The PRFU 15’s League kicked off at the Phil Sports Stadium in Pasig. This was the first time that Rugby Union has been played at the Philippine National Sports Stadium and definitely won’t be the last. The playing area had to be slightly shortened due to the permanent soccer posts, but the field and facilities were suitable to let the round ball players know that Rugby Union has started and an official request has been submitted to the PSC to provide both Rugby Union and Soccer removable goal posts at the upgraded Rizal Stadium Field.

The day began with the A-Division Eagles v Nomads Clash. It was decided that this game would be played under full IRB rules and players would run for the full 80 minutes. The Nomads seemed better prepared during the warm-ups and this was true when they ran in two quick tries to take the early lead by 12-0. Both French Players Basil Ricarde and Bruno Vergnes scored on the back of a determined Nomads forward pack with two International Players Romain Barberis and Eric Savina leading the forward drive.

The Eagles were able to regroup and finally started to contest the Nomads up front with Ronald Fong, Evans Maina and Andrew Wolff all making incisive inroads into the tiring Nomads Forwards. The combined pressure from these players allowed some freedom for the ball to be moved to another International Player Rupert Zappia, who displayed a quality kicking game that eventually saw Nomads fumble and allowed ever energetic “Hooky” to score the first try.

The game was certainly on at half time with both teams evenly matched at 17-17. This would remain the same at the 60 minute mark with the score also tied at 22-22. It was the last 20 minutes that would see the youth and fitness of the Eagles team prevail over a never say die Nomads outfit. Andrew Wolff was able to evade several defenders to score a solo try and then repeated this performance to set up Eric Tai for the game breaking try and finally pull away from the Nomads. Ronald Fong took advantage of a Nomads infringement and took a quick tap to link up Rupert Zappia who was steaming up the middle of the field, Ronald threw the pass of the game and looked like a quality fly half to put Rupert through the gaping hole and he scored under the posts.

To Nomads credit they had one last throw of the dice and scored a last minute concellation try, but with two minutes remaining it was the younger Eagles team that won the day by 41-27.

Round one of the PRFU 15’s League to the Eagles with the next game at Nomads in two weeks on June 6th.

B- Division Dominated by Japan and Ibons

The B-Division of the PRFU 15’s League saw two games. Unfortunately the Carabaos did not have enough members to field a team against MAAP. The draw was rescheduled and MAAP, who had 18 players were able to fill the void and played back to back games.

The first game had the Japanese R.C. play MAAP and because Japan only had 10 players, it was decided that this would be a 10’s game. Japan proved to be strong all around the field and will be hard to beat in the B-Division. Led by Masayuki, the Japanese team controlled the ball. They scored 11 tries against MAAP’s one try and ended the game on top with a final score of 63-5.

The final game of the day was the Ibons v MAAP and this was a 15’s game. MAAP had woken up after the Japanese game and started to play a more structured defensive game. The Ibons decided to move Scotty McKinnon into the forwards and this proved to be a wise decision. He used his renowned basketball skills and dominated the line outs and played a “Man of the Match” performance, relishing the extra workload in the forwards. The game ended with a score of 86-0.

This sets up another close battle for the B-Division trophy with Japan and Ibons claiming wins and the Nomads Carabaos will certainly be ready to play at home in two weeks on May 23.

Points Table

A- Division

Team	W	L	D	F	A	Total Points
Eagles	1	-	-	41	27	+14
Nomads	-	1	-	27	41	-14

B- Division

Team	W	L	D	Total Points
Ibons	1	-	-	3
Japan	1	-	-	3
MAAP	-	2	-	2
Carabaos	-	-	-	0

Win-3, Draw-2, Loss-1, Forfeit-0