After nearly 2 years of inactivity, the Philippine Volcanoes, the men’s and women’s national rugby 7s squads, will see action in the Asia Rugby Sevens Series Friday and Saturday at Dubai Sports City.

“It’s been a long time, but we are happy to be back in action excited to see action in this tournament,” said team manager Jake Letts of their first competition since the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.

The Volcanoes romped off with the SEA Games gold while the Lady Volcanoes bagged a breakthrough silver.

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Featuring the top 8 countries in Asia in both the men’s and women’s divisions, the tournament serves as the Asian qualifiers for the Rugby World Cup Sevens scheduled in September 2022 in South Africa.

The Volcanoes are in Pool A with South Korea, Hong Kong and Malaysia while the Lady Volcanoes are in Pool A with Japan, Kazakhstan and Thailand. The top 2 finishers in each of the men’s and women’s division will earn tickets to the Rugby World Cup Sevens.

“We would like to thank the Philippine Sports Commission and he Philippine Olympic Committee in their support of this international competition,” said Ada Milby, president of the Philippine Rugby Football Union, the sport’s national governing body. “We hope to do the Philippines proud in this tournament.”

To enhance the teams’ chances, the PRFU tapped Australian Josh Sutcliffe, head coach of Stanford University Club, to call the shots for the Volcanoes while Samoan coach Fetala’a “Fitz” Taua’a returned to helm the women.

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“Josh has had a great depth of experience with USA Rugby while leading the Stanford rugby program for the last five years while coach Fitz will be resuming where he left with our women’s squad in 2019,” Letts said.

Milby said that due to limited training opportunities in the Philippines due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the PRFU reached out to international players with Filipino roots so that national side will continue to have players for global competition.

“We will have 10 new faces with our national teams as a result of our scouting process and we believe they will be assets not only in this tournament but also for future international events,” she said.

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Milby said the Asia Rugby Sevens Series will also serve as part of the preparation of the national teams that the PRFU intends to field in the Hangzhou Asian Games in China in September next year.

The Volcanoes are composed of Christopher Bird Lewis, Edlen Gil Robert Hernandez, Kai Kristian Stroem, Ralph Jose Pierre Barberis, Jobel de Castro, Jordan Samuel Rhoades, Vincent Francis Young, Ian Christopher Luciano, Clifford Joe Dawson, Luc Stefan Smith, Ethan Luke Shien Chen and Jerome Lloyd Ruder.

The Lady Volcanoes are Erica Mae Legaspi, Aldee Faith Denuyo, Helena Indigne, Jennifer Lyn Johnson, Lauryn Madrigal Nazareno, Loramhel Monique Mateo, Naomi Kate Palis, Mary Riclaire Martinez, Tanya Louise Bird, Vanessa Cifuentes, Alyanna del Fierro and Lilian Christina Smythe.

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