Grassroots program yields Rugby nat’l team cog

Slowly but surely, the Philippine Rugby Football Union’s efforts to promote the game at the grassroots level is bearing fruit.

Muntinlupa City-based Lito Ramirez was called up for the Philippine Rugby 7s team, marking the first time that a product of the PRFU’s grassroots program made the national squad.

The Volcanoes 7s squad is seeing action in the Olympic Qualifiers starting Saturday in Hong Kong.

The Filipinos will face Malaysia, Hong Kong and Iran on Saturday and Sri Lanka on Sunday.

The top team in the tournament will gain an outright spot to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro next year, while the second to fourth placers will play in another qualifying tournament.

The 20-year-old Ramirez first learned the sport seven years ago when the PRFU conducted a clinic at Tuloy Foundation in Muntinlupa, home to hundreds of underprivileged and abandoned youth.

Ramirez is a former National Under-16 player. Cedelf P. Tupas