THE no. 2 seeded Korean side dominated the Philippine Junior Volcanoes, 19-10, Wednesday night in the 2016 Under-19 Asia Rugby Championship Division 1 tournament at the International School of Manila in BGC, Taguig.
The local side refused to down without a fight and rallied back from a scoreless first half behind Ryan Santos.
“We may not have gotten the result we wanted. But this team is competitive,” said assistant coach Jake Letts.
The Koreans were ahead, 12-0, at halftime when the Junior Volcanoes finally came to life in the second half.
Santos scored thrice in succession, first on a penalty shot with 4 minutes and 15 seconds into the half, 12-3.
He grounded the ball for a try point and the Junior Volcanoes moved closer, 5-12, some 8:34 into the half.
Then a conversion in the 9:50 mark brought Korea’s lead down to two, 10-12.
That’s when the Koreans turned the tables on the host team, with Minseon Hae scoring on a try for a 17-10 edge on the 19:42 mark.
Kimin Kim, who has nine points, then finished it with a conversion at 20:30.
The Koreans will meet the United Arab Emirates side in the finals on Saturday.
UAE rallied from 0-10 down in the first half to beat Singapore, 14-10.
Points scored by Jeremiah Kilicanasou and Max Johnson put UAE in a 4 p.m. finals match with Korea.
The Junior Volcanoes will take on Singapore at 2 p.m.