PH women’s rugby wins silver in 2018 Asia Trophy Series

FILE: After 6 games, 5 wins and a heartbreaking loss 10 to 7 in the Gold Medal Match, our #FirstPacificLadyVolcanoes come away with a silver medal at the 2018 Asia Trophy Series. (Photo: Philippine Rugby – Philippine National Volcanoes Team/Facebook)

The Lady Volcanoes, representing the Philippines, won second place last Sunday, October 21 at the 2018 Asia Trophy Series in Brunei.

Team Philippines was on an undefeated run with all five games during the two-day competition, but eventually lost to Malaysia, the first place winners, during the final match.

Malaysia Coach Nik Ismade is surprised with the result, saying, “We can’t believe we have actually won the final,” while Philippine team skipper Helena Indigne shared, “The final match was very tough as we’re expecting it to be. We played our hearts and minds out; it just happens we didn’t get the final trophy but I believe our team did everything we could as individuals and as a team to get where we are and we’re very grateful.”

Nonetheless, Coach Ada Milby “couldn’t be more proud of how the team performed overall, although [they] wish the final result was different.” He stated, “Not only is the best result the team has ever had in a single tournament, the entire team was composed of Philippine homegrown players,” retrospectively speaking that, “It was a fantastic weekend for women’s rugby in Asia to see 10 teams represented in this tournament—the most we’ve ever had competing for the trophy.”

The team’s first game was against Uzbekistan, which they beat 12-10, then Pakistan, who scored no points against the Filipinos. The Lady Volcanoes then ended their first day of the tournament against India at 17-10. The next day consisted of games against Nepal and Guam, whose scores ended at 43-0 and 10-7 respectively.

On the other hand, the U-18 team is set to compete in India starting October 24 for the U-18s Asia Sevens Championships in Bhubaneswar.