Volcanoes lead Asian Rugby cast

The Philippine Volcanoes will capitalize on their experience and crowd support as they vie in the Asian Rugby Championship Division 1 on May 6 and 9 at Philippine Sports Stadium in Bocaue, Bulacan.

The top-ranked Volcanoes expressed confidence they can get the job done against challengers Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan.

“There’s a lot of players in our team who have played professionally in Japan, Australia, the US and Britain,” said Japan-based Justine Coveney during yesterday’s tour and press conference. “In those countries, there’s high-level coaching and training and fortunately they can bring that experience to the team.”

Coveney joined his teammates Matthew Bellenie, Benjamin Mudie, Jake Letts, Steve Howorth, Christopher Hettel, and Ashley Heward in touring the stadium. They were accompanied by Philippine Rugby Football Union officials led by Matt Cullen and Bong Teodoro and Bessie Feltavero, representing PSS management Maligaya Development.

The Volcanoes will play Singapore on May 6, confident they can get past their Asean neighbors to advance to the May 9 championship against the winner of the Sri Lanka versus Kazakhstan duel.

“We’ll have 10 days for training and we’ re confident we can get the job done,” said Letts.