Philippine Volcanoes flex muscles vs Singapore

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Volcanoes repeated as champions of the Asia Rugby Championship Division I tournament after prevailing over tough Singapore, 29-21, on wet conditions at the Taipei Municipal Stadium over the weekend.

Ned Stephenson and Eric Erickson provided the heroics in the endgame, delivering a pair of clutch tries to restore a 29-16 margin after the Singaporeans cut the Phl lead to just three early in the second half.

“It wasn’t the prettiest game of footy but we showed a lot of heart to get the win,” said Volcanoes captain Danny Matthews. “All credit to Singapore, they were excellent, I can’t say enough how good they were.”

The Volcanoes seized control early on with Justin Coveney scoring the opening five points off a perfectly weighted cross kick from Matthews at the sixth minute. Not long after, Ellis Rudder found the opening to dive over for another five-pointer.

Singapore fired back with Jonathan Wong scoring and Ishraf Marah converting to make it 12-7 before Patrice Oliver’s try and Matthews’ conversion restored a 19-7 buffer for the Volcanoes.