By Jerome Lagunzad
Some members of the Philippine Volcanoes, the country’s national rugby team, will add spice to the Manila 10s International Rugby Festival which will celebrate its 30th anniversary this weekend at the San Lazaro Leisure Park in Carmona, Cavite.
Homegrown Lito Ramirez, an orphan-turned-Volcano standout, will be one of the familiar faces on hand in the two-day social rugby tournament that will feature 24 local and foreign teams vying for supremacy in five divisions namely Cup (Elite Division), Plate, Bowl, Shield and Wooden Spoon.
At least 12 local teams from Manila, Albay, Cebu, Pampanga and Olangapo will try to hold the fort and avoid a possible foreign invasion from their counterparts coming from Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei, South Korea, Japan, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand and United Kingdom.
“For fun lang rin naman talaga ‘to. Sobrang saya kasi talaga kapag naglalaro ka sa Manila 10s,” Ramirez, 24, the first pure Pinoy who made it to the Volcanoes lineup, said yesterday during the event’s press launch held at the Cafe Curieux in Makati City.
The historic edition will also mark the second straight time that the Manila 10s will be played on the San Lazaro Leisure Park, more known as the site of the country’s top horse racing events.
Philippine Rugby Football Union secretary-general Ada Milby, the first female member of the World Rugby Council, is convinced that the Manila 10s will help promote and develop the sport in the local scene, especially the rugby 7s which is now an Olympic sport.
Entrance to the San Lazaro Leisure Park is free and will be open to the public, with food, drinks and official Manila 10s merchandise also being made available.
The Manila 10s is sponsored by Larrikins Rugby, Makati Chiefs. RMDK Philippines, Expat.com.ph, HMR Philippines, Pasig Penguins, RISE, Santos Knight Frank, TKSH Group.
