PHILIPPINE VOLCANOES FACE OFF AGAINST SRI LANKA IN HSBC ASIAN 5 NATIONS RUGBY
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 19 Apr 2012
In what is expected to be a highly-charged, knockdown, drag-out scuffle the Philippine Volcanoes will face off against top seeds Sri Lanka in the finals of the HSBC 5 Nations at the Rizal Memorial Stadium at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
The Volcanoes made up mostly of players with Filipino heritage with either one of their parents being Filipinos are seeded No. 3 but have shown in their two rousing victories against Singapore and Chinese-Taipei that they are ready to challenge Sri Lanka for the top spot and promotion to the top five elite Asian competition next year.
Looking ahead to the finals against Sri Lanka coach Expo Mojica predicted a ?very tough match? and said it ? It comes down to who recovers best and who steps up most. Both teams are capable of winning and Sri Lanka isn?t quite surprising us. They have a good structure and are very solid in what they do. They have pace out wide and strong forwards. They have it all really, so we are going to have to peak on Saturday to win.
Noting the good crowds that have come out to watch the matches and support the Volcanoes, Mojica was quoted as saying ?our guys are really keen to perform for our fans. We have been dying to have a home final and show Filipinos what we have got and we finally have that chance. The boys are up for it.?
In its game against Chinese-Taipei the Volcanoes website noted that it was a family affair as the Philippines started three sets of brothers with winger Luke Matthews scoring on his first two touches of the ball to help pull the Philippines away from the 4th seeds Chinese Taipei.
Matthews? brace of tries equaled those scored by his brother Joe in the team?s 37-20 victory over Singapore Sunday.
Matthews? praised his forwards for some stirring defense early in the match that helped the Philippines break through their last remaining barrier to reaching the finals. He said ?It felt amazing to score twice today but we have to hand it to our forwards whose defense was outstanding and set a great platform for the backline.?
The Philippines started three sets of brothers against Chinese Taipei: 15s captain Michael Letts and his brother and Philippines Sevens captain Jake, fly-half and centre Oliver and Matthew Saunders, and the Matthews brothers.
Top favorites Sri Lanka after an initial shock when Singapore took an early lead on a penalty got a hold of themselves and under the leadership of dynamic Yoshitha Rajapaksa, one of two of sons of Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa who play for the national team, the other being hooker Namal, put on a dazzling performance to score five converted tries while preventing Singapore from scoring in the second half with some resolute tackling to win 35-10.
Fullback Reeza Mubarak converted all five tries and crossed the Singapore line once while winger Sandut Herath baffled the defense with his speed to wind off some excellent three quarter moves scoring twice.
The speed of the flashy winger showed the Sri Lankans have lots of pace out wide and with the Filipinos also ready to run at every opportunity the finals should be a dandy.
Former England hooker Phil Greening who is Sri Lanka?s coach conceded that ?The Philippines in my eyes are the top team so far. ?They are the team to beat there is no doubt about that. There are quite a few players in the Philippines team playing professionally now in Japan or at high level in Australia while seven out of our 22 players earned new caps either today or last Sunday. We have five 19 year olds in the squad also, so I am very pleased with the way our players have taken to the international arena.?
Photo: The Philippine Volcanoes rugby team.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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