The SEA Games Rugby Sevens Tournament had a fairy tale ending for its Hosts as the first-ever, All-Filipino 7’s Rugby Team won the Gold Medal. The tournament , held on 3-4 December 2005, was a 2-Day Event open to all National, Representative and Club teams around Asia.

SEA Gold Medal Match

The Philippine Rugby Football Union (PRFU) was given recognition by the Philippine Olympic Committee to put on a 7's Rugby Tournament as a Site Sport (i.e. demonstration sport) as part of the South East Asian Games. This was the first time rugby had been included in the SEA Games. Rugby is part of the Commonwealth games and the Asian Games (next held in Doha in 2006). The event was organized by the PRFU and hosted at Nomads Sports Club, Manila which is well know for its International Manila 10’s Tournament every March – previously described on ESPN Star Sports Rugby Show  as “the best social rugby 10’s tournament in the World”.

It was a competition within a competition as the full National sides competed for the SEA Games Gold medals and every team competed for overall honors in the Cup, Plate and Bowl Championships. Under SEA Games rules to qualify as a National side all team members must be nationals of the country, or have at least one indigenous parent. As a result, both the Philippines and Indonesia fielded full all-national teams for the first time in history. IRB rules for national representation are 3 year’s residency and other overseas teams competed in the overall competition on that basis but were not eligible for the SEA games medals. It had been expected that Singapore and Sri Lanka would also participate in the SEA Games competition but the Singapore RFU had problems with funding due to depletion of its funds and Sri Lanka had its major sponsor pull out. Fortunately, Singapore Barbarians stepped into the breech to represent Singapore and also Macau brought a strong side – ultimately winning the Plate. In addition to these, there were 6 Philippine Club teams - including Nomads, Alabang Eagles, Makati Chiefs, MAAP, Rest of the World (i.e. Nomads B) and the newest kids on the block, Cebu City RFC.

The tournament featured all types of rugby and was a fantastic showcase to support the development efforts of the PRFU. The tournament included:
a. Men's 7-A-Side Rugby (12 Teams)
b. Schoolboy 10-A-Side Rugby (Under 19's - full contact)
c. Women's Touch Rugby (Open to all age groups)  
d. Junior Touch Rugby (Age range 6 - 14)

Saturday

Saturday featured Men's 7's Round Robin Games in pools of 4 and also schoolboy 10’s rugby + six Junior Touch teams (6-a-side) featuring teams from Nomads (A&B), Clark Rotary Juniors  (A&B), British School Manila, European International School. Sunday featured the Men’s 7's Quarter Finals, Semi-Finals and Finals and Women's Touch.

The biggest surprise of the weekend was the very strong showing by the Sandakan Borneo Eagles team which, in addition to the Malaysians, featured a number of Fijian players who are Rugby Development officers in Malaysia and play for Sandakan. It was a joy to watch them play – and this time close up instead of from the lofty heights of the South Stand of the HK 7’s. They looked fantastic as they cruised thro the round robin games in pool A2 on Saturday playing open running rugby which regularly featured their huge 6’-4”, 200 lb, Nr 3 – who despite his size and bulk regularly sidestepped like a 5’ 6”, 100lb scrum half.

Likewise, in Pool A1 Singapore Barbarians played controlled, textbook 7’s rugby – frequently slowing the game down to wait for the opening, or pushing the ball all the way out to their fast Singaporean winger who would make 20 yards then stop on a sixpence before being tackled and move the ball back in the other direction.  The local teams – Nomads, Alabang Eagles and ROW - were enjoying the high level of competition and raising their standards to match.

Competition was no less intense in Pool B where Cebu was playing its first major tournament in its short (4 month) history. The MAAP (Maritime Academy of Asia Pacific) and Philippine Air Force (also in only their second tournament – first being the Fat Boy 10’s in August 2005) fielded all-Filipino teams. The Makati Chiefs were also in with a fighting chance having a mixed expat and Filipino team with MAAP college graduates).

First ever All-Filipino Rugby 7s National Team

Saturday afternoon saw the SEA Games Final between the Philippines and Indonesia. It started of with a parade, photocall line up and singing of each country’s national anthems. The Philippines started off strongly with 16 yr old student Mike O’Friel (Filipina mother & American father) taking first blood. The Letts brothers, Mike & Jake  (Filipino – Australians) who had flown up from Sydney to join the squad, provided strong direction to the team and were frequently a focal point of the attacks. The final score was 32-5 in favor of the Philippines. They were very proud that night at the awards ceremony to receive their Gold Medals and reap the major prize in a first ever showing for an all-Filipino National team.

Sunday

The quarter finals on Sunday were the start of the playoffs, with teams ranked based on their performances during Saturday.  Macau went into the Plate after losing to the Philippines in the quarters but went on to beat the Rest of the World/Nomads B in the Plate Finals.

Cup Champions Sandaken Borneo Eagles

Mike O'Friel

Final results

SEA Games Gold Medal Finals
Philippines 32    -     Indonesia 5

Cup Championship
Sandaken Borneo Eagles 65     -     Singapore Barbarians 5

Plate Championship
Macau 40     –     Rest of the World/Nomads B  12

Bowl Championship
MAAP 40     –     Cebu 12