Category: Under 20s

ARFU U20s 7s Championships: Tournament Report

07/15/2012

After a couple days in camp at the World of Life in Laguna, this newly formed Philippine Volcanoes U20s team from around the globe were ready for a strong performance at the ARFU U20’s 7s Championships at Johor Bahru Malaysia.

There were 10 teams competing in this year’s tournament split into two pools competing for The Cup, Plate and Bowl. Unfortunately, the Philippines drew a very tough pool facing Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and China all on the first day. Our first game was against the defending champions Malaysia who came out firing and put on 3 quick tries before we even got our hands on the ball. The boy’s finally got some possession and got a try back just before half time, unfortunately our Captain and try scorer, Adam Clarke was hit in a tackle just before the break were he suffered a tournament ending knee injury. The boys put on a brave fight but ended going down 29-5.

The next game was against Singapore, this was a “must win” for the Philippines. We got off to a great start with a try to Richard Powell, Singapore hit back with two soft tries to lead at the break 14-5. We started the second half the same way as we had finished the first, allowing Singapore in for a try from a Philippines mistake. This ignited the Boys and we saw the momentum change with Tim Churchill and Ryan Clarke scoring tries in succession, the score was 21-17 with only a couple of minutes left, unfortunately luck was against us and time ran out. The full time score remained Singapore 21 – Philippines 17, but a great improvement from the Team on the first game.

With only a short turn around our next game was against the wildcards of the tournament China. Physically a very imposing team with height, size and speed we put up a strong fight but were just out classed going down 36-5, with our only try being scored by Ryan Clarke

The Philippines were the only team in the tournament required to play four games in the first day, with our final game against the well-drilled and experienced Japanese. Once again a brave effort from all the boys with a reduced squad of only 10 men, 5 of which (Rey, Richard, Ryan, Robert & Tim) playing every minute of the 4 games for the day (with the exception of the 6 min that Adam put in before being injured). Japan were just too strong and we were out on our feet going down 38-0

Sunday brought a new day, refreshed from an early night and a good feed we were playing for Filipino pride and the Bowl championship against Brunei. The Boy’s came out firing and Brunei were never in the game, tries to Tim Churchill, Rey Pearce, Daniel Melrose and Ryan Clarke saw the Philippines victorious 24-0 and Bowl Champions for 2012

Overall a good result and great experience for this young developing team with 4 players U18 and 1 x U16, providing us with great depth for the years to come. Malaysia were the eventually winners of the Cup in a close game against Hong Kong.

Philippine Volcanoes U20s 7s Men's Team

Timothy Churchill
Adam Clarke
Ryan Clarke
Bryan De Leon
Robert Jones
Joshua Lee
Angelo Mayo
Fergus Mitra
Daniel Melrose
Raymond Pearce
Richard Powell

Report by: Paul Churchill, Team Manager

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Asian Rugby Junior Tournament Finals

12/20/2011

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.

Asian Rugby Junior Championships Start at Rizal Stadium

12/16/2011

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

Junior Volcanoes Squad named for Asian Rugby Junior Division 2 Championships

12/13/2011

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.

Young Filipino Warriors Win the Asian U20s Rugby Union Division 2 Championships

08/22/2010

The Philippine U20s Rugby Union team made a clean sweep of the Asian u20s Division 2 Championships in Vientiane Laos this week. The Philippines played four game of Rugby Union in five days at the 2009 South East Asian Games stadium and were able to defeat India 38–7, Kazakhstan 22–10, Laos 52–0 and Iran 12–8. The last game against Iran was the Championship final and this game proved to be the hardest victory for a tiring Filipino team. Iran had a physical advantage and the heavens opened on the morning of the final which played into the hands of the Iranian team whose game plan revolved around barging forward play backed up by down field kicking. Throughout the tournament the Philippines had successfully used their backline to cut through their opponent's backlines but the weather conditions were not favorable for running rugby and the Philippines struggled to control the ball in the slippery wet conditions.

After succeeding eight penalties the Iranian team finally missed a tackle in defense on their line and the Philippine Backline were able to capitalize on this mistake to score out wide through Ricky Kucia and the Philippines took a five point lead. The Iranian team had definitely improved since last year's final and grew in confidence as the Philippines gave up successive penalties and the Iranian goal kicker converted a penalty to take the halftime score to 5–3.

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

08/17/2010

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.”