Unions Cup 2025 Match 1 Review – Philippines Volcanoes Overpower Singapore

The Philippines’ national Men’s 15s team (known as the Volcanoes) put in a very strong performance considering this was their first Test match since 2019, to overpower a well-prepared Singapore side in the opening match of the Unions Cup 2025 at the Kaohsiung National Stadium on Wednesday, 9 July.

Photo Credit – Mr Wu

The result means that the defending champions have been knocked out of the final contention, but they will still play for 3rd place on Saturday and will look to quickly recover from the 37-20 defeat.

Its a tournament the Singapore team had been preparing for, for some time, and they were understandably disappointed with the result, but like all of the competing teams are relishing having the tournament as permanent fixture on their calendar to plan for, and it will be expanded to at leats five teams in 2026 with Guam signing on this week.

Singapore Head Coach Jonathan Carswell, who took over the role in April 2025, told us after the match, “We said before the game to our guys that physicality would be very important and they came out in that first 15-20 minutes strongly and we have not been exposed to that level of physicality as often.”

Photo Credit – Mr Wu

“I think for periods in that game, we did fine, but they did well to target our rucks and contested there. I thought there were a lot of positives for us to take away, and what great exposure for our guys to compete with some players who play regularly at higher levels than we do, but our guys should be more than content with their performance.”

Carswell is also Director of Rugby at Bucks RFC and has been involved with the national Men’s XV team in a coaching capacity over recent years, explained, “I asked them at the break to show some desire in defence and in attack, and when we put it together well, we looked so good in attack, but we missed out on a few chances – that’s Test match rugby.

If we had scored some of those opportunities, it may have changed things, but the boys have come away feeling absolutely gutted. I feel like we are more than ready to compete with their boys at this level. We will rebuild for Saturday, and we will keep building, and that’s the great thing about having this tournament on the calendar”, said the Singapore Head Coach.

Singapore Men’s captain Russell Wong Yung added, “The Volcanoes are always a physical side, and they had some familiar names we know from the Sevens and previous SEA Games. It was obviously not the result we wanted, but we should be proud of that showing. 

I think we showed good resilience and maybe some of the guys were a bit shell-shocked when they scored early, but we stayed in that match throughout, although some errors did creep in. As defending champions, we wanted to retain this title, and we had a good period of preparation, but we go again on Saturday”, said the Singapore Men’s XV Captain.

Unions Cup 2025 Match 1 Review – Philippines Volcanoes Overpower Singapore

A delighted Volcanoes Men’s Head Coach, Josh Sutcliffe, told us, “I think it was a good performance from the guys, obviously we lost a couple of days of training with the typhoon here, but what I was proud of is that it never stopped the guys from trying to prepare. Everyone was constantly progressing, and that was good to see. 

It’s reinvigorating to have this programme back and be part of the Unions Cup, as we have not played a Test match since 2019. There was a lot of work that had to go in beforehand, and for the boys to come together like this and show so much pride in that jersey was great to see,” explained the Philippines Men’s Head Coach, Josh Sutcliffe.

The Volcanoes impressed with their physicality and made the scrum a fair contest, even winning scrum penalties at vital times, which was perhaps unexpected. “I think Singapore came in as defending champions, and with a good set piece, as we could see, as two of their tries came from well-worked mauls from the lineout. We did spend a lot of time on our scrum this week, as we knew we had to challenge them there,” added the coach.

Flyhalf and captain, who plays in Hong Kong with HKFC, Kai Stroem said, “I think we must have one of the most unique programs in the world and guys flying in from different places, but we all showed the right attitude and what we can do on the field. One thing that was asked all week from the guys was to show the right attitude, and the guys were willing to put their bodies on the line, and even when those haphazard situations came up, we dealt with them well as a group.”

On the style of play for those who have not seen the Volcanoes play before, the Volcanoes captain explained, “I would say its a very unique style that we play as a team, we do try and follow some sort of structure but there is a nice mix that is representative of the different cultures we represent and come from. Even in the Philippines, the home-grown players bring their style to it all. We are a multi-cultural team and are proud of that, and it’s represented in the way that we play.”

Match Report –  Philippines 37-20 Singapore

Photo Credit – Mr Wu

Match referee Ibuki Tetsuka (JRFU) took care of proceedings in the massive stadium and under grey overcast conditions. Singapore took the lead 3-0 through a penalty, but the Volcanoes tied it up before scoring from an excellent cross-field kick by captain Stroem for Vincent Young to dot down the first try of the tournament.

There were impactful performances from a number of players from the Philippines, none more so than the rampaging 8th man Edlen Hernandez.  Their front-foot dominance was rewarded with a second try to extend the lead to 17-3 and another Stroem penalty to add three more to the scoreline.

At the start of the contest, Singapore had scrum dominance, but the Philippines grew into the match and won crucial scrum penalties when defending their own line.

Singapore finally got their effective lineout driving maul working to score their first try to close it up to 20-8  by the break.

Much of the game continued to be played in the Singapore half, and when the Volcanoes were defending, they found good exits through the boot and ball in hand, whereas the Singapore back three struggled to break the Philippines’ defence down.

Another  Philippines penalty after the break from a good turnover made it 23-8, and the noise from the respective benches was indicative of how things were unfolding on the field.

Photo Credit – Mr Wu

The Philippines ran in their 3rd try to make it 30-8 as their hits were dominant and won the ball at the breakdown. Singapore scored their second driving maul try from a lineout – their most effective weapon in the game to make it 30-15

In the final minutes, both teams exchanged scores, but it was the Phillipines who won the contest 37-20 – A massive defensive hit stopped what looked to be a certain Singapore try, showing what it means to the debutants.

The full match can be seen on YouTube.

Saturday 12th July Final Games

• ➡️Thailand vs Philippines Final (18:00)
• ➡️Chinese Taipei vs Singapore 3/4th (16:00)

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