Filipino Team makes Plate round of Kiama Rugby 7s

"We traveled for 5 hours to get here only to be beaten by a bunch of Filipinos" jibed a Grenfell RUFC Rugby player as he contemplated losing 31-5 to the Sons of Lapu Lapu rugby team. This may have been similar words uttered by Magellan as he confronted Lapu Lapu on the beaches of Cebu and it certainly were the words from the Grenfell rugby team dealing with the Sons of Lapu Lapu which fittingly had 3 Cebuanoes on the shores of Kiama beach.

Grenfell RUFC is a country team from Central NSW playing in the tough Waga Waga < Hay competition and they came into this game with a surprising amount of intelligence on the Sons of Lapu Lapu and its players. So they went into the match feeling that they had done their homework to defeat the team, which was not to be because in the space of the first 30seconds of the match Cleo Gomez in his first appearance for a Philippines rugby team opened the scoring for the Sons of Lapu Lapu.

Philippines National Rugby 7s Head Coach Rick Hartley liked what he saw in this inaugural Filipino-Heritage rugby team and the work his Australian based coaches Mike Letts and Alan Macdonald had done to prepare this team within a short month. Head Coach Rick Hartley is now aware of the rugby talent he has to work with as he prepares the Philippines National Rugby 7s team for the ARFU Rugby 7s tournament in Sri Lanka in September and the South East Asian games in Laos in December if Rugby 7s is included in this regional sporting event where he coached the Philippines to a Silver medal in Thailand in 2007.

The squad acquitted themselves well in their first appearance in this prestigious rugby tournament against NSW leading professional rugby union clubs who had been preparing for this tournament since November 2008.

Our young Filipino rugby players forced last years Kiama 7s Champion Manly RUFC to step up a gear to deal with Filipino players who were smaller than them. The Manly team were surprised that they only had a 7-0 lead for most of the 1st half with the Sons of Lapu Lapu only conceding a 2nd try near the end to go into the break with a 12-0 lead. The defending Champions increased their intensity in the 2nd half to overcome the Sons of Lapu Lapu using their bulk, speed and experience to stretch the team’s defense and create the overlaps to score their remaining tries with a final score of 33-0.
As the squad progressed into the Plate Group stage of matches they put a scare on last year’s semi- finalist Paramatta 2Blues RUFC as they scored the first try through the combination of the two youngest members of the team 16 year olds Ned Stephenson who made a brilliant 30metre run to break up the Paramatta defense and off load to Ben Saunders who scored in the corner. The Sons of Lapu Lapu held off their larger Paramatta opponents for most of the 1st half and it was only late into the game that they equalized and took a slim 10-5 lead after scoring on the siren. Paramatta realized they had a game on their hands and were forced to dig deep to overcome a valiant Filipino-heritage team, but they were only able to score one additional try in the second half being held back by dogged Sons of Lapu Lapu defense, with only inexperience, wrong options and dropped balls awarding Paramatta a lucky victory.

Captain Oliver Saunders and his Vice Captain Jake Letts, both from the Warringah RUFC were the only two grade players in this squad and they were proud of their young team’s performance against professional opposition. With current Philippines rugby internationals Ben Saunders and Andrew Barbecetto as reliable as ever having strong games and new blood's Cleo Gomez, Ned Stephenson and Thamer Wilczynski showing the depth of Filipino-heritage rugby talent in Sydney. It was evident from the team’s performance and results on the day that with more preparation, game time and experience, the Sons of Lapu Lapu can mix it up with NSW premier rugby union teams, even the ones that have won this tournament and challenge them on an equal footing in the not to distant future.

Thanks must go to Warringah RUFC who provided administrative support and Physiotherapist Eliza Collier for this team and our sponsors’ Focused Business Solutions and RJH Consultancy, Inc, who were pleased with the performance of this young and courageous Filipino-heritage rugby team, as they went up against older and more experienced elite NSW rugby clubs who have previously won this event. Our sponsors’ support has allowed the NSW public to get a glimpse at what future and more experienced Filipino-heritage rugby team can do in this tournament.

Sons of Lapu Lapu score sheet:

Game 1: Sons of Lapu Lapu v Grenfell RUFC 31-5
Tries: Cleo Gomez, Ned Stephenson, Ben Saunders *2, Oliver Saunders
Conversions: Oliver Saunders * 3

Game 2: Sons of Lapu Lapu v Manly RUFC 0 - 33

Plate Cup Group games: Sons of Lapu Lapu v Paramatta RUFC 5 – 17
Tries: Ben Saunders