Dennis Gasgonia

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Paige Javier

ABS-CBN News

MANILA – More than winning back-to-back Unions Cup titles, the Philippine Volcanoes believe they have achieved something bigger on the pitch.  The Philippine Volcanoes defended their Unions Cup title following a dominant campaign, capped off with a 39-18 win over Malaysia last Saturday in Thailand.  For the national rugby team, their recent success on the pitch may have helped rekindle the fire in getting support and awareness for the Volcanoes. Coach Josh Sutcliffe said their goal heading into this year was to come together as a new group and come up with a performance better than the previous edition.   &quot;It was never about repeating, it was always going out there and writing this chapter and being dominant. Last year, we felt like we left some chances on the board and we gave some teams some opportunities. And this year, we really wanted to come together and be really strong and impose how we wanted to play the game together as a group of Volcanoes,&quot; Sutcliffe told ABS-CBN News in an online interview on Friday. <div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/2026/7/19/rugby-ph-volcanoes-dismantle-malaysia-to-win-back-to-back-unions-cup-titles-2040">Rugby: PH Volcanoes dismantle Malaysia to win back-to-back Unions Cup titles</a></div>&quot;I was very proud of how we performed on the field and off the field. And I kept challenging our players to make sure that we set the standard for who we were. And they kept raising the bar,&quot; the Philippine Volcanoes coach added.  But beyond winning another Unions Cup title, the Volcanoes cherished the &#x27;brotherhood&#x27; they developed both on and off the pitch.  The team is composed of several veterans, including team captain Kai Ledesma Stroem, co-captain Dylan Davies, and Jason Schirmer, as well as new and younger faces on the squad like Kyle Westbrook.   &quot;It was about understanding that there were new teams, there was a new competition format, three games in one week, which is a lot of rugby in one week. So three was a lot. So, understanding that there were different variables that we had to try and overcome,&quot; Stroem said. &quot;It was really awesome to see the boys come together. Some really tough patches, especially in the semi-final and the final. And when you go through hard things together, it makes it that much better when you win. So, really, really awesome run and super proud of how we all came together, like Josh says, and then also performed when it mattered,&quot; he added. Sean Sweetman, one of the new faces on the team, says this bond eventually translated to a solid performance from the Volcanoes.  &quot;I was just very excited to be part of it. And after the final, we had a lovely little prayer together. And one thing I mentioned and I was thankful for is how everyone gelled so much together. Like from day one, everyone just seemed like really close friends, especially as myself, new guy kind of coming in. I felt that bond straight away,&quot; he said. <div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2026/7/16/rugby-philippine-volcanoes-reach-unions-cup-final-after-dominant-win-over-singapore-1512">Rugby: Volcanoes reach Unions Cup final after dominant win over Singapore </a> </div>&quot;It&#x27;s one of our, I suppose, mantras, kapatid. Where one brother goes, two more go with him. So I felt that from day one. Do you know what I mean? And that&#x27;s kind of what makes the victory sweet. You know, if you win something alone, it&#x27;s whatever, it&#x27;s grand, but you&#x27;re winning it with your brothers. And that just made the celebrations that made the whole victory so much sweeter,&quot; Sweetman added.  <div>RISING ABOVE CHALLENGES</div>Even before reaching Thailand, the Volcanoes already faced hurdles just to be able to represent the Philippines on the pitch. The team shared how they struggled with funding after the national rugby program was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and several changes internally.  The Volcanoes even had to set up a GoFundMe campaign to secure additional funds, getting help from family, friends, former players, and the rugby community.  &quot;The players took it upon themselves to really go out and try and raise the funds because at the end of the day, that&#x27;s the situation we&#x27;re in. And we wanted to go and compete and we had a championship to defend and we wanted to do everything to get there. So it was a big case of just, okay, let&#x27;s get on the ground and then, you know, the rugby will be the rugby, but let&#x27;s get there first,&quot; Stroem shared.  &quot;Going through all that, the fundraising side together, I think it brings you together. You&#x27;re sharing ideas about how we can do it differently. And so that was probably the biggest hurdle we had to overcome because I think something we all know is when we&#x27;re together, it&#x27;s special and we can do special things,&quot; he added.  Despite all these challenges, the Volcanoes had the rugby community rally behind them to help bring glory to the country. For the Volcanoes, seeing the outpouring of support on social media gave them a huge boost to continue building on the gains in the Philippine rugby program. &quot;It helps us feel what we&#x27;ve always known, which is that we&#x27;re all connected around the world and we&#x27;re connected in all the provinces. My family&#x27;s from Bacolod. So seeing people reach out to me that I haven&#x27;t heard from in years, saying, oh, this is such a great achievement, that&#x27;s one thing,&quot; Sutcliffe shared. <div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/05/29/19/rugby-ph-volcanoes-down-sri-lanka-to-advance-to-asia-division-1-finals">Rugby: PH Volcanoes down Sri Lanka to advance to Asia Division-1 finals </a> </div>&quot;So coming back with a bang, coming back with energy and excitement and all of those things on the field. Off the field is something that I want to see our players not only start to get recognition as rugby players, but get recognition as people because they can make a huge influence,&quot; he added. 2/2<div>INSPIRING THE NEXT GENERATION </div>With more homegrown players on the Philippine Volcanoes squad, the team hopes their success will help garner more support for grassroots development.  Davies cited locally developed players like JM Cardenas, Ezra Morales, and Ken Mellorin, who made the most of opportunities on the pitch.  &quot;I think to have him [JM] and the rest of the local boys in the camp as well, it&#x27;s just really, really goes to show like what type of work we&#x27;re putting into the Philippines. And I think we can show the rest of our mga kababayan that, you know, rugby is a sport for all,&quot; Davies said. &quot;Cause I think rugby is very synonymous with the Filipino identity of, you know, overcoming adversity, going through hard times. And yeah, I think Filipinos, we love to, we love competition, we love to fight,&quot; he shared. Stroem said seeing the growth in the number of homegrown players has been a huge win for Philippine rugby, proving that investing in the grassroots program will yield results.  &quot;When we looked at that team at the time, you look on the field and it was 100% overseas based players. So now to look at the photo of us holding a hand on heart in the national anthem and to have a good solid over 10 of us, probably around 50% of the squad has lived in the Philippines,&quot; he reflected. &quot;You know, to have that core group of players understand that part of it and understand what it means to the community back home, I think it was so, so cool to see and a huge testament to the work our union has done over the last 25 years, right? This is not something that has happened overnight as someone had this great plan 20 years ago,&quot; Stroem added.  As one of the veterans on the team, Schirmer hopes the younger generation can be inspired by the Volcanoes just like he was back then.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/12/20/18/philippine-rugby-pays-tribute-to-former-volcano-game-official">Philippine rugby pays tribute to former Volcano, game official</a></div>&quot;A key moment in my life was watching the Volcanoes play in Rizal Stadium as a kid. I&#x27;m sure Kai remembers that as well. That sort of put me forward to pursue rugby as a Volcano and to represent the Philippines. I think it&#x27;s great because it inspires the next generation of kids when we&#x27;re able to win and it&#x27;s shared throughout social media,&quot; he shared.  &quot;It&#x27;s quite inspiring and it gives people something to aim at. For the likes of those growing up in the Philippines and who are interested in rugby, we could sort of be their voice and you could see the passion on the field when we sing the national anthem,&quot; Schrimer said. Despite having different backgrounds, the Volcanoes believe their love for the sport and pride in playing for the nation are what unite them and make them truly Filipino.   &quot;Yes, we do come from all over the world. We grew up in different places, like whether it&#x27;s in the Philippines or whether it&#x27;s sa labas, you know. But the one thing that really unites us all is the fact that we&#x27;re all Filipino,&quot; Davies said. &quot;Whether it&#x27;s half or full, we&#x27;re always very, very proud to be Filipino. And I think hopefully what people see is the fact that, you know, it&#x27;s no matter where you&#x27;re from, it&#x27;s no matter what type of place you grew up in. But the fact that we&#x27;re all Filipino, that&#x27;s the one thing that unites us,&quot; he added.  Citing the bayanihan spirit of Filipinos, the Volcanoes hope the support they received in their recent campaign will continue in the coming years, especially as the country is set to host the 2027 Unions Cup.  &quot;To hear all these messages from home. Just to say, like galing mo talaga and all of that stuff, it really continues to inspire us to keep on coming back and playing for the Philippine team,&quot; Davies said.  &quot;I just hope that we make all of you proud whenever we step on the field. So, yeah, it really means a lot to us to hear all of your messages. And we just hope we continue to inspire you guys every single time we step on the pitch,&quot; he stressed.  <div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/10/15/18/rugby-ph-volcanoes-secure-spot-in-world-series-qualifier">Rugby: PH Volcanoes secure spot in World Series qualifier </a> </div>&quot;When we see Pinoy athletes around the world doing really well and successful, we have that Pinoy pride that everyone shares. And to feel that and receive that, that pride from fellow Filipinos around the world is just an immense feeling,&quot; Judd Greenhalgh shared. &quot;And that&#x27;s what we carry on our backs or on our chest whenever we play for the Volcanoes. So we carry pride across the world. So yeah, it means a lot for the support. And we just want to say thank you,&quot; he added.  As they seek to carry the momentum from the Unions Cup into future tournaments, the Volcanoes want to prove the Philippines belongs on the international rugby stage. &quot;So it&#x27;s having that picture that Philippines is a nation that can play rugby and are damn good at it as well. So, you know, if we can achieve that, if we can paint that picture, then everyone on this call will be a happy man,&quot; Sweetman said.

More than winning back-to-back Unions Cup titles, the Philippine Volcanoes believe they have achieved something bigger on the pitch.

More than winning back-to-back Unions Cup titles, the Philippine Volcanoes believe they have achieved something bigger on the pitch.

How the Philippine Volcanoes defended their Unions Cup title and reignited a flame

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How the Philippine Volcanoes defended their Unions Cup title and reignited a flame

Paige Javier,

ABS-CBN News

Published July 25, 2026 11:01 PM PHT

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Philippine Volcanoes National Team

Philippine Rugby

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