Volcanoes rip Malaysians, finish 7th in HK

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Volcanoes ended their campaign in the Hong Kong Sevens with a 24-7 victory over Malaysia to finish seventh in the kickoff leg of the 2014 Asian Rugby Sevens Series at Hong Kong Football Club Sunday.

Andrew Wolff scored two tries while Gareth Holgate slammed in one try and two conversions and Sean Lynch had one try to lift the Volcanoes to victory.

Hong Kong, which stunned Asian sevens champ Japan in the semifinals, 28-21, completed its magical run by winning the Cup at the expense of Korea, 40-0, to the delight of a large home crowd.

The two finalists earlier defeated the Volcanoes, with the Koreans knocking the Filipinos out with a 29-12 verdict in the Cup quarterfinals and Hong Kong blanking the Pinoys previously in pool play, 24-0.

Japan, meanwhile, settled for the bronze after beating Sri Lanka, 42-12, while China eventually took the Plate via a 31-0 beating of Singapore in the final and Thailand captured the Bowl with a 19-12 victory over Chinese-Taipei.

Gearing up for the Asian Games, the Volcanoes started their campaign in the two-day tourney with a 31-0 rout of Kazakhstan in Pool D, with Jason Lynch, Chris Everingham and Wolff accounting for the tries and Gaz Holgate converting twice.

But the Pinoys bowed to the Hong Kong side in the next game to finish pool action with an even 1-1 card.

The Volcanoes then fell to eventual runner-up Korea when they faced off in the Cup quarterfinals and later suffered a 7-21 loss to China in the Plate semis. In the women’s division, the Lady Volcanoes yielded a 10-28 loss to Singapore in their battle for seventh.