From L-R: Coach Matt Cullen, Volcanoes captain Jake Letts, women’s team captain Acee San Juan, Mr. Jericho Go. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
The Philippine Volcanoes are ready to erupt on its bid to reach the Olympics.
As the region’s top rugby team, the Volcanoes vowed a strong performance in the Olympic qualifiers with the goal of reaching the Games.
Matt Cullen, Director of Rugby of the Philippine Rugby Football Union, said the Philippines’ status as the top rugby team in the Southeast Asian region solidifies the sport’s growth in the Philippines.
“The game is here to stay proving that we can compete internationally,” Cullen said Thursday during a press conference at McKinley Hill Showroom. “We now embark on the road to the Olympics.”
The Volcanoes and McKinley field forged a partnership to make the McKinley Field Stadium as the team’s regular training grounds.
Road to Rio
The Volcanoes are set to play in the 2015 Asian 7s series starting with the China 7s on September 5 and 6, then the Thailand 7s on September 26 and 27, and finally the Sri Lanka 7s on October 10 and 11.
Cullen said the three Asian legs are a “pre-qualifier” for the Olympic qualifier in Hong Kong on November 7 and 8.
“We’re gonna give this Olympic a good rock and roll,” Cullen said.
Starting in 2007 as the 16th team in Asia, the Volcanoes are now fifth in the continent and first in Southeast Asia.
In a world scale, the Volcanoes are the 51st-ranked team.
Stopping the powers
Cullen said the two teams stopping them in Asia are the power countries of Japan and Hong Kong.
“We need to go out and knock off Japan, the second team is Hong Kong,” Cullen said. “To put this in perspective, the last time we played Japan was last September in the last leg of the Asian 7s series and we went down 21-19 and that is konti lang (a tiny margin).”
He added beating Japan is an “achievable goal.”
Captain’s word
Captain Jake Letts. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Volcanoes team captain Jake Letts said first thing to do was to top the Asian 7s and the Olympic qualifiers.
“Our first step is to be tournament champions,” Letts said. “I’m very confident in all our players, as Matt said that’s the first step if we can qualify for the Olympics that’s a very realistic goal.”
“We have definitely have the opportunity to qualify for the Olympics, in terms of beating Japan that’s achievable.”
Still, Letts said an Olympic gold is still a far fetched idea.
“In terms of Olympics, we can’t be too far. We just focus on what’s coming up next.” CFC