Philippine Volcanoes edge Korea, reach Rugby Sevens World Cup final stage
The Bronze medals shone like gold for the Philippine Volcanoes.
The Philippine Men's National Rugby Union team have achieved yet another breakthrough after defeating Korea Republic 22-19 in the bronze medal match of the HSBC Asian Rugby Sevens Series Singapore Sevens on Saturday.
The victory at the Singapore Padang field sends the Philippines to the Rugby Sevens World Cup final stage in Russia in June of next year where they will vie with 23 of the world's best Rugby Sevens teams, like Fiji, New Zealand, and defending champs Wales.
The Philippines got two tries from Gaz Holgate and one each from Matt Saunders and Andrew Wolff. Holgate converted one of the tries.
The Koreans fought back from 17-7 down at the half but the Volcanoes held on for victory and a slot in Russia.
In the two nations' previous meeting last month in Mumbai, India, the Philippines also won, 24-14, finishing 7th amongst sixteen nations in the Mumbai Sevens tilt, also a part of the HSBC Asian Rugby Sevens Series.
Rugby Sevens is the faster version of Rugby Union. The rules are almost identical to the 15-a side version of the game, only with seven players per team. Since the field is the same size, there is plenty of room to run and tries can be scored even from deep in a team's territory. Kicking for touch is not as common, and tries are converted with a drop kick instead of a place kick.
Unlike a 15-a-side game where games are comprised of two forty-minute halves, Sevens matches are just seven minutes a half, which allows a team to play more than one game a day.
Because of the speed of the game, the heavyset forwards seen in the 15-a-side game are nowhere to be found in a Sevens game. Scrums are performed by only a pack of three players each per team.
Fiji has traditionally been the world power of Rugby Sevens, with New Zealand also usually a threat.
The Philippines began their campaign on a bright note, outclassing Guam 33-0 last Friday in their first group match. They lost their next game to Hong Kong, 29-12 but still qualified for the quarterfinals out of their three-team group. Andrew Wolf and Matt Saunders scored in the game against the Hong Kongers.
Their quarterfinal with China was a close affair but the Pinoys prevailed 14-7 thanks to two converted tries by Matt Saunders.
The semifinal with Japan on Saturday morning went the way of the Brave Blossoms, 17-7, with Saunders yet again scoring the lone Philippine try.
That set up the clash in the bronze medal match that went the way of the Philippines, who are supported by Bench and Globe Telecom.
With seven tries, at least one in all six games, Matt Saunders surely must be a leading candidate for MVP of the Volcanoes in this tournament.
Saunders has two other brothers on the team, Oliver and Ben. The team captain is Harry Morris.
Japan went on to win the Gold Medal Match against Hong Kong, 14-12. Both teams will see action in Russia.
The 2013 Rugby Sevens World Cup will be the sixth running of the event and may very well be the last, because Rugby Sevens has just become an Olympic Sport and will be played in Rio in 2016.
The coach of the Volcanoes Sevens is Argentinian-born American Al Caravelli, who played for both Argentina and the United States and until recently was the coach of the USA Sevens team, where he enjoyed considerable success.
The Philippine Rugby Football Union has informed me that Volcanoes fans can expect two or three 15-a-side home games in the Rizal Memorial Football stadium next year as part of the HSBC Asian 5 Nations.
The Philippines qualified for the top tier of Asian Rugby Union last summer when they defeated Singapore, Chinese Taipei, and Sri Lanka at home.
The Volcanoes replace relegated Kazakhstan in the top flight and will play Japan, Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and Hong Kong in a round-robin series that will serve as a qualifier for the 15-a-side Rugby World Cup in 2015.
You can follow the Volcanoes on Twitter @PhilippineRugby where you can find video links of highlights of the team's games.
You can follow Bob @bhobg333.
Editor's note: The blogger's views do not represent Yahoo! Southeast Asia's position on the topic or issue being discussed in this post.
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