixed division saw a total of four teams: two each from UMAK and QCPU. UMAK A and QCPU A ended the pool games with a draw on their first encounter. They later faced each other again in the finals round. With accurate passing, speed, and stamina, QCPU A won by a final score of 4-2 against UMAK A, taking the title of mixed division champion. This tournament continued to adhere to Rugby's new “set and rip” rule. Traditionally, players put the ball on the ground and stepped over it upon being touched. Under the new rule, players had to turn their back to the opposition and present the ball to their teammates, who, in turn, had to rip the ball from touched player. This variation is more consistent with the rules of full contact rugby. All teams were able to adjust to the new rule and played fun, high-level games throughout the day.
ALCU Games is an annual event. PRFU's goal is to include the other member schools in the Rugby division in the future. |
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