Sport | Rugby

Philippines beat Guam to secure promotion to second division

The Philippine Volcanoes completed a clean sweep for tournament hosts in the HSBC Asian Five Nations on Saturday to win Division III and ensure promotion to Division II in 2010.

  • Staff Report
  • Published: 22:54 July 5, 2009
  • Gulf News

  • Members of the Philippine Volcanoes rejoice after beating Guam to guarantee promotion to the HSBC Asian Five Nations Division II rugby tournament.
  • Image Credit: Supplied picture

Manila: The Philippine Volcanoes completed a clean sweep for tournament hosts in the HSBC Asian Five Nations on Saturday to win Division III and ensure promotion to Division II in 2010.

The Philippines shut out Guam 25-nil after a convincing second-half display, while fourth seeds Iran upset the formbook to overcome third seeds Indonesia in a rousing 48-13 victory on Saturday at the Nomads Sporting Club in Manila.

Led by the surprising boot of lock forward Rafael Zappia - the goal-kicking hero of the Philippines' 15-0 opening shutout of Iran - the Philippines scored 22 points in the second half to outdistance its top regional rival, Guam.

The Volcanoes effort was assisted by some crucial mistakes from Guam that led to three players being sin-binned and the visitors playing large swathes of the second half under-manned.

As befits these two familiar rivals, the first half was a tense affair with neither side able to establish dominance or cross the try line in the opening exchanges.

Despite the low score, the Philippines looked the more dangerous side from the outset as captain Michael Letts put in some fine individual runs from his fullback position only to see the last passes go tragically forward or to ground.

The only scoring in the opening interval came from Zappia who slotted a penalty in the 15th minute to give the hosts a 3-0 lead at the half.

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