Lady Volcanoes settle for silver in Asian rugby

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Lady Volcanoes settled for the silver medal in the Asia Rugby Women’s Championship Division 1 after absorbing a 10-19 defeat to host Singapore Friday night at Queenstown Stadium in Singapore.

The Filipina ruggers furiously tried to wipe out a 0-19 deficit in the last 30 minutes of the championship match but ran out of steam and time, allowing the higher-ranked Singaporeans to secure the mint in the tourney that also featured debuting India.

“The Philippines put up a good fight so we really had to empty our tanks until the end,” said Singapore skipper Lee Tian Yi, who acounted for two tries. “It wasn’t easy for us, we had to keep going.”

Singapore and Phl fought on even terms in the first 24 minutes before the hosts seized a 7-0 lead via Annabel Woo’s converted try.

The Singaporeans made it  19-0 after the break with Yee getting past the Phl defense in the 44th and 49th minutes and Esther Phua converting once and then they weathered the storm the Lady Volcanoes put up towards the finish.

Gelanie Gamba put the Filipinas on the board in the 61st and Bella Nepomuceno followed suit four minutes later but they couldn’t add more points in both instances and couldn’t produce more tries the rest of the way to come up short.

Phl officials said the runner-up finish was a big achievement for the MVP Sports Foundation and First Pacific-backed Lady Volcanoes, who played their first 15s format international tourney in six years.