Philippine National Under20's Rugby Union Team Go Down in Hard Fought Battle

After defeating Guam 18 – 17 in Game One, the Philippine National under 20’s Rugby Union Team came up against Guam for the deciding second game at Nomads as Saturday, November 8th. The first game proved to be fatal for the Philippines when fly-half star Rupert Zappia, who scored 13 of the Philippines 18 points was diagnosed with a fractured metatarsal bone in his left foot.

Zappia had proved to be the difference in the first game and Philippines Coach Matt Cullen had to reorganize the team’s backline to fill the void of the dominant No. 10. It was Ben Saunders who moved into the fly-half role and Josiah Fogle was promoted from the bench to play outside center.

The game started at a ferocious pace and both teams had obviously decided to continue the close battle from game one. After the initial arm wrestle, the Guam attack stretched the Philippines defence by spinning the ball wide to find the speedy Guam winger Martinez, who was able to step on the outside of the Filipino defence and sprinted down the left touch line to score. This try was converted and allowed Guam to take the early lead 7 – 0.

Throughout the tournament both teams were evenly matched and it was the Philippines who hit back with halfback Andrew Farrar taking a quick tap 10m from the Guam try line. The tricky Filipino halfback who hails from Bundaberg, Australia stepped past three Guam defenders to score under the posts to equal the game at 7 – 7.

The Guam team then kicked the ball deep into the Philippine territory and it ran over the dead ball line. Philippines fallback Juan Engelbrecht ran the ball back to the 22m line, took a quick drop kick, regathered the ball, ran down the sideline, chipped kicked the sleepy Guam defence and at full pace collected the ball to score the Try of the game. Against the run of play this great solo effort allowed the Philippines to take the lead 14 – 7.

The solo try by Engelbrecht was matched by another great try and it was again the Guam winger Martinez who beat three Filipino defenders to score out wide to take the score to 14 – 12. The Guam team finished the first half strongly when Joedee Reyes scored to take the lead 17 – 14.

The second half was no different with both Guam and the Philippines scoring a Try a piece and the game hung in the balance at 24 – 19. During the last ten minutes and both sides had opportunities to score. After two rugged battles on the pitch, it was Guam who hung on to win the game and the ARFU Division 2 Trophy.

The Philippines Coach Matt Cullen was proud of his young side’s effort and explained that most of this year’s team were eligible to play in 2009 and that even without Rupert Zappia, the Filipino team almost snatched victory from a well drilled and bigger Guam side.