The second round of fixtures at the Unions Cup 2026 takes place on Wednesday, 15 July 2026, with two Cup Semifinals and two 5th-place Semifinals in Bangkok, Thailand.
We look at the teams competing and the matchups in the second round of the tournament, with views from the coaches on the fixtures.
Feature Photo Credit – Rugby Photo Thailand
Laos vs Barbarian Asia (5th Placement Match SF) 2PM
Laos didn’t change their World Rugby ranking after their 0-74 loss to the Philippines and remain at 103 in the world, and this will be an uncapped match against the Barbarians.
The Lao team had three additional players arrive after Sunday (still part of the 30-man squad allowed at the tournament), and now they will be fronting up to a physical battle as the Barbarians nearly caused the upset of the opening round and had set-piece dominance over Singapore in the first half.
Laos Head Coach Adrian Xiong wants his side to play with more freedom and really express themselves in this game and continue to learn at this level. “We have nothing to lose and can only learn.”
Photo Credit – Rugby Photo Thailand – Lao Men’s XV Unions Cup 2026
There is quality around the Asian Baabaas squad with Hong Kong Prem players, members from Thailand, Singapore, 7 players from the Philippines; Fausto Eizmendi #2, Maui Reoperez #3, Ardiel Lapid #6, Harvey Dent #11, Jovan Masalunga #12, Benjamin Audry #15 in the starting XV and Ezra Morales #23 in the reserves, and 5 players from Chinese Taipei; Chunho Yang #4, Zhan Youhao #7, Lipin Tsao #9 all starting, and Yutang Tsai #16 & Yenwei Chang #21 off the bench included.
Asia Barbarian Head Coach Josh Carew commented, “It is the first time we have had an Asian Barbarians side like this at this level, so we want to make sure this team gets invited back and give the teams we play a good run for their money and make sure this feels like a test match for the opposition as well.
We are starting something here, and we want to be taken seriously so that when these teams play us, they know it’s going to be a tough game and that they will face a lot of talent from different regions who will give the matches a proper crack but enjoy themselves off the field.”
Barbarian Asia Squad vs Laos
Philippines vs Singapore (Cup SF) 4PM
The Philippines saw off the challenge of Laos in the opening round and scored plenty of points and remain the highest-ranked team in the tournament at 52nd in the world, while Singapore will feel more battle-hardened after their close, come-from-behind win against the Asian Barbarian team on Sunday, and remain ranked 64th.
The defending champions’ coaches, Josh Sutcliffe and Rob Fogerty, have made several changes to the matchday squad to face Singapore.
Connor Browne starts in the second row, and Edlen Hernandez in the loose forwards (with Benjamin Mudie and Tommy Gilbert among the bench), Kai Stroem starts (after coming off the bench in the opening game) alongside Ryan Curtis as the halfbacks. Judd Greenhalgh starts in the centres and Jason Schirmer at fullback.
Josh Sutcliffe said of having Fogerty as an assistant coach after captaining and playing for the team for a long time, “Having Foggey’s (Assistant Coach Rob Foggerty) experience is a way of how to think about this in this environment, as he knows what it is like as a player and with the short turnarounds. I think it’s important to have that experience in the coaching staff.
I played a long time ago, so to have two former Volcanoes from different generations working together, you create this lineage and connection through our history, and I think that’s important for these boys to understand.”
Singapore Head Coach Mark Lee has also made some changes in the starting XV; the front row remains the same, but Damoen Chvojka and Sean Casey start in the second row, with Benjamin Ross at flank. The entire starting backline remains the same.
He said of the opposition: “We have not beaten them for about ten years, so it’s going to be a tough game. They have always been very competitive and are the defending champions, so we have nothing to lose.”
Philippines Squad vs Singapore
Singapore Squad vs the Philippines
Guam vs Thailand (5th Placement Match SF) 2PM
Thailand dropped one World Rugby ranking place to 73rd after losing to Malaysia 27-30 in the first round, and Guam remain unchanged at 89th.
For Guam, they have former USA Eagle Zachary Pangelinan back starting at fullback after he left the first game injured. The coaching team felt the side made too many self-enforced errors in the opening game loss and were not clinical enough when entering the opposition 22m area.
Head Coach Leonard Calvo said of Thailand, “I think we can handle them physically, but they have good players with speed. The way our team is setup we have some big guys, and the speedsters have been ageing out, and we are trying to replace them.”
Assistant Coach Peter Baggetta added, “We will probably do more video analysis on ourselves than on Thailand. We saw they had some big guys and some expats now on the national side, so we will have discussions on how to take them on. I think they will be physical, but we know they have some good backs. We will have to improve our lineups. We can’t afford to give away soft tries, and we need to improve our lineouts.”
Thailand Squad vs Guam
Guam Squad vs Thailand
Image Credit – Trytime Media
Chinese Taipei vs Malaysia (Cup SF) 4PM
Chinese Taipei rose one position in the World Rugby rankings to 66th after their win over Guam in the opening round, and Malaysia were unchanged and still the second-highest ranked team at the tournament in 53rd.
Chinese Taipei Head Coach Sun Cheng-Yen led his team to third last year and he told us, “For Malaysia, we will remain cautious. The Malaysian team is technically skilled and fast, and we need to be well-prepared, especially in our defensive play.
At the same time, we will utilise our strengths and strive to perform at our best. We will give our all and strive for continued success in the next match.”
Photo Credit – Chinese Taipei Rugby Union
Malaysian player Aqasha Daniel Irwan (Johor Tigers) was named the best player of the Agong Cup 2026 and scored 17 points in the win over Thailand, so he will again be a threat.
Malaysia Head Coach Duke Krishan told us about his squad: “These are my favourite players in Malaysia, and I always wanted to see them play together, and I think we have good combinations.
We watched about 20 minutes of Chinese Taipei on Sunday, and some of our guys felt like they hadn’t found their rhythm yet, but so hadn’t we. We will never underestimate them.”
Malaysia Team vs Chinese Taipei
We will try to update any missing matchday squads if they come in late.
Unions Cup 2026 Semifinals Schedule
How To Watch the Unions Cup 2026
The Thai Rugby Union will stream all the matches on their YouTube channel.
- Streaming Link for Guam vs Thailand / Malaysia vs Chinese Taipei
- Streaming Link for Lao vs Baabaas Asia / Philippines vs Singapore
The finals will take place on Saturday, 18 July 2026 Finals with all four matches at the same location for the first time.
Unions Cup 2026 News
- Unions Cup 2026 Matchday 1 Reviews.
- Singapore Rugby Tell Us About the Importance of the Unions Cup 2026.
- Unions Cup 2026 Tournament and Team Preview Guide.
- Rob Fogerty is Part of Coaching Setup For Philippines Unions Cup 2026
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