International rugby football challenge Singaporeans zap Phl ladies

CEBU, Philippines - Banking on their superior speed, endurance and power moves, the Singapore squad came from behind to frustrate the Philippine Lady Volcanoes, 36-10, in the 1st International Ladies 15s Rugby Football Challenge yesterday at the Cebu International School (CIS) field in Brgy. Pit-os, this city.

Inspired by the cheers of hometown fans led by no less than Cebu City Mayor Michael L. Rama, the Lady Volcanoes coasted to a rousing 5-0 start.

Unfortunately, that came to be Phl's only bright moment as it was an all-Singapore show after that, with the visitors from the Lion City firing back with an explosive 19-0 blast behind the efforts of Xie Xing, Samantha Teo, Ester Ta, and Archanabala to seize full control of the match.

The Lady Volcanoes tried to salvage some measure pride but fumbled with some of their players taken out of the match due to injury.

Capitalizing on the shallow defense of the Lady Volcanoes, the Singaporeans padded their lead courtesy of Chan Siayu and Gloria Sharp with a try each.

Even though they sensed that the Lady Volcanoes were already slowing down, the Singaporeans continued to play aggressively on both ends, with Bliss Tan sealing their victory.

Singapore coach Muhammad Zaki was very impressed with his team as they showed great teamwork even if they were formed just two months ago.

“This just our developmental team. The girls here are university players and we have trained for only two months. The Filipino girls played well, it's just that they have not practiced together for long,“ said Zaki.

For the Lady Volcanoes, they must learn a lesson or two from that setback.

“We don’t have the teamwork. We have a lot of things to improve especially our defense, so disorganized. But you know, this is also the first time that the girls played a real game like this,” said Phl Lady Volcanoes head coach Expo Mejia.

There will be practically no rest for the Phl ladies as they will see action next in the Asian Women's 4 Nations Division 2 (AW4N) on June 13-17 in Manila.

“We still have time for practice. We can still improve plus we have two more players coming in, one from the US and another one from Europe,” added Mejia.

Meanwhile, the Cebu Dragons bowed out of the JML Philippine 15s League after falling prey to the Alabang Eagles in lopsided fashion, 8-90. (FREEMAN)