Unions Cup 2025 Finals Preview

rugbyasia247 Posted On July 12, 2025

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It’s the finals day of the Unions Cup 2025 at Kaohsiung National Stadium, and we will have a new champion for the second edition of the Men’s XV tournament, as 2024 3rd place side Thailand face newcomers Philippines in the grand final and, Singapore take on Chinese Taipei in the 3rd/4th playoff.

Thailand narrowly beat the hosts 20-19 after a second-half scare, and the Volcanoes put away 2025 champions Singapore 37-20 in Wednesday’s games. The weather is much improved (as we write this) with clear sunny skies, which will helpfully promote the running style all four teams have talked of hoping to put on.

Saturday 12th July Final Games

(Local times)

➡️Thailand vs Philippines Final (18:00)

➡️Chinese Taipei vs Singapore 3/4th (16:00)

Unions Cup Final 2025 – Philippines vs Thailand

Photo Credit – Mr Wu – Philippines Volcanoes Men’s XV

The Philippines team named Kai Stroem as the Best Back and Man of the Match after converting 7 out of 8 kicks with 3 penalty goals and 4 conversions, and Dylan Davies was PRFU’s Best Forward of the match in their mid-week win.

They have selected the same matchday 23 to try and win the title, and vice-captain Craig ‘Gwapo’ Wallace, who plays his club rugby for Boroughmuir in Edinburgh in Scotland, as a backrow and second row, will start the Unions Cup 2025 final in the #4 jersey for the Volcanoes.

He has also been involved in the UK Maharlikans Rugby for several years, and he told us, “It has been great to be involved in the national team setup for the first time and to see the 15s rugby in Southeast Asia and elsewhere in the region on this tour.

For Thailand in the final, they are a physical team too and have a bigger pack and play quite direct rugby as well as having some quick wide boys. We will need to front up against them, which we did quite well against Singapore, but we have reviewed some aspects of our game from Wednesday that we can improve on.”

In terms of where he would like to see those improvements, he said, “From our side, our set piece started well in that opening game but fell away a bit and we need to keep consistency at winning the ball and establish a good set piece and allow our backs to play free-flowing rugby – which is what we want to do – have that entertaining style of play. We are probably more mobile than them in the pack too, and I think we can play a full 80 minutes at intensity.”

Of having the certainty of the Unions Cup on the calendar and being able to meet up with teammates who flew in from around the world, he said, “It’s something to look forward to now every year and having these regular games is fantastic. I have been involved since the U19s, and it’s something I have always looked forward to (playing in the men’s senior side), but this is my first chance as we have not played Test match rugby since 2019.

To get a group back every year and get more people involved will help grow the base for having more homegrown Filipinos in the team moving forward.”

Photo Credit – Mr Wu

He added of the tournament and the bond the team has, “It’s exciting to see more teams join, which means more matches and requires more players and more rotation. It also means having more boys based in the Philippines play with the overseas guys and learning from each other.

I think that’s one of the main things, even for me coming across from Scotland, is playing with the guys from the southern hemisphere and adapting to their style and vice versa. It all grows the sport, not just in the Philippines but for Asia too, and that’s important in the long run.”

The side does a good job of staying connected on and off the field. Craig Wallace says they are like brothers and are connected by their homeland and heritage. ”It’s exciting, and we will try and get more fixtures in and see what happens down the line.

Winning today would mean a lot. It’s my first time being involved in the senior Men’s XV setup, and everyone has done really well in adjusting to the conditions and challenges thrown at us. I am really proud of the guys, and winning would be big for rugby back home.”

Thailand Assistant Coach Pachara Hongsayaporn told Rugby Asia 247 that the team had made several changes to the starting XV as they try and match the physicality that the Philippines will bring.

“There is a big difference between the Philippines and Chinese Taipei, and the challenges they bring, and we have adjusted selections to match their size and style. They played well against Singapore, and even though they have big forwards, their backs played really well. We also have to consider how they will play differently against us.

For us, we want the guys to have good field position and ball retention, to try and control the game. We will have to work really hard to counter their power and speed of the ball, ” added the Thai Assistant Coach.

In 2024, Thailand were 3rd on points difference and now they are in the final. Thailand hosts the tournament in 2026, so what would winning mean, knowing they could play at home as defending champions next year?

Photo Credit – Mr Wu

“More importantly, if we win, we hope it will make more people at home want to play rugby. We are not focused only on the result, and we know hosting next year is a good opportunity to have more people see and play the sport in Thailand. Winning would be good, but we just want people to be inspired, and we want that fire back.”

South African-born Darryn Mathee, and long-time servant of the Bangkok Bangers and of the Bangkok International 10s, who was last capped by the Thai national team in 2016 in 15-a-side rugby, has enjoyed being back in the national team squad among a handful of foreign-born but Thailand national team-eligible players.

“In 2016, when I last played, we travelled to Uzbekistan. It’s been great to be back in the squad after all this time, and I think I have seen how much change and growth there has been in rugby in Thailand and in Asia in general.

For our selection and training, it’s been much more intense and more focused and physical. The TRU has been more open to selecting foreign-born players. We had 7 of us selected for trials in the wider training group of 70, which was cut down to 38 and, here to 26 on tour, which is awesome to see in Thailand. The way rugby is building, and more kids are playing the game at a younger age.”

Darryn Mathee – Thailand Unions Cup 2025

He added that it would mean a lot for these younger Thai players on tour to achieve something and get a victory. “Thailand will put on a good show next year in advertising and promoting the tournament. There are talks of others like Malaysia or Indonesia maybe joining the Unions Cup too, and the TRU will showcase the sport and the country.”

Darryn Mathee has been selected to start in the centres for the final, and he knows it will be a physical contest. “Putting me at 12, I think they want more physicality in our backline and especially on defence. I have played rugby since a young age, and they want experience with the defensive reads and for us to push up and put pressure on them and their fly-half and force them to kick. We want that as we have a very fast backline, so we want them to kick to us and we can counter from there.”

The packs are going to be important, and it’s tough to know how the two respective teams will square up at set-piece time. Mathee told us, “We have upped the weight by about 100 kilograms for this game, so we have a heavy pack and want to try and dominate at scrum time to show them we are here for this and give it a full 80 minutes.”

The games are fully capped internationals, which count towards World Rugby ranking points and will be played in a magnificent stadium. “It’s giving me goosebumps already. It’s a different level of playing at this ground, and even the training facilities are great. Running out to that stadium at first is a bit overwhelming at first.”

Mathee added, “It is special to play and represent Thailand on the international stage, wearing that jersey and singing the national anthem. It is a special moment, and Thailand has been my home now for 13 years. I enjoy the people and the rugby, and this group we have here is the most friendly and welcoming. They have been great to us, and I am proud to be in this team.”

(Thanks to Latthaphon Lormongkol for the translations.)

Photo Credit – Mr Wu

Unions Cup Final 2025 3rd/4th Playoff – Chinese Taipei vs Singapore

Last year, when they played each other in the round robin format, Chinese Taipei narrowly beat Singapore 19-16 in Singapore.

Singapore Programme Lead and Assistant Coach Jonathan Leow said the team has responded really well since the disappointment of losing the opening game on Wednesday.

“The attitude from the boys was that they lost the game, and they wanted to assess what went wrong. We have some older heads in the team and they stepped up. Our captain, Russel Wong, has been on a number of campaigns with us and has been good at getting the guys ready for this game today. We have a good mix of old and new, and probably more debutantes than we usually would with the SEA Games preparations (7s rugby), and we have taken the chance to blood more players.

We have selected a young 19-year-old scrumhalf to start today (Reonne Yoe) and made an injury change to the front row with Aiman Ikram starting. The average age in the squad is around 28, and we are in a re-generation stage as last year was a restart for the 15s.”

Photo Credit – Mr Wu

The Singapore Rugby Union has its own unique challenges, as every union in the region does. “We have the challenge of trying to grow the talent pool, but I think the 15s have been a good way to try and develop that, and the camp has been really positive. We know we are here to do a job and the boys are learning about tour life – like switching on and off,” added Leow.

We had good review sessions after the last game – everyone has responded well. We know it’s a very different opposition we are facing – Chinese Taipei started slowly against Thailand but came back really strong. I think it was the same against us last year when we narrowly lost – they came back strong in the second half. We know it’s going to be tough, and we think they will be even better today. We will play to our strengths and keep it simple – we want our set piece to be a good launch pad and be quicker off the rucks.”

Of the team, he explained, “We had 8 debutants play on Wednesday, and that was a month after the last preparation game, so we know the first game at a tournament is always a good learning experience. Now we need to stick to the game plan we have and really establish ourselves early in the game.”

It’s not just about results, but where does this group go next?

“We want to build on this and keep track of the players. We started well with the identified training group from our domestic club season. We are refining our processes.

Even part of my role is introducing little things to make the programme transient, but hold on to the core group that we can keep building on top of. There are some guys who didn’t make this tour, and they will be keen to impress in the future too. We want to ensure there is a pathway for all the players to play at this level.”

Chinese Taipei - Unions Cup 2025