Ton up For Volcanoes

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.

The Philippines continued to capitalize on Brunei turnovers and a well-executed game plan to score five more tries with good conversions, giving them a commanding 54-0 lead at the break.

Second Half

The second half saw more of the same. In the first ten minutes open side flanker Andrew Barbacetto who punches well above his weight bagged a hat trick of tries, two of which were converted by Oliver Saunders.

Throughout the half Coach Matt Cullen was able to give his entire bench a run including 15 year old Ben Saunders and last minute call up Phil Gittus in his 44th year. It is unlikely that this 28 year age gap between players in a test match team will ever be repeated.

On 58 minutes captain Mike Letts took advantage of a scrum win against the head and crossed for the Volcanoes 12th try. Again this was converted by Oliver Saunders.

Despite having an unassailable lead the Volcanoes did not take their foot off the gas and ran in three further tries. The first engineered, scored and converted by Oliver Saunders with an assist by younger brother Matt, the second a superb individual effort from man of the match Andrew Wolff and the third an unexpected contribution by replacement loose head Phil Gittus supporting a break by Wolff and Barbacetto and galloping home from twenty metres.

The final conversion from Oliver Saunders broke the century mark and at the final whistle the score stood at 101-0 in favour of the Philippines.

Especially pleasing for the coaching team of Matt Cullen and Andrew Smith was the clean sheet kept by their team. Cullen said "I think we played at about 80% of our potential today. In phases we looked very good but we face a much stiffer test on Saturday when we face Guam who traditionally play a very physical game."

This Tri-Nation series is part of the regional competition in the Asian 5 Nations Tournament being sponsored by HSBC.

Statistics

For Philippines:

Tries:

• (1) Phil Gittus

• (1) Gareth Holgate

• (1) Mike Letts

• (1) Harry Morris

• (1) Andrew Wolff

• (2) Ron Pena

• (2) Matthew Saunders

• (2) Andrew Barbacetto

• (3) Oliver Saunders

Cons:

• (6) Oliver Saunders

• (7) Ron Pena

For Brunei:

Referee:

• Chou Wen Liang