THE Philippine Volcanoes settled for bronze-medal finishes in the men’s and women’s divisions of the 2017 Southeast Asian Rugby 7s tournament in Singapore.
The Philippine men’s squad had a shaky start after they took a 5-17 loss to host Singapore in the opener.
Then, they found their form with a 35-0 blitz over Indonesia and a 47-5 crushing of Brunei before team skipper Jonel Madrona helped the Volcanoes finish the night on the podium by beating Thailand, 12-10.
The Volcanoes scored a buzzer beater as they sprinted from the corner after full time.
On the other hand, the rain was pouring when the Transcom Lady Volcanoes settled for a fight for the women’s bronze medal after comfortably beating Indonesia, 30-0.
After losing to Thailand in the semis, the Lady Volcanoes fought back to beat Malaysia, 17-12, in extra time in the bronze medal match.
Sylvia Tudoc scored the winning points with a try to win it for the Lady Volcanoes.
This allowed them to earn a spot on the podium for the second year in a row as the Lady Volcanoes also secured a bronze last year.
“In the end, 7s is so unpredictable, so many close games at all levels. I am extremely happy to walk away with some silverware here in Singapore. Both teams used this as a pre-tournament warm up for the 2017 Southeast Games. We are on track, the Men’s identified some youth and the Women’s have seen what it takes to go one better,” said Jake Robrigado Letts, National Team Head.
Moving forward, the Men’s Volcanoes are straight into preparations for the 15s Asia Rugby Championships as the SPI Volcanoes are up against Sri Lanka, Malaysia and United Arab Emirates on May 14, 17 and 20 in Ipoh, Malaysia.
