New coach to lead Volcanoes in 2013 campaign

MANILA, Philippines — To lead the Philippine national men’s rugby team in the Premier Division of the Asian 5 Nations (A5N) 2013, the Philippine Rugby Football Union have appointed Jarred Hodges as the new head coach of the Men’s 15s team.

“The Volcanoes are now ranked among the top 5 teams in Asia,” PRFU president Rick Santos said, adding that they appointed Hodges to fully prepare the squad for “this new level.”

Santos shared that Hodges, who’s been part of the Volcanoes’ coaching staff since 2010, is the head coach of “A” Schools in the Australian Schools Rugby Union and National Coaching Director of the Lloyd McDermott Rugby Development Team.

Ranked 56th in the world

The Philippine team was cited by the International Rugby Board for entering the IRB rankings at a record-setting 56 out of 117 Rugby-playing nations in the world. And with Filipino heritage players based all over hte planet, the team will gather in Manila to train together in time for their first match against Japan on April 20.

The Volcanoes then face Hong Kong at the Rizal Memorial Stadium on May 4 before visiting South Korea on May 11, and closing their campaign versus the United Arab Emirates on May 18 again in Manila.

The Asian 5 Nations is the Premier tournament in Asia for Rugby Union and is the qualifying tournament for the Rugby World Cup. The Philippines need to place at least fourth among five teams to remain in the Premier Division of the A5N in 2014 and have a crack at qualifying for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. – Rappler.com