La Liga 1, SKF Makati Mavericks Clinch Overall Championship Division Trophies

The La Liga 1 men and SKF Makati Mavericks women finished with unblemished records last weekend at the 3rd and final leg of the 2022 PRFU Luzon Rugby Cup held in Ayala Vermosa Sports Hub in Imus, Cavite. Both teams swept their matches in the pool rounds and were dominant in their finals matches to secure the 3rd leg Championship Division trophies. In addition, both teams also swept all three legs of the Championship Division with 0 losses, making them the overall champions of the league. 

A 29 - 5 win against the Subic Jets started the day for the La Liga 1 team which was later on followed by a close 17 - 10 win against a tough Albay Bulkans team. These 2 wins in the pool rounds allowed them to set up a semi finals match against their clubmates, La Liga 2.

It was a repeat of the first leg finals with SKF Makati Mavericks reaching the finals as well. Three unanswered first half tries from the La Liga 1 team set the tone for the match and resulted to the Mavericks playing catch up most of the match. The Mavericks tried to answer back in the second half with 2 tries and a successful conversion of their own. However, these were not enough since the La Liga 1 already built a sizable lead to finish the match with a 32 to 12 win.

With La Liga 1's speed, agility, great teamwork, and vision, they established themselves as the best men's development team in the country this year by winning all the legs of the league. It was a momentous moment for one of the newest clubs in the country which was founded by former Philippine Volcano and homegrown player, Paulo Jordan, and coached by National Teams coach, Andy Brown.  Raiden Abello was named MVP of the Men's Championship Division.

---

The SKF Makati Mavericks capitalized on their speed and great vision to runaway as the overall champions of the Women's Championship Division of the 2022 PRFU Luzon Rugby Cup. The ladies in red and white scored a total of 81 points with only 5 points scored against them throughout the day. The Mavericks posted a 37 - 0 win against Manila Rogues and a 32 - 0 win against the Eagles RFC before facing great challenge against the Clark Jets. However, the ladies still came away with a 12 - 0 win against the ladies from the north. The Mavericks and the Jets faced each other again in the finals after finishing first and second in the round robin games. A 27 - 5 win for the Mavericks after 14 minutes of intense action secured the trophy for these ladies who mostly learned full contact rugby during the pandemic. First leg MVP, Riho Kasai, was named MVP of the Women's Championship Division again.

"Overall, the Championship Division was a success as it provided opportunities to showcase the talents and skills of our Philippine-heritage players. We were able to see how much these players have grown in skills over the years and also identified players to be added in the National Development Team pool.  It was exciting to see these young players and we look forward to seeing them maximize their potential in the future", shared Acee San Juan of Philippine Rugby.

---