Philippines ready for back-to-back wins at the Asian U20s Rugby Union Championships

This week the Philippine National Under 20s team travel to Laos to compete in the Asian U20s Rugby Union Championships. The Philippine team are the current Division 2 champions and beat Iran, Pakistan and Laos in 2009. This year’s tournament will prove a harder battle, with Kazakhstan entering the fray and ensuring the Philippines must win four games in five days to reclaim their Asian u20s Championships title. If the Philippines can repeat their 2009 efforts, then they will move to the Asian u20s Division 1 Championships in 2011.

The Philippines have a heavy schedule and play India on Tuesday, Kazakhstan Wednesday, Laos Friday and Iran Saturday. The Philippine national men’s team recently won the Asian Five Nations Division 2 trophy by defeating India in New Delhi by 34 to 12 after overcoming the fancied Thai team 54 – 33. Then the Philippine National Ladies team won the Asian Ladies Division 2 trophy by defeating India by 17 – 0, Korea 20 – 0, Laos 40 – 0 and Malaysia 20 – 0. The National u20s Team are determined to keep this winning streak intact and aim to make it three from three victories over India in 2010 with a first round win at this tournament.

The Philippine National U20s team has a long tradition of winning the Asian Championships and has only dropped one game since first entering the tournament in 2006. They have defeated countries such as Guam, Brunei, Arabian Gulf, Pakistan, Iran and Laos in a long line of victories. Many members of previous U20s teams are now playing in the Philippine National Men’s team and this year’s team looks to be as strong as previous teams and are focused on taking out the 2010 Championships.

National Forwards Coach Phil Gittus is confident that his charges will step up to the challenge. “We have a wide range of experience within our forwards squad, but the less experienced guys are improving with every session and I feel they will raise their game to the required level. Iran and Kazakhstan are big physical units, but I think our technique and game plan will nullify any size advantage. India will also provide a good test and will enable us to assess the lads under game conditions.”

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