The Philippine Rugby Football Union are committed to developing the sport of Rugby Football Union throughout the Philippines and 2009 stands as a productive year with the National Coach Matt Cullen
To welcome 2009, the PRFU Board and its member-clubs have decided to expand and step-up their efforts in taking the Sport of Rugby Union to the underprivileged youth in orphanages and charitable foundations.
The Philippine National Rugby Union Football Team defeated Guam by 20-8 in an intense game in Guam. The Philippine National Rugby Union team completed a clean sweep in the Asian 5 Nations tournament by defeating both Brunei and Guam in the Division three Asian regional tournament held in Guam last week.
The game against Guam was certainly played with passion and both teams put their bodies on the line in attack and defense. It was the Philippines who opened the scoring with a penalty conversion by Oliver Saunders to put the Philippines up 3-0. To Guam’s credit, they hit back and equaled the score at 3-3. It wasn´t until the Philippine forward pack started to dominate the rucks and mauls that Jake Letts ran the blind side to set up the speedster Harry Morris to score a 50m try and take the lead to 8-3 at halftime.
Second half
The weather conditions made running rugby difficult with rain falling throughout the game. The ball was slippery and the Philippines were unlucky not to score on two occasions, it was only Guam’s scrambling defense that kept them in the game.
The second half proved to be just as intense as the first with both teams playing for field position. Michael Letts, the Philippines team captain, was able to place a kick deep into Guam’s territory and found the touchline five metres for the Guam tryline. The Philippine forwards led by Romain Barberis were able to spoil the Guam lineout and this allowed the Saunders brothers, Oliver and Matthew, to combine for a Philippine try to take the score to 13-3. Once again, Guam came back at the Philippines and were awarded a penalty five metres from the Philippine tryline, Guam threw a wide pass and were able to score out wide to take the score to 13-8.
This set the scene for an intense final ten minutes and with less than one minute left on the clock, it was Oliver Saunders who placed an accurate kick into the Guam goal area and found the flying Rupert Zappia to score in the corner to seal the game and a Philippines victory. Not only did he score the winning try, but also converted a his kick from the sideline to ensure a convincing victory over Guam by 20-8.
Coach Matt Cullen was extremely happy to take the win away from home and made two awards to Andrew Wolff for the best Filipino player and Maxwell Stewart for a great cover defending tackle that certainly saved a Guam try. By winning this regional tournament, the Philippine National Rugby Union Football Team have now given themselves the opportunity to move up to division two in Asia and will hopefully play teams such as India, Pakistan and Malaysia in the next round of Asian championships.
Statistics
For Philippines:
Tries:
(1) Harry Morris
(1) Rupert Zappia
Cons:
(1) Rupert Zappia
Pens:
(1) Oliver Saunders
For Brunei:
Cons:
(1) Sakiusa Vaka
Pens:
(1) Sakiusa Vaka
Referee:
Akihisa Aso
PRFU National Teams
Men's Fifteens [15s]
Men's Sevens [7s]
Under Twentys [20s]
PRFU Ladies and Junior Teams
Ladies Touch Rugby Football
Juniors Touch Rugby Football
PRFU Philippine Extinct Volcanoes
Philippine Extinct Volcanoes
Sons of Lapu Lapu
FILIPINO RUGBY TWO BLUES
With the Asian International Rugby Union Season upon us current and prospective Filipino-Heritage Rugby Union Internationals are hard at work with the Parramatta Two Blues Rugby Union Club preparing for the Asian 5 Nations (A5N) Division 3 tournament being held at the University of Makati in the Philippines between the 1st and 4th of July.
