HSBC and the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) announced the competition schedule for the HSBC Asian 5 Nations 2012 (HSBC A5N). This year marks the fifth year of the HSBC A5N, Asia’s premier international rugby competition, and the tournament is poised to chart new growth in the Game across the region from the elite level to the grassroots in 2012.

While all eyes will be on the Top 5, it will be Division 1 that kicks-off the action in 2012. The Philippines, one of the up and coming teams in Asian rugby, will host the tournament from April 15-21 in Manila. For the first time, the four teams – Sri Lanka, Chinese Taipei, Singapore and the Philippines – will play a round-robin competition. This will give them an extra match with the objective of further preparing teams for promotion to the Top 5.

Philippines rugby is on a high after winning promotion last season and making its debut in the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens this month. But watch out for Sri Lanka, led by former England international Phil Greening on a two-year coaching contract. They will be keen to win promotion back to the Top 5 after performing admirably last season. The other teams in Division 1 are Singapore and Chinese Taipei.

For more information on the Asian 5 Nations, visit www.asian5nations.com .

The matches will be played at Rizal Memorial Stadium on April 15, 18 and 21. Admission is free on April 15 & 18, but tickets will be sold for the April 21 games. Ticket prices are P 100, P 200, P 400 & P 800 and will be available for purchase through TicketWorld.

The Philippine matches will be telecast live by ABS-CBN. 

The Philippine Rugby Football Union have selected the Philippine Volcanoes Men’s Sevens team that will debut at the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens Rugby Tournament this coming March.

The 12 squad members are:

Terry Carroll 
Mark Chatting 
Justin Coveney 
Chris Hitch 
Jake Letts 
Michael Letts      
Joseph Matthews  
Luke Matthews           
Patrice Olivier
Matt Saunders
Oliver Saunders 
Jake Ward 

In compliance with the International Rugby Board regulations, the 100% Filipino-heritage squad consists of players who were either born in the Philippines, or have at least one parent or grandparent that was born in the Philippines.  

All players were selected by the PRFU National Teams Committee and are the top 12 players who are currently available and playing Rugby 7s at elite levels. Eight of the players namely, Mark Chatting, Justin Coveney, Chris Hitch, Jake Letts, brothers Joseph & Luke Matthews and Matt & Oliver Saunders were part of the team that won a Silver Medal at last year’s Borneo Sevens Tournament. 

“It was a difficult task to choose the final twelve, in view of all the quality players that put their hand up for the competition.” Said National Coaches Matt Cullen & Expo Mejia. “We also had to consider their fitness levels, existing injuries and other factors that may impact their performance. Whether they were selected or not, we are proud of all our players, past and present, because they all had a role in getting us to where we are today. They will be in our hearts and minds when we step onto the pitch in Hong Kong.”

The Philippine Volcanoes will train together in Manila on third week of March and depart for Hong Kong on March 20. The Philippines is in Pool E with Canada, Spain and Zimbabwe. 

Organized by the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union and co-title sponsored by Cathay Pacific Airways and HSBC, the Hong Kong Sevens 2012 will take place March 23 - 25. Around 120,000 spectators from all over the world are expected to watch the tournament, which will be held at the iconic 40,000-seater Hong Kong stadium. 

For more information on the Hong Kong Sevens, visit: www.hksevens.com

The Philippine Rugby Football Union are proud to announce that the Philippine National Men’s 7s Rugby team has received its invitation from the International Rugby Board to compete in the world’s largest rugby sevens tournament, the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens.

Scheduled on March 23-25, 2012 at the Hong Kong Stadium (capacity 40,000) the Hong Kong 7s is a by-invitation-only tournament attended by the top sevens teams in the world like New Zealand, Australia, Fiji and England. It is considered the premier leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series played in Australia, Dubai, South Africa, New Zealand, USA, Japan, Scotland and England. Sevens Rugby, which plays seven men per team on the field, is a faster, more exciting version of Rugby Union which plays 15 men per side.  

It was the Philippine Volcanoes’ Silver-medal winning performance at the Borneo 7s held in September 2011, which merited the invitation to this prestigious tournament. Ranked 7th in a field of 12 teams, the Volcanoes, led by Men’s 7s Captain, Jake Letts, guided by National, Coach Matt Cullen and Assistant, Noel Flowers, surprised everyone by beating their highly-regarded rivals one by one, finishing second only to Asia’s number one-ranked Japan. 

“This invitation to the Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens marks a milestone in the history of the Union” says PRFU President, Alvin San Diego. “It’s a testament to the hard work of our players, coaches and supporters and more importantly, proof that Filipinos can excel in the sport of Rugby.”

For more information on Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens, visit:
http://www.hksevens.com

The Asian Rugby Junior Division 2 Finals took place at Rizal Memorial Stadium on Saturday, December 17, 2011. The Philippines played against Malaysia for the third and fourth place and this proved to be a closely fought game with both teams trying to avoid relegation. The game was a very even contest with Malaysia and the Philippines scoring early tries to remain at 5 all halfway through the first half. Malaysia then stepped up the tempo and forced the Philippines into some crucial errors late in the second half that both resulted in tries to Malaysia. The second half saw a concerted comeback from the Philippine team and this was led by Danny Matthews who scored a try for the Philippines and kicked a penalty and conversion to bring the Philippines back to challenge Malaysia at 20 – 18. During the last five minutes the Philippines were attacking the Malaysian line and unfortunately could not capitalize on their territorial advantage and Malaysia were able to kick a field goal on the fulltime whistle to win the game 23 – 18.

The championship final was played between Korea and Chinese Taipei and both teams were determined to win the Division 2 final to gain promotion to Division 1. The game started at a ferocious pace and both forward packs used their big tight five players to try and dominate possession. It was Korea who scored the opening try and then followed up this effort with their number 8 scoring from the back of a driving maul to take a 12 – 5 lead into the halftime break. Chinese Taipei staged a comeback in the second half but it was Korea who ran in four late tries to run away with the game by 36 – 17. The Koreans will move back up to Division one in 2012 and the Philippines will be relegated to Division 3.

The Asian Rugby Junior Championship was the first internationally sanctioned Rugby Union tournament  to be played at Rizal Memorial Stadium and the PRFU are looking forward to hosting the  Asian 5 Nations Men’s 15s Division 1 Championships at Rizal next April 13 – 20th. This tournament will see the Philippines take on Sri Lanka, Singapore and Chinese Taipei and will be broadcast throughout the Philippines. 

The Asian Rugby Junior Championships kicked off at Rizal Memorial Stadium with the Philippine National u20s Team playing Korea and Chinese Taipei playing Malaysia. This was the first round of the two day event with the winning teams competing on Saturday for the Championship rights. This is the first time that the Philippine Rugby Football Union has held an International underage series at the recently renovated Rizal Stadium.  The ground and facility were being previewed by the IRB and ARFU delegates in preparation for the Philippines’  hosting  the Asian 5 Nations Division 1 tournament next April. The tournament organizers were very pleased with the way the stadium adjusted to accommodate the new sport of Rugby Union and a small crowd gathered to watch the first round games.

The Philippines were ranked 4th after winning Division 3 in Laos in 2010 and came up against a very intimidating and seasoned Korean team who had been demoted from Div 1 in 2010. The Koreans capitalized on an early mistake by the Philippines and struck the first blow with a penalty kick to take a 3 – 0 lead. The Philippines played with spirit but unfortunately their execution let them down and they failed to exit their defensive zone which eventually allowed Korea to score out wide to take a 8 – 0 lead. 

The Philippines were able to find some momentum from the restart of play and the Koreans were penalized for an off side infringement that the Philippines were able to kick a penalty to make the score 8 – 3. It was a tight battle and the Philippines started to play some positive rugby and through some aggressive defense from Captain Ben Saunders, the Philippines were able to turn over the ball to force another mistake by the Koreans and Danny Matthews kicked the penalty to bring the Philippines back in the game at 8 – 6. The match hung in the balance and it seemed like it might be a kicking game when Korea kicked their second penalty to open the lead to 11 – 8.

The Korean team then played the ball wide and scored a runaway try down the sideline and converted another penalty after the tiring Philippine were penalized for off side infringements. The halftime score was Korea 21 Philippines 6.

The second semi final saw Chinese Taipei win a tight battle against Malaysia by 12 – 9. The Chinese Taipei team scored two tries and one conversion whilst Malaysia relied solely on the accurate kicking of their flyhalf who kicked two field goals and a penalty. He missed a 51m attempt to draw the game and the Chinese Taipei team were able to hang on for a gritty win to meet Korea in the final this Saturday game. This leaves Malaysia to play the Philippines in what should make for some quality Rugby Union at Rizal Stadium this weekend. 

Asian Rugby Junior Championship Schedule:
Saturday, 17 December 2011

3pm: Philippines vs. Malaysia
5pm: Korea vs. Chinese Taipei

Rizal Memorial Stadium, M. Adriatico St., Malate Manila. 

Admission is free

Photos by: Mark Cristino

The PRFU have selected the players that will compete in the Asian Rugby Junior Division 2 Championships on December 14 and 17 at the Rizal Memorial Stadium, Manila.

Junior Aloda
John Aravelo
Bryan Deleon
David Ebrahim
Daniel Ebrahim
Nori Fukuyama
Joshua Lee
Daniel Matthews
Daniel Melrose
Fergus Mitra
Colin Obrien
Arlan Parry
Simon Petro
Rene Quijon
Joseph Ramilo
James Rathbun
Benjamin Saunders (Captain)
Demian Mallo Smith
Ned Stephenson
Ryan Stewart
Reginald Teagle
Orlando Villarreal

National Coach: Expo Mejia
Asst Coach: Juan Engelbrecht
Team Manager: Grant Rice
Physiotherapist: Rico Barin

The Junior Volcanoes will face Korea at 3pm on Wednesday, December 14, while Malaysia go against Chinese Taipei at 5pm. The losing teams of each match face each other at 3pm on Saturday, December 17, and the winners battle for the trophy at 5pm.

The Philippine ladies Volcanoes finished off the ARFU Division 2 tournament in style this afternoon beating the hosts, the Lao PDR by 20 points to 12, scoring four tries to two. It was a courageous effort from the girls considering their squad had been reduced from 22 to 19 before the game and shortly after their last game commenced, they lost both Manila Santos and BK delos Santos after they clashed heads in committing themselves to an early tackle (they subsequently required 6 and 3 stitsches respectively - showing that a stitch in time saves nine!). 

After a trying two games of rugby the girls started brightly and dominated the smaller Lao girls up front. After some bullocking work by Rozie Morala, the twins Noreen and Reena Novero and Rose dela Cruz, captain Trixie Pacis made valuable yards and was able to offload to Aiumi Ono who reached out to dot down for the first points of the game (and the tournament) for the Philippine side just on ten minutes. This gave the girls confidence and after the first half water break, more phase play led to the girls going close on a number of occasions before Rose dela Cruz was on hand to stretch the lead to 10 - 0. Aye Honoras had come on to replace Manila and BK had bravely returned to the field. The "twins" were getting used to 15s rugby and perhaps the highlight of the first half came when Madille Salinas was engulfed by the Lao defence but was able to slip an impossible pass to AC San Juan who gleefully executed a swan dive into the corner. 

Cassie Umali was unable to convert , but the girls went into the half-time break comfortably ahead 15 - 0. Coaches Cullen and Konstanty warned that the Lao girls would come back hard in the second half and the Pinoy girls lost their composure, and after a series of penalties against them in the third quarter, the Laos started to play support rugby and crashed over for two tries, one of which was converted, which narrowed the margin to 15 - 12 at the last break. 

Hearts were in mouths in the fourth quarter but after some astute kicking from the skipper, Trixie, the Volcanoes started to play in the right part of the field and after a rampaging run from Rozie Morala, the ball ended with Choc Nut Moore who called in Aiumi, popped to her and she plowed over for her second try of the match and made the game safe.

When the whistle blew the Volcanoes rejoiced and commiserated with their Lao opponents. 

The forward coach's award went to Rozie Morala and Aiumi Ono picked up the second award as she was alwaysdangerous and tackled effectively at full back. Luisa Jordan recorded the hit of the day and Madille Salinas won the"assist" award. The girls then celebrated with the Assistant Ambassador andwere photographed with none other than the IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset.


Overall results of the tournament: 

Thursday: 
Thailand 38, Lao PDR 0
China 36, Philippines 0.

Friday:
China 66, Lao PDR 0
Thailand 39, Philippines 0

Saturday: 
Philippines 20, Lao PDR 12 
China 38, Thailand 0. 

So at the end of the day the Philippines finished third running the polished Chinese team closest. 

The walking wounded will now make their way back home, sore but happy with their performance. Coaches MattCullen, Grant Rice and Susan Konstanty did a great job marshalling the team and Grace Penon was a caring and efficient manager.

On another dry, hot day in Vientiane, the Philippine Lady Volcanoes lined up against SE Asian rivals Thailand. 

Earlier in the day the Philippine Ambassador to the Lao PDR, Maria Lumen B. Isleta, had hosted a reception for the Philippine girls and, in a lovley touch, the Ambassador greeted all players before the national anthems were played immediately prior to the match at the grand Chaoanouvong Stadium.

The Volcanoes were coming off a bruising match with the larger Chinese team the previous day, whilst the Thai girls had had the relatively easier match against the Lao girls. The first half was very tight and the girls were solid early with many rampaging forays by the forwards with Rozie Morala, Luisa Jordan and the "twins" Reena and Noreen Novero prominent. Nicole"Doughnut" Moore was also thrusting straight ahead under the direction of Cassie Umali at scrum-half. Whilst not wanting to quote any excuses, the referee wasn't having her best game and as our ladies were winning penalty after penalty often the Thai girls were not retiring the necessary ten meters to allow our centres, Manila Santos, Bela Silva to distribute the ball to our wingers. In one unfortunate incident the Assistant Referee spotted a punching incident from one of the Thai girls, but then erred by recommending to the main referee that (just) a penalty be awarded rather than issuing a card. Manila Santos executed a perfect bone-crunching tackle and was incorrectly penalized for a high tackle.

At half-time the score was 10 - 0 to the Thais. Their lead could have been greater but for some desperate defence from Rose dela Cruz, Jessica Filoteo and Tons Gambito. Trixie Pacis lead her troops out for the second half knowing that we had to score first to put pressure on the opposition. Unfortunately, whilst we had good field position and possession the Thais were now playing a simple brand of Sevens type rugby by spinning the ball wide at every opportunity. Aiumi Ono , Ann Layumas and Cassie Umali were tackling like demons but there always seemed to be another Thai girl about to support the ball carrier. In one particular act of courage, tiny AC San Juan brought down a much larger opponent, metres from the line. One needs to remember that ten of the 22 girls who played today had not played 15s rugby before. Well done also to Mae Ann Ubaub, Madille Salinas, Alrlene Trinkler, Blessie delos Santos and Aye Honoras for giving their all, all day.

The injuries were mounting now with Bela, Jessica and Choc Nut leaving leaving the field, and Charmaine Randa who had indicated to the mangement team earlier that she could not play, responded to the call in the second half and was fearless with her tackling. Eventually the Thai girls ran out winners 39 - 0 but the Volcanoes never gave up and played with Pinoy Pride right to the end. Coaches Susan Konstanty, Matt Cullen and Grant Rice will make sure the girls keep their chins up and we are all very confident that we will register our first points tomorrow in our final match against the Lao PDR. 

The coaches' awards were issued to Cassie Umali who had a storming match, particularly in defence, Charmaine Ranada for fighting her way through the pain barrier and the "biggest hit" went to Rozie Morala, which could have been awarded for a number of solid tackles she made duirng the day. 

The girls are learning about the toughness of rugby and face tomorrow's game without Rose Lanticse (injured against China, but insisted upon staying here with the team). Bela Silva and Jessica Filoteo. Hopefully in tomorrow's report we can talk about due reward for an excellent attitude with a win against the Lao PDR. 

Many thanks to Grace Penon and Physio Paula who have been working overtime keeping the girls ready to go.