By Ram Christian Agustin
The Rugby World Cup 2019, along with its official logistics partner DHL, launched a rugby clinic and essential life skills discussion in the Rugby World Cup Trophy Tour of the Webb Ellis Trophy with 100 students from Concepcion Elementary School in Marikina last Tuesday.
“The Rugby World Cup Trophy Tour is visiting 18 countries around the world and they lead up to Rugby World Cup 2019 and it’s the first-ever rugby World Cup in Asia next year to be held in Japan. So for us, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to really grow the game in Asia and get people across the continent to find out a bit more about rugby, to have a go, and to really get to understand how brilliant a game rugby is and what it can do for them so the reason so the reason we went to Philippines,” said Team Official Lisa Hampton.
Members of the Philippine Volcanoes rugby team joined the Rugby World Cup 2019 Trophy Tour’s first destination in Taal, with children from local rugby development programmes.
“We have a program called Asia One Million which is where we’re trying to get a million new players to start rugby in the whole of Asia in 2020, so programs like the trophy tour really helps us to inspire the generation that’s here and you can see it today,” said Hampton.
“Some of them may have never played rugby before and they start to play now and carry on playing and become future Volcanoes. Rugby is a great game, if you get into rugby, you can play with family and friends, it’s a team sport just like basketball which is really popular here,” she added.
The 18-month tour leads up to Asia’s first ever Rugby World Cup, to be held in Japan in 2019 and the next country on their list is India in August, before heading finally to Japan.
“What we need is for people to have a go and we’re really confident that they’ll never look back once you try it. I have no doubt that the future of Filipino rugby is definitely bright and I think they’re definitely doing a good job,” Hampton concluded.