Volcanoes not dormant after missing Rio

MANILA, Philippines – Although out of the Rio Olympics, the Philippine Volcanoes still gear up for a busy slate in 2016 with their 15s, 7s, women’s and youth teams all set to see action in various international tourneys.

The Volcanoes 7s, who regained the Southeast Asian Games plum but fell short in the Olympic-qualifiers last year, look forward to strutting their stuff in the Asian 7s series.

Philippine Rugby Football Union head of national teams Jake Letts said Phl will kick off its campaign for the year in the two-leg Asian Rugby Development Series. The first competition will blast off Feb. 20-21 in Chennai, India while the second will unwrap Feb. 26-27 in Al Ain, Dubai.

Phl will next compete in the South East Asia Sevens tourney from April 15-16 in Singapore after which it will return to Division 1 action in the Asian Rugby Sevens Series.  First round of the ARSS will be played Sept. 3-4 in Hong Kong, followed by the second leg Sept. 24-25 in a still-to-be determined venue and Round 3 on Oct. 15-16 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The Philippine men’s 15s crew, meanwhile, will gun for glory in the Asian Rugby Championship Division 1 meet on May 8, 11 and 14 in Kuala Lumpur. The Filipinos will be seeking redemption here as they lost to Sri Lanka in the finals of the 2015 edition they hosted at the Philippine Sports Stadium. Phl  will go up against Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan and host Malaysia in this year’s hostilities.

The Lady Volcanoes 7s, who copped the bronze medal in the Singapore SEAG, will aim for regional glory again when they take part in the SEA 7s from April 15-16 in the Lion City.

The Junior Volcanoes will also be going overseas to try to bring honors to the country.

The Under-14, Under-16, and Under-18 teams will head to Thailand to participate in the Bangkok Junior International 10s from Feb. 27-28. The Under-19 Junior Volcanoes, for their part,  will compete in the Division 2 Asian Championship, which the Philippines will be hosting in December.

In addition to the international sorties, Letts said the efforts to develop the National Developmental Team  continues with the staging of the National Development Series in July and December.