Experience
Ryan to use size, power for PH U19 Jr Volcanoes
Ryan, others lose P25K
FILIPINO-BRITISTH James Halasan Ryan, who hails from the United Kingdom, will capitalize on his vast experience when he plays for the Philippines again as the 2016Asia Rugby U19 Division 1 Championship semifinals kicks off today at the International School of Manila.
The event will be his third time to play for the Junior Volcanoes who will collide with Korea at 5 p.m. while the other semifinal match pits Singapore against the United Arab Emirates at 6:30 p.m.
The 17-year-old Ryan, who recently became a Filipino citizen, had also donned the country's colors during a tournament in Taiwan last August where he played with the Philippine U19 Junior Volcanoes team and with the Philippine U16 Junior Volcanoes in Malaysia last year.
"I do not know the relative strengths of the opposition so I do not have a good idea of what would be good results. I do know from my last trip with the 7s team that there is a lot of skill and pace in the team.
What I can add is experience as I will have played much more 15-a-side rugby than most of the Philippines- based players and I can change my style of play depending on the opponents," Ryan said in a Facebook interview with Sun.Star Davao recently.
The only child of British scientist Edward and Dabawenya nurse Fe said that a very important part of experience is knowing how to play to be effective in the full 80 minutes of the game.
"Rugby is a very physical game and is very easy to try too hard early and exhaust yourself and become a liability to the team later in the game. It is a skill to be able to identify which battles you can win and put full effort into those and not waste your energy on lost causes," he said.
He added, "I also have the pace, size and power to allow me to physically dominate most opponents and get the team moving forward. If I can get the team going forward it will allow the team to make best use of its skillful and pacey players."
Ryan, who arrived in Manila Wednesday, said he focused on defense tactics during their training camp at Southern Plains Laguna over the weekend.
The Philippine U19 Junior Volcanoes is coming in as underdogs in the tournament but assistant coach Jake Letts reportedly said the team wants to approach the first game "very strong". The homecourt advantage may help the team pull off surprises against the second-seeded Koreans.
Semifinal winners will advance to the finals slated at 2 p.m. Saturday.
The Philippine U19 Junior Volcanoes squad is a selection of 13 local players and 12 Fil-foreign players from United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Cambodia and the United States.
Top performers in this tournament may also be considered to form the country's national team for the 2017 Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Meanwhile, Ryan told his mother Fe that he lost P6,000. When the latter asked him how he lost the money, Ryan replied: "Got stolen I think. People in the team have lost like P25,000. Jake Letts lost P5,000."
He was then advised by his father to secure his card and documents and take extra caution with his valuables.