Is There Rugby Development in the Philippines?

The ‘proof of the pudding is in the eating’ or so the old saying goes. Well, to eat this particular pudding you had to battle your way through Manila’s notorious traffic and head south.

Let me tell you it was worth it. Rugby development in the Philippines really is taking place. You don’t need the hallowed turf of Twickenham or Ballymore, glorious weather conditions or two teams of seasoned and highly skilled players to make an entertaining rugby spectacle.

The venue was a football field - and a flooded one at that - with no pitch markings save for a few cones around the perimeter. The teams, a works team from HMR Group known as the Santa Rosa Crickets and an eclectic group of Africans and a Papuan who are students at the Adventist University. Amongst the ranks of both teams were a high percentage of players who had never played a competitive game of rugby. The weather conditions, miserable and steadily getting worse.

In these circumstances you would be forgiven for thinking that this would be a poor introduction to the sport.

Wrong. A crowd of around fifty, almost all who had never seen a rugby game before gathered on the touchline and remained throughout braving the appalling conditions.

Why? The answer is simple. Wherever the game of rugby is played, and from whatever backgrounds the players hail one thing is present, passion. That was evident here in bucket loads.

From the first whistle the tackling was ferocious by both teams, however despite the treacherous underfoot conditions there were few occasions when the referee had to blow up for infringements.

Both teams had Philippine national players in their ranks coordinating the team’s efforts. Juan Engelbrecht (U19 national 2006) and David Carman (current national team) alternated for the Crickets. Evans Atendi (national team 2006) who was born and raised in Kenya did the necessary for the University team known as the Unicorns.

The skills were in general raw and the tactical nouse somewhat lacking, but for sheer guts and determination this was one for the record books.

At times it seemed like there must be an award on offer for the most destructive tackle as every effort seemed to eclipse the last.

The game was played over three 20 minute periods. At the end of the first the scores were level 5-5, and at the conclusion of the second were again level at 10-10. The final session saw the University pull clear, touching down twice to leave the final score at 20-10.

What a wonderful sport when you can stand in torrential rain and enjoy physical confrontation between two teams of on-the-whole complete novices and come away thoroughly inspired.

 

Images courtesy of PRFU