The future of rugby development shone brightly on Saturday at Cuenca Field. Hosted by the Alabang Eagles, we had a fantastic afternoon watching and playing rugby at all levels. There were well over 100 kids, ranging from about 7 -14 years old. They were playing in 8 teams from Brent School, British School/Nomads, Tuloy Foundation/Don Bosco, European International School, Morong Eagles, Clark Rotary Juniors A & B and Nomads A. All the teams played round robin games in 2 pools of 4 and then Semi-Finals and Finals. Tuloy Foundation – with Father Rocky looking on – playing in their first tournament, did a brilliant job. They managed to get to the Finals where they unfortunately were beaten by a more experienced Nomads Juniors A team. But this was an all-Filipino final, so that is a great portent for the future! And I am sure they are looking forward to a re-match next week

In the Women’s League there were some great games between Nomads Ladies A & B and Alabang Ladies. The Nomads Ladies A came out on top at the end of the day as a result of some long half-pitch runs by their Filipina players including Claire Schirmer and Arlene Winkler. And both those ladies are mums too!

In Division A, Nomads is at the top of the League table with 25 points, having won all their 5 games so far and got bonus points for scoring more than 4 tries in each game. They beat their rivals Alabang Eagles 24-0 giving them an unassailable lead in the League and a sure place in the Cup Championship Finals, whatever the result of their last pool game next week. The Eagles bounced back, however, and beat the Nomads Carabaos twice on Saturday giving themselves 14 points after 5 games in the League. So, they are virtually assured of second place in the League and a chance to try again to beat Nomads in the Cup Championship Finals. Currently the Carabaos are in 3rd place with 4 points and MAAP 1 - fighting the big boys with a bunch of new players - is at the bottom of Division A. However, these results are a bit skewed as Nomads & the Eagles have played 5 games & the others only 4.

In Division B1, the Nomads Lizards are at the top of the League table with 21 points, after playing all their 6 games. Their closest rivals, Makati Chiefs, who now have 18 points, have also played all their games. So the Lizards are playing in the Division B finals. The Alabang Ibon and PAF1 are running 3rd and 4th respectively but have only played 4 games each.

There were no Division B2 games last weekend as Cebu and the PAF will be traveling to Manila next week (Saturday October 22) to play all their pool games to see who will be in the Division B Finals against the Nomads Lizards. So its open book and they have plenty to play for.

So it looks like being an exciting Finals next week! It will be an ALL DAY affair at Nomads with Junior’s, Women’s and Men’s games starting at 9am and leading up to the Finals at the end of the afternoon. There will be a prize giving, drinks and food after the games at the Nomads Clubhouse.