The Manila 10s is an annual men's

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

tournament featuring a variant of rugby union popular in Southeast Asia called

Rugby tens Rugby tens, also known as ten-a-side and Xs, is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of ten players, typically five Rugby union positions#Forwards, forwards and five Rugby union positions#Backs, backs. Matches are much shorter, us ...

organized annually by Nomad Sports Club in

Parañaque Parañaque, officially the City of Parañaque ( fil, Lungsod ng Parañaque, ), is a first class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to t ...

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

. The tournament is held one week before

Hong Kong Sevens The Hong Kong Sevens () is an rugby sevens tournament held annually in Hong Kong on a weekend in late March or early April. Considered the premier tournament on the World Rugby Sevens Series competition, the Hong Kong Sevens is currently the s ...

every year, allowing clubs from around the world to participate in the tournament prior to watching

. Manila 10s features 4 divisions of varying skill levels (Cup, Plate, Bowl, and Shield) as well as a veteran's division for teams featuring only players over-35. While the tournament is technically an amateur tournament the cup division often features ex-professional or internationally capped players such as former Welsh Captain

Colin Charvis Colin Charvis (born 27 December 1972) is a former captain of the Wales national rugby union team and also played for the British & Irish Lions. A back row forward, Charvis was equally adept as a flanker or as the no. 8. Charvis became the w ...

, former Australian Captain Jeremy Paul, world cup winner Joel Stransky and former British Lion John Bentley, featuring as 'guest' players for the tournament. The oldest player in the Manila 10's was 66 year old Don Anderson, playing for the Extinct Volcanoes in the 2019 tournament. The tournament draws most of the major amateur clubs in Asia such as the Shanghai Hairy Crabs, Seoul Survivors, Tokyo Gaijin,

Taipei Baboons The Taipei Baboons is a Rugby Union team based in Taipei, Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the ...

, and

Hong Kong Football Club Hong Kong Football Club (HKFC; ), established in 1886, is a private members' club in Hong Kong. The name reflects the origin as a club for playing association football and rugby. The club is situated in Happy Valley, with the sports pitche ...

as well as teams from further abroad such as British Royal Gurkha Rifles Battalion's 'The Flying Kukris' rugby football club, who have been regular participants in the tournament since its creation. The 2011 cup division was won by JML Welsh Warriors, an inaugural entry into the competition, who featured former Welsh Captain and British Lions player

as their guest player.

History

The Manila 10s was the first-ever rugby tournament held in the Philippines, and remains the premier rugby tournament in the country.{{citation needed, date=June 2011 The tournament started in 1989 as a way for the local, and then only, rugby club in the country,

Manila Nomads The Manila Nomads Sports Club, or simply the Nomads Sports Club or the Manila Nomads, is a sports club based in Carmona, Cavite, Philippines. For much of its history its grounds was situated within Metro Manila with its last ground within th ...

to play rugby at a competitive level without having to tour regularly. The first tournament featured five teams playing in a one-day tournament but the popularity of the tournament quickly grew the competition to 16 teams playing across two days. By 2006 the tournament had reached its current numbers of 32 teams across five divisions, playing 76 games over two days. Rugby union competitions in Asia Sports in Metro Manila Rugby union in the Philippines Rugby tens