The Philippines national rugby union team, nicknamed the "Volcanoes", represents the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

in international

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 ...

. The Philippines have been playing in the

Asia Rugby Championship The Asia Rugby Championship, or ARC, is an annual rugby union competition held amongst national rugby sides within the Asia Rugby region. The competition was originally known as the Asian Rugby Football Tournament when founded in 1969, and was call ...

since 2006 when the team was first created. In

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

they won the Division I championship and were promoted to the top 5 for the

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tournament where they earned 4th place and again in the

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tournament. The Philippines have yet to make their debut at the

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

. In the March 19, 2012

World Rugby Rankings The World Rugby Rankings (formerly the IRB Rankings) is a ranking system for national teams in rugby union, managed by World Rugby, the sport's governing body. There are separate men's and women's rankings. The teams of World Rugby's member nation ...

, Philippines, along with

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, were listed for the first time, entering with the base rating of 40 points (which positioned the three national teams in 71st place). The national side is ranked 41st in the world (as of 29 July 2019).

History

In 1998 the

Philippine Rugby Football Union The PRFU is the official governing body of the sport of Rugby Union in the Philippines. The PRFU was founded in 1998 and was granted full World Rugby membership in 2008. Philippine Rugby is a non-profit national sports association registered with ...

(PRFU), the national governing body for rugby union in the Philippines, was formed. Rugby union in the Philippines was introduced mainly through the large number of British, Australian and New Zealand expatriates living in the country. The Philippines made their first official international debut at the 5th division of the 2006 ARFU Asian Rugby Series. They won over Guam, 18 – 14, in its first match on May 20, 2006, but was later defeated by Pakistan in a match held on June 11, 2006, and failed to secure the sole slot for promotion to the next division. In December 2006, the Philippines Under-19 went undefeated in the

Asian Rugby Football Union Asia Rugby, formerly the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU), is the governing body of rugby union in Asia under the authority of World Rugby. Founded in 1968 by eight charter nations, the Union today has 36 member unions in countries across Asia, ...

(ARFU) Under-19 Second Division Tournament. In 2008, the PRFU gained full membership to the international governing body, the

International Rugby Board World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

(IRB). The Philippines dominated the fourth-tier of the ARFU Asian 5 Nations Series and captured the inaugural Division 4 title. During the tournament, the Philippines demolished Brunei 101-0 and then defeated the home side Guam 20–8 to capture the division title. In 2009 the Philippines won the inaugural Asian 5 Nations Division III rugby tournament at the Nomads field in Parañaque City. Defeating Iran 15-0 and Guam 25–0 in their two matches, the Philippines were then promoted to the Asian Five Nations Division II rugby tournament. In 2010 the Philippines competed in the Asian 5 Nations Division II tournament and won it beating India in the final on a score of 44–12. Also in 2010 they played in ARFU Rugby 7s tournaments in Shanghai, Borneo and the Asian Games in Guangzhou. In 2012 the Philippines competed in the Asian 5 Nations Division I tournament and went unbeaten in the round-robin series against Singapore, Chinese Taipei and Sri Lanka, therefore qualifying for the main division for the first time. The Volcanoes suffered heavy defeats in the 2013 edition of A5N, however showed good signs with a competitive first half against Hong Kong in

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 ...

, and a win to avoid relegations against

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

also in

Tournaments

Nickname and emblem

The Philippines national rugby union team is nicknamed the 'Volcanoes'. The name comes from the

1st Filipino Infantry Regiment The 1st Filipino Infantry Regiment was a Racial segregation in the United States, segregated United States Army infantry regiment made up of Filipino Americans from the continental United States and a few veterans of the Philippines campaign (1 ...

that fought under the command of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

. It was made up of

Filipino-Americans Filipino Americans ( fil, Mga Pilipinong Amerikano) are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipinos and other Asian ethnicities in North America were first documented in the 16th century as slaves and prisoners on ships sailing to and from New ...

with a few Filipino veterans which fought in World War II. The PRFU thought the situation was similar to the first Philippines national team which mainly consisted of foreign expatriates with only a few Filipinos. The emblem of the team is based on the insignia of the 1st Filipino Infantry Regiment. One of its features is a volcano which represents where the infantry units were located.

Players

Current squad

Squad for 2019 Asia Rugby Championship: *Simon Gabion-Sheehan *Harvey Mercado *James Krook *Sam Callaghan *Jeromy Cairns *Sam Bennetts *David Feeney *Ashley Heward *Chris Bird *Edlen Hernandez *Tom Gunn *Kingsley Ballesteros *Ken Mellorin *Tim Berry *Jobel de Castro *Daniel Matthews *Kohei Mitsuhashi *Ellis Rudder *Robert Fogerty *Justin Coveney *Ned Stephenson *Vincent Young *Phillip Hinson *Patricie Olivier *Timothy Bweheni

Notable Rugby players with Filipino heritage

* Rod Davies * Marcus Smith *

Craig Wing Craig Wing (born 26 December 1979), also known by the nickname of "Wingy", is an Australian-born former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer. He began his career in rugby league, playing for the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the S ...

Coaches

* Mike McMahon (2006) * Matthew Cullen (2007–2009) * Expo Mejia (2009–2013) * Jarred Hodges (2013–) * Stuart Woodhouse (2013, caretaker)

Honours

;

*Pacific-Asia Regional Champions:

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*Division 3 Champions:

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*Division 2 Champions:

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*Division 1 Champions:

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Overall record

Their test match record against all nations:

References

External links

Philippine Rugby Football Union
official website

at IRB.com
Manila 10s the social Rugby tournament that has promoted Rugby Union in the Philippines
{{DEFAULTSORT:Philippines National Rugby Union Team Rugby union in the Philippines Asian national rugby union teams