Phl Volcanoes eye historic debut win in Rugby World Cup

CEBU, Philippines - MANILA - The Philippine Volcanoes make their historic debut today in the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow, Russia against the fifth-ranked Kenya.

Seeded as the lowest team in the prestigious tournament, the 24th-ranked Volcanoes are hoping to make a big splash in their debut.

“The greatest thing about rugby sevens is that on any given day, anybody can beat anybody,” Volcanoes coach Al Caravelli said during the send-off press conference organized by the Philippine Rugby Football Union last week.

The Volcanoes will next face fourth-ranked Samoa and 17th-ranked Zimbabwe tomorrow (Saturday) morning and afternoon, respectively, in a tough, make-or-break stretch that will determine their fate. They need to top Pool C or at the very least, place second with a high point differential to advance to the Cup stage of the 24-team tournament.

“By looking on paper, yeah, we have Mt. Everest,” Caravelli said. “But we want to turn that paper around. We believe we have a good chance as any to put pressure on those teams.”

The Volcanoes are now among the top three in Asia having beaten powerhouse teams China and Korea along the way to qualify in the World Cup Sevens for the first time in 50 years.  They finished third in last year’s HSBC Asian Seven Series to make it this far.

Team captains Matthew Saunders and Michael Letts will lead the Volcanoes’ campaign with Andrew Wolff, Ryan Clarke, Oliver Saunders, Gareth Holgate, Jake Letts, Joseph Matthews, Justin Coveney, Kenneth Stern, Sean Lynch and Patrice Olivier.

Japan and Hong Kong are the only other Asian countries in the 24-team field that will wrestle for the three titles the tournament has to offer.

The top finishers of each of the six groups and the two best second-placed teams will dispute the Cup, the most prestigious title.  The lower-ranked teams, meanwhile, will slug it out for the Plate and Bowl trophies.

The Volcanoes match can be watched online via livestreaming on www.rcw.sevens.com.--philstar.com