Philippine Volcanoes win Plate competition in Thailand Rugby Sevens
The Volcanoes have a new piece of silverware after a fruitful weekend in Pattaya, Thailand.
After a 22-14 Finals victory against hosts Thailand, the Philippine team won the Plate Competition of the HSBC Thailand Rugby Sevens held last weekend.
The Pinoys started with a try from Gareth Holgate. The home team shot back with a try that was converted for 7-5. A second Philippine try before the half put the Volcanoes back in front, 10-7 at the half.
At the start of the second half Chris Hitch was shown a yellow card and was “sin-binned,” reducing the Filipinos to six men. The Thais exploited the advantage with yet another converted try for 14-10.
Once Hitch was allowed back on to the park he quickly made amends with a breakaway try that got his team back in front, 15-14. The Philippines then slammed the door on Thailand with a late try from Sean Lynch that Holgate converted for the 22-14 final score that gave them the trophy.
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The win avenged a 15-10 Plate Semifinal loss to Thailand in the Malaysia Sevens earlier this month. It's even more remarkable considering that many top Volcanoes were unable to play because of club commitments in Japan.
The Plate is typically the second-tier trophy in a Rugby Sevens tournament. The Philippines finished second to top-ranked Japan in the round-robin stage, then when they were defeated by Korea in the quarterfinals of the top-tier Cup playoff, slid over to the Plate semifinals against Kazakhstan.
The Central Asians led the Philippines 10-0 before the Volcanoes roared back with fourteen unanswered points to grab the win and set the Plate Final date with the Thais.
“The three outstanding players from this tour all attended the Rugby World Cup in June and showed their quality” said coach Matt Cullen. “Chris Hitch was absolutely dynamic in every game, Gareth Holgate was the top try scorer and Volcanoes newcomer Sean Lynch has erupted onto the Asian 7s scene, impressing everyone with his blockbusting runs” added the Australian mentor.
Japan won the main trophy with a 17-12 victory over Hong Kong in the Cup final. China defeated Chinese Taipei 21-14 in the third-level Bowl final, while India took home the fourth-tier Shield trophy after routing the United Arab Emirates 31-10.
Sevens Rugby is similar to the fifteen-a-side variety, but played with seven players per team. Games are only fourteen minutes long instead of eighty minutes, which allows teams to play several games in one day. Unlike the 15-a-side variety of Rugby Union where brute strength is paramount, Sevens Rugby emphasizes raw speed and fitness.
The Thailand Sevens is part of the HSBC Asian Sevens Series. The third tournament in the series is the India Sevens in Mumbai from October 12 to 13, and the final event is the Singapore Sevens in November.
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The Volcanoes are set to participate in both legs, and are also looking towards the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
“Our boys showed a lot of heart and determination to finish the tournament by winning the Plate Division, despite having a few injuries” said Oliver Saunders, the team captain. “But the most important game is the Cup Quarter Final on Sunday morning -- we need to win that game to consolidate a top 4 finish in each tournament. If we can do that, then we will have a solid ranking heading into the Asian Games next year.”
Co-captain Jake Letts adds, “Of course we are happy that we won the Plate, but we are not content with our performance. We know that we can do better. A full game of Sevens Rugby only goes for 15 minutes, so there's really no time to recover from mistakes. We need to eliminate our errors to be able to get the results that we want in Mumbai and Singapore."
Philippine Volcanoes Thailand 7s Team:
Alexander Norona Aronson
Christian Desacola Enriquez
Chris Alamil Everingham
Chris Baltazar Hitch
Gareth Dela Rosa Holgate
Robert Amalay Jones
Jake Robrigado Letts (C)
Sean Celada Lynch
Harry Dionson Morris
Oliver Abalos Saunders (C)
Eric Tai
Rupert Dian Zappia
Vist the Philippine Rugby Football Union website at www.prfu.com. Follow the Volcanoes on Twitter @PhilippineRugby. Follow Bob @bhobg333.
