Last Thursday, 14th of May, Cebu Rugby Football Club expanded its development of rugby football within the Visayas region by adopting the 1st IMEC class which is located in the University of Cebu. The project, which was initiated through PRFU 7s Coach, Rick Hartley, will be the basis for incorporating Rugby Programs in the Universities around Cebu.

The University of Cebu’s Maritime Campus was the location for the 1st Rugby training. Over 50 students from IMEC’s Deck and Engineering officer’s training program attended, with few knowing or even hearing about the game of Rugby. Cebu Dragons players, Jerry Branzuela and Jethro Estimo, facilitated the training by first showing the students a game of Touch Rugby between the Pink Dragons ladies team and the Cebu Dragons mens team. Focused more on the Pink Dragons and this new and unusual sport, students from other courses began to watch and wanted to join in on the action. Soon the field was surrounded by more than 100 students, which also included the Marine Corps students, who are based next to the campus.

All who were interested to join were divided into groups and were taught basic passing drills. These groups were assisted by 2 or 3 Cebu Dragons and Pink Dragons. The small groups then played a quick game of touch rugby against each other to incorporate the drills they had learned. With local Dragons assisting them, they were able to quickly understand and learn the basics of Touch Rugby and even grasped the concept of the dummy half must pass and not be touched.

The Finale of the training session was the challenge of the Cebu Imec students vs a combined Cebu Dragons and Pink Dragons team. The Dragons were quickly shocked by the speed and fitness of the Imec students who had a number of try scoring chances. The Dragons had to use experience and cover defense to win the game with a score of 7-1. Overall, the Cebu Imec had great fun and were given a Cebu Dragons ball from the club. Word has it that the students have been playing every morning since then.

The growth of Cebu Rugby in the Visayas looks promising and hopefully will soon be spreading to Bacolod and Davao.

Pictures by: Rick Hartley and Rose Lanticse