Nelson Morales

Article (news)

The Philippine Volcanoes. 

Paige Javier

ABS-CBN News

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17851415789991785141572548.jpeg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960" alt="The Philippine Volcanoes. Handout photo"/>The Philippine Volcanoes. Handout photo </div>MANILA – The Philippine Volcanoes and Philippine Rugby Union are looking forward to showcase the sport on home soil as the country is set to host the 2027 Unions Cup.  Following the Volcanoes&#x27; successful title defense in the 2026 edition, it was officially announced the Philippines will host the tournament next year.  <div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/2026/7/19/rugby-ph-volcanoes-dismantle-malaysia-to-win-back-to-back-unions-cup-titles-2040">READ: PH Volcanoes dismantle Malaysia to win back-to-back Unions Cup titles</a></div>&quot;Well, the Unions Cup has only been around for three years. And the first year, it only had three teams. The second year, it had four teams, including the Philippines. And this year, it had eight teams playing so it&#x27;s massively grown,&quot; PRFU President Ada Milby told ABS-CBN News in an online interview on Friday.  &quot;And we&#x27;re also considering some expansions to be able to make sure that we&#x27;re providing meaningful competitions within the sub region of Southeast Asia and East Asia,&quot; she explained. The PRFU official shared how the country got into hosting the major rugby tournament.  &quot;When we kind of signed on to be with the Unions Cup, it wasn&#x27;t about winners or anything like that. It was just like, you&#x27;re next in the rotation. So, somehow we&#x27;ve landed up being the host for the Men&#x27;s Unions Cup and the Women&#x27;s 15s next year,&quot; she said. Milby believes the country&#x27;s hosting of not one but two major rugby tournaments next year will help reignite support and interest in the sport, not just aspiring players but also with potential sponsors. &quot;I think it&#x27;s a tremendous opportunity for us to, you know, off the back of the boys&#x27; back to back win, to really position this as Philippines as a sports destination and allowing companies and organizations to partner with us and really be part of something that is in the early stage of what I personally think could be effectively the Six Nations or the Super Rugby of East and Southeast Asia,&quot; she shared. &quot;I think it has tremendous commercial opportunities. And with the commercial opportunities means more support for the players. And I think ultimately that&#x27;s what we&#x27;re trying to do make sure that we&#x27;re providing the right support for the players to come and represent the country,&quot; Milby explained. While there&#x27;s nothing final yet, the PRFU official said they are eyeing Cebu, Clark, Manila and Alabang as possible venues for the Unions Cup. &quot;Those are kind of our top three locations that we&#x27;re scouting at the moment. And at the end of the day, it&#x27;ll kind of come down to what&#x27;s going to provide the best experience for the teams traveling and the partners that we can bring on board to support the competition,&quot; Milby shared. The Volcanoes highlighted the recent campaign led by homegrown players, as a sign of the product of investment in grassroots development in years past.  With more locally developed players at the forefront, the team seeks to encourage more Filipino youth to get into rugby and hopefully compete for the country someday. &quot;Next year, it&#x27;s at home, right? And I&#x27;ve never played at home and I&#x27;ve been in the national team for over 10 years. And so it&#x27;s the most exciting thing for me and I know this group of boys to go back to home soil. And so the next thing is just please continue to keep supporting us, come out next year,&quot; Volcanoes team captain Kai Ledesma Stroem said. &quot;If next year is too far away, there&#x27;s club rugby competitions in between now and then in the Philippines that you can go to. You can learn about the game. You can try it. You can try, touch rugby, a different version of it. Next year, in a big wave, and so that you can fully be a part of it and experience everything and enjoy all the emotions to the fullest,&quot; he added. For the PRFU executive, the growth of locally developed players on the team shows the development of the national rugby program and the opportunities available for aspiring athletes.  &quot;Having some of the players or a good core of the players that have lived here, that interact with the grassroots players, I think that&#x27;s really, really huge that we didn&#x27;t necessarily have a strong presence of in the years past. And so it&#x27;s a fantastic testament to have so many players now that as they said, understand the context. And now you can kind of see the heroes and then see the pathway,&quot; Milby said.  &quot;So I think us hosting that competition, it really, really allows us to highlight it. How many kids can we come? How many kids can we get to come fill the venue and make sure that they&#x27;ve got eyeballs on these players? Because when they see the possibilities, then that inspires the next generation to want to take up rugby and realize that it really is an opportunity for them to represent the Philippines on a global stage,&quot; she added.

The Philippine Volcanoes and Philippine Rugby Union are looking forward to showcase the sport on home soil as the country is set to host the 2027 Unions Cup.

The Philippine Volcanoes and Philippine Rugby Union are looking forward to showcase the sport on home soil as the country is set to host the 2027 Unions Cup.

Rugby: PH hosting of 2027 Unions Cup seen to boost support for national team, grassroots development

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Rugby: PH hosting of 2027 Unions Cup seen to boost support for national team, grassroots development

Paige Javier,

ABS-CBN News

Published July 27, 2026 08:05 PM PHT

Read More:

rugby

Philippine Volcanoes

Philippine Rugby

Unions Cup

Ada Milby

Philippine Rugby Union

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