The Philippine Volcanoes in Borneo: Coverage begins Now. (updated constantly)
Team manager Phil Gittus, Justin Coveney (with earbuds), and players who were asleep because they’ve been training almost continuously since Tuesday afternoon. Justin is a lawyer in Sydney. He does civil suits; mostly they represent insurance companies. Does that mean you’re evil? I asked. He said they had to deal with a lot of ambulance chasers.
Dispatch from moving bus. We’re on the way to Clark airport to catch the flight to Kota Kinabalu. On board: 11 members of the national men’s rugby team, Coach Matt Cullen, Manager Phil Gittus, and trainer Damian Raper. The 12th member we pick up at the gas station after SM North. More on him later.
The team will compete at the Borneo 7s, where they placed sixth overall last year. This year they’re ranked tenth after the disappointment of the Shanghai 7s. The Volcanoes are hoping to qualify for the 2011 Hong Kong 7s, the biggest most prestigious sevens tournament on earth.
The captain of the Borneo 7s team is Harry Morris, who is already known to readers of this website. (The first thing he said: “Are you prepared to see some skin on this tour?” I said, “We’re not used to seeing you clothed.”)
According to Coach Matt Cullen, this is a bigger, stronger team than the one sent to Shanghai. Many of the members are playing for the Philippines for the first time: there’s Patrice Olivier, 20, who’s Filipino-French. He says he doesn’t speak much English, so my 12 units of French and many Eric Rohmer movies may come in handy (I know two horrible cusswords).
Say Bonjour to Patrice, one of the newest members of the Philippine Volcanoes. He’s from the south of France. I noted that there are lots of Filipinos in France. I’ve never seen a Filipino in France, he said. Except my sister. To his right is team trainer Damian Raper. He’s not Filipino, and he has no emotional/cultural and especially no financial reason to be working with the Volcanoes. He just believes in the cause and wants to help. People like that do exist.
The team bus made a pit stop in QC to pick up the 12th player, who is probably known to you. His name is Andrew Wolff. “Do we have to pick him up because he’s a celebrity?” I asked. No, it’s because he lost his wallet at their office building the other night. This morning he checked his facebook account and saw a message: a security guard had found his wallet. So he went to retrieve his wallet, and we retrieved him.
Andrew Wolff has nerd cred. He got his A levels in Math and Latin.
Digression. Andrew Wolff is even more beautiful from three inches away than on a billboard thirty feet high. I know this because I am sitting next to Andrew Wolff. To be more exact, we are scrunched into a two-person seat and his muscles take up a lot of room. Oh the horror and tedium of my life, that I have to squeeze into a seat with Andrew Wolff.
By the way we will refer to him as Wolfie as there are three Andrews on the team: Wolff who is half-Brit and speaks pretty good Tagalog, having lived here five years; and Everingham and Farrar, both half-Australian.
This exclusive coverage of the Philippine Volcanoes at the Borneo 7s is brought to you by JessicaRulestheUniverse.com through a sponsorship from Globe Telecom.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
October 29th, 2010 at 03:21
@#45 kratienza – cute. =)
October 29th, 2010 at 06:30
come on guys, you can beat Japan, go go go Philippine Volcanoes……..
October 29th, 2010 at 06:38
I love the red shirt it reminds me of Spain’s red fury…..yeah I love football but rugby is a good alternative…….so sad octopus Paul is already dead, he is 2 years and a half.
October 29th, 2010 at 09:31
sunflowii at 3:19 am: Pag may lubak sa daan para akong nauuntog sa bato hahaha.
October 29th, 2010 at 09:35
@ # 32 polaris: Tamaaa…parang collect then select.
I admit, nawindang ako sa salad at cuts ni Gaz the other day…but Harry as team leader is a major turn on. Alpha-Male indeed ;)
October 29th, 2010 at 09:42
henyo at 9:35 am: I asked Harry if he’d seen Gaz’s brilliant/horrible photo. The reply: “I got more comments”, shrug. Hindi magpapatalo! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa
October 29th, 2010 at 09:45
arlsjr at 2:20 am: According to the Mac OSX dashboard, “J’ai un ecrasement sur vous.”
October 29th, 2010 at 10:27
Ms. J @ 9:42 am: Naks…kinilig ako dun, ah. Matindi ang epekto kapag sa kama ginawa ang photo shoot.
Aabangan ang susunod na litrato ni Harry…from now on, we will not expect anything less from him…except the clothes. :)
October 29th, 2010 at 11:12
ang landi! gusto ko na rin si mr raper…kahit parang medyo off ang kanyang last name. kahit first name…TOO EVIL!
brewhuh23
offtopic:
TEAM JAKE LETTS!
Jakelette at heart.
October 29th, 2010 at 11:26
@#56 jessicazafra – indeed, there are more comments in the posts featuring harry. but we do appreciate gaz’ photo. maraming nasilaw sa mga bituin sa litrato niya.
so harry reads our comments huh. does he understand tagalog ms. j?
October 29th, 2010 at 11:37
#46 oneday: thanks will try and get a hold of those books
#48 arlsjr: You cannot say “i crush you” to Patrice! He’s far too brawny, it is physically impossible.
Just say: “Vous êtes un rêve, meilleur que la glace”
*Alliance Francaise de Wellington caps each class sssion with wine-tasting, i wonder whether they do the same in Bel-Air Makati branch?
#8 cdlaclos, #30 samantha: diba, his lips look disturbingly lickable. Basta ba ‘Olivier’ laging delectable? There’s Kylie Minogue’s ex Olivier Martinez.
#53 marcus89: You must elaborate on octopus Paul’s significance to our rugby-virgin readers (Paul is an oracle octopus). Dapat may ganyan din tayo, Alimango or something. Not shrimp, the Volcanoes are definitely not HIPON =)
October 29th, 2010 at 13:16
Woah! You know Justin Coveney? I went to law school with him! (UWS) Say hi for me. Wow. Last time I saw him was at the Supreme Court in Sydney a few months ago, I think. I used to be on the side of the ‘ambulance chasers’ :p.
October 29th, 2010 at 18:27
# # 56 jessicazafra Says:
October 29th, 2010 at 9:42 am
henyo at 9:35 am: I asked Harry if he’d seen Gaz’s brilliant/horrible photo. The reply: “I got more comments”, shrug. Hindi magpapatalo! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Grabe, iba talaga si Harry! Hindi magpapalamang hahaha!
October 29th, 2010 at 18:30
#59- rph_kat
I hear you!!! Team Jake Letts forever :)
Wala na akong ibang social networking sites na tinitignan, blog na lang ni Jessica ang binabasa ko sine-surf ko haha.
October 29th, 2010 at 18:45
Jara at 1:16 pm: Sure. What’s your full name? (I won’t publish it.)
October 29th, 2010 at 20:50
do i see club “patricians” in the making?
mga super gazettes, asan na kayo?
October 29th, 2010 at 23:19
@#56 jessicazafra: The confidence! At totoo naman na mas maraming comments si Harry. Hindi pa kasali sa bilang yung mga comments tugkol sa kanya under the other blog posts and even under Gaz’s photo.
October 29th, 2010 at 23:46
@#54 jessica
aray, sakit naman niyan! ang hirap talaga maghanap buhay.
=)
my hubby is my rock.