Philippines Win Nail Biter 18 - 17

The Philippines U/20 Rugby Union Team won the first of two games against Guam 18-17.The first game was played under lights at the International School of Manila and a crowd of 200 spectators came to watch and support the u/20 International fixture.

The game was always going to be close with the Philippines narrowly beating Guam 12-8, the last time these two sides met at the Asian U/19 tournament in Kaoshiung.

The Philippines were able to make an initial break early in the game when the fly half, Rupert Zappia linked up with his inside Center Ben Saunders with a perfectly weighted crash ball pass. This consequently saw Ben Saunders split the Guam defence and sprinted 40m, only to be tackled by some ferocious Guam cover defence 5m from the line. From the ensuing ruck, the Philippines were awarded a penalty and Rupert Zappia opened the scoring with an easy penalty shot right in front, to take the initial lead 3-0.

Guam came back with vengeance and were able to turn the ball over at the kick off and secured the ball from a Philippine knock on. The Guam forward pack pressured the Philippines defence and were awarded a scrum 5m from the Philippines try line. The quick-thinking Guam halfback Ryan Mc Manus raced to the blindside to score a relatively unopposed try that was then converted to take the score to 7-3 up to Guam.

The game hung in the balance with both sides making some fundamental mistakes before Rupert Zappia placed a well-balanced kick deep into Guam’s territory. This set the platform for the Philippines forwards to pressure the Guam defence and consequently Guam gave up another penalty which was converted by Zappia to take the score to 7-6.

It was the Philippines who finished the first half in style with the forwards winning crucial line out ball through the high flying Enok Kang. This set the platform for Andrew Farrar to throw a cut out pass to Rupert Zappia who stepped and found Ben Saunders crashing onto the ball, he evaded two defenders and scored to ensure that the Philippines went to the halftime break leading 11-7.

The Philippines came out firing in the second half and won the ball from the kick off. Once again Rupert Zappia took on the Guam defence and was able to palm off the initial tackle and then ran 20 m and took three players over the line to score a great solo try beside the posts. He converted his try to take the score to 18-7 and then had to be replaced as he had fractured a metatarsal bone in his foot and could not participate in the game any more.

This injury proved to be a turning point in the game and the Guam team rallied and started to keep the ball in the forwards. The Philippines struggled to clear the ball from their own half and put themselves under pressure on their own line. The Guam team formed a strong line out 5m from the Philippines line and Joaquin Pangalinan ran the short side to score and the score was 18-12.

In the last ten minutes the Guam forwards used their strength and size to plough down the field and the Philippines defence was stretched to the limits with Juan Engelbrecht clearing the ball on two occasions to relieve pressure. The Guam forwards were able to secure another line out throw and once again pushed their way over the line with the Guam hooker David Lebrun scoring in the corner to take the score to 18-17.

The Philippine’s Captain Nathan Welch led his team on one final assault into Guam’s territory and he pulled off a great tackle to finish the game. Both teams looked at the scoreboard and it was hard to believe that the game had finished at 18 -17 to the Philippines.

This was certainly an even contest and the second game this coming Saturday, November 8th at Nomads will be no different.