Rebroadcast from: www.gmanews.tvs

Originally televised 08:00pm 20th July 2008.

The heavens opened over the Wetengel field a couple of hours before the Philippine Volcanoes eagerly anticipated clash with home side Guam. Although the rain had subsided somewhat prior to the game the slippery condition of the pitch, coupled with their opponents physicality made for an entirely different match up after Wednesdays cruise against Brunei.

The teams had been introduced to VIPs including Norberto 'Boy' Dinglasan of the Philippine Sports Commission and had faced up to Guam’s Haka, before a partisan crowd of over 500 saw referee Mr. Aso of Japan get the game underway.

Guam came out all guns blazing and dominated the first 15 minutes. Their forward pack were fired up and only committed defence by the Volcanoes ensured no score in this period.

After 20 minutes the Philippines went ahead 3-0 after a successful penalty from full back Oliver Saunders. Having soaked up their opponent’s initial pressure the Volcanoes began to play more expansively however Guam soon levelled the score with a successful penalty following an infringement.

Well into the first half an opportunistic blind side break by scrum half Jake Letts put Harry Morris clear and the Wales based winger showed his pursuers a clean pair of heels. The try went unconverted leaving the score at 8-3. The match remained evenly poised and no quarter was given. Of particular note was an outstanding try saving tackle by No 8 Max Stewart.

The Philippine National Rugby Union Football Team defeated Guam by 20-8 in an intense game in Guam.  The Philippine National Rugby Union team completed a clean sweep in the Asian 5 Nations tournament by defeating both Brunei and Guam in the Division three Asian regional tournament held in Guam last week.

The game against Guam was certainly played with passion and both teams put their bodies on the line in attack and defense.  It was the Philippines who opened the scoring with a penalty conversion by Oliver Saunders to put the Philippines up 3-0.  To Guam’s credit, they hit back and equaled the score at 3-3.  It wasn’t until the Philippine forward pack started to dominate the rucks and mauls that Jake Letts ran the blind side to set up the speedster Harry Morris to score a 50m try and take the lead to 8-3 at halftime.

Reprinted from: Guam Pacific Daily News

The Philippines had no trouble scoring in yesterday's HSBC Asian 5 Nations Regional Rugby Tournament game against Brunei.

Using a combination of speed and power, the Philippines squad came away with a dominating 101-0 victory at Wettengel Rugby Field.

The Philippine Volcanoes, the national rugby team posted an emphatic victory yesterday in the first of their two international test matches being contested in Guam.

Playing Brunei who had been promoted this season the Volcanoes were on the score board after only two minutes with an unconverted try scored by wing Ron Pena. For the next ten minutes the Brunei team defended valiantly against sustained pressure. Inevitably holes appeared and the Volcanoes began to score at will.

Quality possession was secured at the set pieces by the tight five and the Volcanoes back row of Wolff, Barbacetto and Stewart were competitive at every break down.

The three quarters revelled in the abundance of ball and further tries were scored by Harry Morris, Oliver Saunders (2), Matt Saunders (2), Gareth Holgate, and Ron Pena. All of these were converted by Pena.

Several times during the first half tight head prop Josh Sutcliffe made charges into Brunei territory forcing defending players out of position. Jake Letts marshalled the back line from scrum half with maturity beyond his years and he is destined to be the lynch pin of the team for years to come.

The half time score was 54 - 0 and the Philippines were in total control.

Republished from: Philippine Daily Inquirer

Buoyed by its surprising silver medal finish in the 2007 Southeast Asian Games, the national rugby team has started preparing for the 2009 SEAG in Laos.

Boosted by several foreign-based players, the Philippine squad left Tuesday for Guam to compete against two respected rugby teams—Guam and Brunei—in the Guam regional tournament starting Wednesday at the Wettengel Field in the city of Dededo.

The 29-man RP team will face Brunei on Wednesday before meeting Guam on Saturday.

Philippines Sports Commissioners Ricardo Garcia and Eric Loretizo were on hand to present the Philippine National Rugby Union Team with their playing kit at Rizal Memorial Stadium on Monday, 30 June 2008. 

Philippine National Team with PSC Commissioners Garcia & Loretizo

Commissioner Garcia praised the efforts of the Rugby Union Silver Medal achievements at the Southeast Asian Games in Bangkok.  Commissioner Garcia was present at the SEA Games and witnessed first hand the young Filipino Rugby Union players beat fellow Asian countries to make the finals.  Commissioner Garcia was also confident that the National Men’s Team would also be victorious over Brunei and Guam at the Asian Division III championships to be held in Guam from July 1 to 6th.

The Philippines National Men’s Rugby Team has just returned from an intensive training camp that took place at the Word of Life Camp which is based on the slopes of Mt. Makiling, Los Banos, Laguna.  The National Team assembled on Saturday, 22 June and traveled down to the training camp on Wednesday, 26 June 2008.

Filipino players traveled from all parts of the world to join the local based players at the National training camp.  The camp began with intensive physical assessments and all players were pushed to their limits in the tests that included the mile run, beep test (endurance), 100m sprints (speed), push up and sit up tests (strength/power) and obstacle courses (agility).

The first day at camp saw the team work at physical fitness, skills and team bonding.  The culminating activity of the day involved the team testing their physical and mental abilities on the ropes confidence course, where players had to work together to navigate the course at heights of up to 20 feet in harnesses supported by their team mates below.