Philippines national rugby union team

"For the Rugby League team of the Philippines see Philippines national rugby league team."Rugby team
country =Philippines


union = Philippine Rugby Football Union
nickname = Volcanoes
captain = Michael Letts
coach = Matt Cullen
from = 2004
caps =
top scorer = Ron Pena 36 points & the leading try scorers: Andrew Barbacetto, Harry Morris, Matt Saunders & Oliver Saunders all with 3 tries.
pattern_b1 =
pattern_ra1 =
leftarm1 = 000080
body1 = 000080
rightarm1 = 000080
shorts1 = 000080
socks1 = ff0000
first = Philippines 18-14 Guam (May 20, 2006)
bigwin = Philippines 101-0 Brunei (July 2, 2008)
bigloss = Philippines 3-24 Pakistan (June 10, 2006)
no World cup apps = 0The Philippine national rugby union team (also known as the "Volcanoes") is the newly established rugby union national team of the Philippines.

The team won their first international test match when they beat Guam, 18-14 in Guam on May 20 2006, with approximately half of the squad composed of Filipino-heritage players and the other half of long term expatriate residents.

The Philippine Rugby Football Union, was formed in 1998 and was composed primarily of expatriates, with only a few Filipino players. Different local clubs and schools (such as Brent International School, International School Manila and the Manila Nomads) started introducing rugby union to the country.

The Merchant marine academy the Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific (MAAP)is one of the major educational institutions that plays Rugby Union. They formed the first all-Filipino rugby team and made their first major rugby appearance in the 2003 Manila Rugby 10s tournament where they were well received by the local and expatriate crowd.

Success also came to a 100% Filipino-heritage team when the Philippines won the 2005 Southeast Asian Games rugby sevens tournament (as a demonstration sport), beating Indonesia, 32-5 in December 2005.

ARFU Group 5 Series - Guam/Philippines 2006

:May 20 Philippines v Guam 18 - 14:June 10 Philippines v Pakistan 3 - 24

ARFU U19 Div2 Tournament - Taiwan 2006

The PRFU U19 squad created Philippines Rugby history when they went through undefeated in the Div 2 ARFU tournament in December 2006:

:Dec 18 Philippines v Guam 12 - 3:Dec 20 Philippines v Brunei 64 - 0:Dec 22 Philippines v Arabian Gulf 21 - 10

ARFU Group 5 Series - Philippines 2007

:June 27 Philippines v Guam 39 - 3:July 1 Philippines v India 3 - 11

24th South East Asian Games Nakron Ratchasima Thailand 6-15 December 2007

Further success for the Philippines Rugby squad came in December 2007 when a 100% Filipino-heritage team were accorded the honour to represent the Philippines in the 24th South East Asian games in Thailand where they reached the Medal rounds after 2 days of hard fought pool matches. They defeated Malaysia in the Semi Finals in Golden Point extra time scoring a try to make it 12 -7. The team was matched against the Home side Thailand for the Gold medal with both sides locked at 14 all at half time. Thailand took control of the game late in the 2nd half to win the Gold medal 29 - 14. But the Silver Medal performance at the SEA games has opened doors for the expansion & development of the game in the Philippines.

Asian 5 Nations (a5n) Series 2008 - Guam

Asia's new Rugby Tournament Format. The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited and the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU) are partners in a major innovation in Asian Rugby, the HSBC Asian Five Nations Series (HSBC A5N). Remarkable for its scale and inclusiveness, the HSBC A5N features four tiers of elite competition across 25 Asian rugby unions with promotion and relegation opportunities for participating teams.

Brunei, Guam & the Philippines launched the 4tier of the a5n competition, the Regional Tournaments at Guam's Wettengel Field. The Philippines won the Inaugural 1st group of the Regional Tournaments by defeating Brunei and Guam.

:July 2 Philippines v Brunei 101 - 0:July 5 Philippines v Guam 20 - 8

External links

* [http://www.prfu.com Philippine Rugby Football Union official website]
* [http://www.irb.com/en/Home/MemberUnionHomePage?UnionID=117 Philippines at the IRB website]
* [http://www.nomadsrugby.com/ Manila Nomads the club that introduced Rugby Union in the Philippines]
* [http://www.manila10s.com/ Manila 10s the social Rugby tournament that has promoted Rugby Union in the Philippines]
* [http://www.maap.edu.ph/index.htm MAAP where the Philippine Warriors go to school]
* [http://www.rjhconsultancy.com/about/index.htm MAAP players pictures go to the Gallery-Rugby Team section ]
* [http://www.pbase.com/danieldy/rugby FAITH academy vs. ISM & MAAP pictures]
* [http://www.ceburugby.com/ Cebu city RFC the up and coming team in Philippines Rugby]
* [http://www.alabangeagles.org/ Alabang Eagles - one of the strongest teams in Metro Manila]