Category: 1

A5N Div 1 Match Report: Philippines Remain in A5N Div 1 with Resounding Win Over Malaysia

06/04/2011

The Philippines National Rugby Union Team easily defeated Malaysia in the battle to stay in A5N Div 1 in Seoul Korea today with an 86 – 20 win. This victory allows the Philippines to remain in the A5N Div 1 tournament in 2012 while Malaysia are now relegated to Div 2. The Philippines head coach Expo Mejia is confident that the Philippines will come back next year and claim victory at this level and win promotion to the Premier Division in the Asian 5 Nations tournament in 2013 with a view to competing for a Rugby World Cup qualification in 2014. “The current national men’s team has an average age of 22 and these players will develop over the next three years and will hit their peak in time to challenge for a top spot in Asia.”

After narrowly losing 34 - 20 to the number 1 ranked team Korea on Wednesday, the Philippines came out with all guns blazing to prove not only to themselves but to the Asian Rugby Community that they will be force to reckon with in the coming years. Korea are currently ranked 33rd in the world and the Philippines, who have yet to receive a ranking pushed the Koreans to the limit. This was evident today when Singapore were beaten by Korea by 58 to 19, meaning the Philippines were the closest team to Korea in this year’s A5N Div 1 tournament.

Oliver Saunders & Justin Coveney

The game against Malaysia opened with the Philippines scoring the first four tries in the first 15 minutes of the game, with the outside backs dominating the opposition. Joven Clarke, Gareth Holgate and Justin Coveney all crossed the line while Oli Saunders converted three to take a commanding lead of 26 – 0. Malaysia finally entered the Philippines territory and on the back of successive penalties, were able to take two shots at goal to register their first points of the game bringing the score to 26 – 6. Newly-capped test halfback James Price then decided to take matters into his own hands and ran the blind side to link up with the “flying jeepney” Justin Coveney who crossed for his forth try of the day. The Philippines then gave away another four penalties in a row and allowed the Malaysian kicker to slot another two penalty shots and bring the score to 31 – 12.

The final two minutes of the first half saw a try from each side, with Philippines Vice-Captain Chris Hitch making a damaging run through the midfield, carrying three Malaysian defenders across the line with him to score beside the posts. From the next kick-off the Malaysians were able to make steal and their winger chipped-kicked and ran onto a lucky bounce to score out wide on the halftime siren. The Philippines entered halftime with a 38 -17 lead. During the break, National team coach Expo Mejia implored the Philippines to refrain from giving up repeated penalties that were allowing the Malaysians to look better than what they were playing.

To their credit, the Philippine team came out in the second half and played to their patterns with a more disciplined approach. They then played the best half of Rugby at the 2011 A5N Div 1 tournament and scored 56 points to Malaysia’s 3 and proved that they can compete with the top level nations in Asia. James Price, Gareth Holgate, Justin Coveney, Patrice Olivier all scored backline tries before the long serving Josh Sutcliffe was able to drive the forwards over the line from a 5 meter lineout and score the last try of the game to win 86 – 20. This was the biggest victory score in A5N Div 1 history and Singapore had only beaten Malaysia by 52 – 18.

Chris Hitch and Gareth Holgate

Best Forward for the Philippines was Chris Hitch and best Back was Justin Coveney. Coach Expo Mejia also announced that Philippines Best Player of the Tournament was Gareth Holgate. Gareth will fly directly to Japan from the A5N tournament to start a professional Rugby Contract along with the Philippines Team Captain, Michael Letts.

In 2008 the Philippines were ranked in Div 4 and now in 2011 they are competing and winning games in Division 1. This is an incredible feat and the PRFU General Manager, Matt Cullen was impressed with the standard of play that the Philippines displayed at the tournament. “This is our first taste of Rugby Union at this level of competition and we have already cemented a place in the Division 1 rankings. We will work hard over the next 12 months and we now realize exactly what must be done to win at this level. We look forward to taking on the top nations in Asia in the coming years, Philippines Rugby Union is here to stay”

Bahay Bata Draw with Clifton College and Claim the Inaugural Clifton Cup

05/14/2011

The Bahay Bata boys spent the day with their host families and attended the daily classes at Clifton College. The boys had to partake in the various subjects at Clifton and this would be a different format than what they are accustomed to back in the Philippines.

After the lunch break the Bahay Bata boys had their first ever swim at the Clifton College indoor swimming pool and enjoyed the heated pool and indoor swimming facility, they knew exactly why England has indoor swimming pools -- the weather.

The team then prepared to play the Clifton College U14 A-team and knew that this game would be a tougher encounter than the victory they enjoyed over the B-team on Tuesday. The teams were evenly matched and the Clifton College team had prepared for the Bahay Bata playmakers. Fortunately, the sun was shining and unlike Tuesday’s game the boys were able to throw the ball around without the pressure of the wet conditions and a slippery ball.

It was Bahay Bata who came out firing in the second half with Neil Garcia scoring on the back of some solid forward play to take the lead 15 – 10. Kingsley Ballesteros was playing the game of tour as he consistently ran the ball forward engaging the Clifton defense and continually recycling the ball to set up attacking raids for the Bahay Bata backline. It was the Bahay Bata speedster John Mark Manaloto who was able to step around his opposite winger to score taking Bahay Bata’s lead to to a commanding 20 – 10.

The Clifton College team suddenly realized that they were at the hands of defeat and reacted with force and drove the Bahay Bata team deep into their own territory and eventually scored a try 20 – 15. The Clifton team knew they that there was only minutes left in the game and they threw everything but the kitchen sink at the Bahay Bata defense. This paid off with the Clifton College halfback diving over to score from the base of a ruck to equalize the game at 20 – 20 on the fulltime whistle. He then had to kick the conversion to win the game and level the series at one all, fortunately for the Bahay Bata team, he missed the conversion and the game ended in a draw. As Bahay Bata had won the first game by 20 -0 they were awarded the inaugural Clifton Cup.

Clifton College principal Mr. John Milne praised the efforts of both teams and challenged the Bahay Bata team to return next year to defend their trophy.

Match Report: Bahay Bata Defeats Clifton College 24-0

05/11/2011

The Bahay Bata Foundation U14 Rugby Team defeated Clifton College by 24 points to 0 in wet and windy conditions at the Clifton College Sports Complex on Tuesday, 10 May.

The game is the first in a two-match series with the second game scheduled on Thursday, 16 May at 4.30pm. The Clifton College squad is made up of 32 players who will be traveling to Australia this July to play four top-level private schools in both Sydney and Brisbane. Half the squad played in yesterday's game and the other half will compete to try and even the series on Thursday.

In wet, cold conditions it was the Bahay Bata Captain and flyhalf Ryan Padilla who dazzled the Clifton defence with one of Coach Cullen's favourite plays, the "Chooky 2", which is a dummy switch move on the inside center. The entire Clifton College backline fell for the play and Ryan ran in under the posts to score the opening try. Because of the rainy conditions, the ball was slippery and both teams dropped plenty of ball. In the end it was the Bahay Bata team that had the forward momentum and managed to find some holes on the edge of the ruck that were exposed by the halfback Jolen Madrona, who scooped on two loose balls at the base of the ruck to score two runaway tries.

The game finished with John Mark Manaloto supporting another break by Jolen Madrona and they linked up to score the forth try of the game and win the first game by 24 - 0.

The parents, boys and coaches enjoyed an after match function at the Clifton College Sports Complex and everyone was very impressed with the Bahay Bata performance in the first game.

The Man of the Match was awarded to Ryan Padilla and the Clifton College coach asked if he was available to represent Clifton on the Australian tour.

Obviously the Clifton College team will regroup and the next squad will be more prepared for the Bahay Bata attacking plays and forward momentum.

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.

Philippine Ladies Rugby Team Win at the Asian Womens 7s Championships

07/26/2010

The Philippine National Ladies Rugby Union Team emphatically won the Asian Rugby Ladies championships in Guangzhou, China by defeating India, Korea, Laos and Malaysia to claim the ladies B Division trophy. The tournament was held at the stadium which will host the Asian Games this November and it was the first time that the Philippines has competed in an Asian Championships in ladies Rugby 7s. The team consisted of Filipino players from Manila, Cebu, Bataan, Australia, USA and Canada and arrived in Guangzhou not knowing how they would fare in their first International Rugby Tournament. To everyone’s amazement the Philippines quickly stamped their authority on the tournament and the team started to turn heads when they defeated India by 17 - 0. The Indian team are all in a professional training camp to prepare for the Commonwealth and Asian Games later this year and were the favorites to win the B Division tournament.

Philippine Volcanoes Defeat India to take home the Asian 5 Nations Division 2 Championship

06/06/2010

The Philippine Volcanoes took the Division 2 ARFU title at their first attempt in emphatic fashion in Delhi today with a 34-12 victory over the hosts, India.

Although the final victory was a three try to two triumph, the gallant Indian team were restricted to scoring at the beginning of the game and at the end of the game, but for the intervening periods the Philippines dominated both territory and possession.

The beginning of the game was marked by gusts of sand and dust which knocked down some of the hoardings surrounding the brand new rugby pitch at Delhi University. An enthusiastic local crowd cheered on the local team and the intial exchanges were very physical. After an early penalty kicked by Oliver Saunders, the Indian pack took the ball from a lineout in their own 22 and trundled the Philippines pack backwards for an emphatic forwards' try. However, the remainder of the first half involved the Volcanoes applying tremendous pressure on the Indians in all parts of the field and this led to a string of penalties, duly converted by the Philippine No. 10 and just before half time the lead had been extended to 15-7, by virtue of five penalties. In a crucial period of the match Matt Saunders, who had a strong tournament, went in for a five-pointer out wide, improved his position and the resulting conversion allowed the Philippine team to take a 22-7 lead into the half-time break. The first half had been punctuated with low crunching tackles by the fourth-ranked team on their larger opponents, but the game was still up for grabs.