MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Volcanoes national rugby team braces for its first-ever home match as contenders in the Asian 5 Nations Top 5 Division as it hosts Hong Kong tomorrow at Rizal Memorial Stadium.
The Volcanoes enter the match as underdogs in their debut season in the Elite Division of Asian Rugby against a veteran Hong Kong squad that has never finished lower than third in the competition, and regularly comes in second-place to perennial league leaders, Japan.
The team is out to redeem itself from a 121-0 blowout loss to Japan two weeks ago. The season-opener served as a baptism of fire after the team mostly sailed through its divisional promotional campaign with barely a bump, suffering only one loss in the previous five years.
But against the Hong Kong side, the Volcanoes face a tougher challenge with starting 8-man/flanker Jake Pingal Ward likely out for the rest of the tournament with broken ribs suffered in the match against Japan, and head coach Jarred Hodges forced to leave last night due to personal matters.