Volcanoes try to keep rankings in SEA Sevens

The Philippine men’s and women’s 7s national rugby teams gear up for the inaugural South East Asia Sevens (SEA7s) set April 15-16 at the Yio Chu Kang Stadium in Singapore.

The men’s squad is coming off a gold medal finish in the 2015 South East Asian Games while the women’s side is out to defend its bronze medal ranking.

The SEA7s is one of the key additional activities of the HSBC World Rugby Singapore Sevens and is jointly sanctioned by World Rugby and Asian Rugby. The tournament caters only to the South East Asian Rugby playing nations, which include Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos and the Philippines.

The tournament aims to boost rugby development in the region while the HSBC World Series will showcase the top 16 nations in the world in preparation for the 2016 Summer Olympics. The favorites in this event are Fiji, New Zealand and South Africa.

Rugby in South East Asian is growing and the Philippine Volcanoes are working hard to remain dominant in the region. The Volcanoes have continually performed strongly in South East Asia and are looking to keep their number one ranking.

“We are aiming to remain the number one team in South East Asia, but there are no easy games. Teams are always improving, so we’ve been working hard and we’ve got a few young exciting players coming in that could really bolster the squad,” said Gareth Holgate of the Volcanoes.

Their lady counterparts, on the other hand, are looking to go one better and secure a top two finish.

“Defending our bronze bronze or getting better, landing in the top three is our aim,” said skipper Acee San Juan.