Volcanoes dominate first 3 matches in SEA Games rugby 7s

SINGAPORE – The Philippine Volcanoes underlined their serious championship aspirations by sweeping their first 3 matches on Saturday, June 6, in the preliminaries of the rugby sevens of the 28^th Singapore Southeast Asian Games at the Choa Chu Kang Stadium here.

The Filipinos opened their campaign by humbling defending champion Thailand, 24-10, subdued host Singapore, 17-0, then capped their day by clobbering Cambodia, 55-0, to move within two games of advancing to the finals the next day.

“We’re in good position and I believe we can win our two matches the next day,” said team manager Matt Cullen, referring to their last two matches against against Laos and Malaysia at 10 a.m. and 1:20 p.m., respectively, tomorrow.

(READ: PH boxers go 3-0 as Gabuco, Bautista advance)

He saw no problems against the Laotians, who drew the Cambodians, 14-14, but said that the Malaysians “are physical and could give us a tough fight. Still I believe our boys will prevail.”

Cullen pointed out that they were virtually facing the same the squad they beat twice in separate tournaments abroad last year.

Cullen said his main concern was the weather after a heavy downpour delayed the competition for about an hour.

“The pitch was slippery and wet, and rugby sevens is a fast-paced game and we play better on dry conditions,” the coach said.

Cullen said he was still anticipating that their rivals for the title would be the Singaporeans, who had only one loss against two wins after thumping the Malaysian, 14-5, and whipping the Cambodians, 36-0.

He expects the hometown fans to pack the 4,000-capacity arena to support their squad “but my players are used to playing in bigger stadiums and play in front of a crowd of 40,000 so it would not matter to us.”

On the other hand, the PH women’s rugby squad split their matches, prevailing over Laos, 17-0, and falling to Thailand, 0-36. – Rappler.com