Ray Jefferson Querubin, the strongman of Team Philippines in the Netflix show Physical: Asia, had nothing but praise for teammate Justin Coveney, saying the Philippine rugby player and current team captain came through on several of the challenges including the crucial Death Match.
Querubin praised Coveney for his strategy in the show’s first challenge, the Territory Conquest, in which teams must work together to take control of circular mounds until only one team remains.
In the first round, teams from Australia, Indonesia, South Korea, Turkiye, Mongolia, Japan and Thailand made a mad rush to gain control of the mounds and use their various strengths to ward off opponents.
Coveney, however, said they should let the other teams drain energy while they tried a jeepney blitz against the others.
“We all know how to latch on. You gotta keep your body tight. You gotta stay low, pretty much push that way. This move is called the jeepney blitz. Let’s keep it Filipino," he said.
The jeepney blitz, named after the Philippines’ famous mode of public transportation, meant that the entire team would form a battering ram to rush their opponents.
Coveney and Querubin, the two heaviest guys on Team Philippines, led the charge, with boxing champ Manny Pacquiao and MMA artist Mark “Mugen” Striegl backing them up, and CrossFit athlete Lara Liwanag and hurdler Robyn Lauren Brown bringing up the rear.
“The whole point was to stay connected and move on to the territory. One quick movement,” Coveney said.
As the various teams pushed, pulled and flipped opponents off the mound, Coveney instructed Team Philippines to wait.
“The jeepney blitz - this strategy could not work if you tried it too early. You get on there early, get in there with a minute and a half, everyone’s gonna throw you off. So what we discussed is we would leave it till the last 20 seconds,” he said.
Team Philippines rammed both Team Mongolia and Team Indonesia in the last 20 seconds of the first round, taking the territory easily as the clock ran out. All 3 teams, however, stayed on the mound at the last second.
“The jeepney blitz is effective. Talagang effective siya. Given the size, ako lang atsaka si Justin ‘yung malaki. So ang ginawa namin doon is, technically ako 'yung dapat yung sa front para pag physical na banggaan, ako talaga 'yung bumabangga sa harap. Effective siya. Magandang strategy 'yun na binigay ni Justin dahil of course rugby din ‘yung background niya,” Querubin told ABS-CBN News.
Pacquiao, the 8-division world boxing champ, also said the jeepney blitz left a “strong first impression” on the other teams.
During the 1st overtime, Team Indonesia took the mound first but were pulled off one by one by members of the Mongolian team.
Again, Team Philippines waited until the last 10 seconds before rushing the mound in a jeepney blitz, with all members on the mound after the minute was up. Only Team Indonesia was eliminated in the overtime match.
“For the first two rounds, bagsak ‘yung binangga namin actually. Nakapasok kami lahat,” Querubin said.
For the second overtime, Coveney decided to team up with Team Mongolia while Team Korea and Team Turkiye also made an alliance to take the mound.
Coveney said he decided to form a “joint scrum, a joint jeepney” using all 12 members of the Philippine-Mongolia alliance “and blitz with about 20 to 15 seconds to go.”
The strategy seemed to work until the last second, when Querubin tried to pull another opponent, Turkish national team rower Ogeday Girisken, off the mound while he was already outside.
The Bohol native said that while the jeepney blitz worked, the other teams were already aware of what was coming from the Philippine athletes after 2 matches.
He added that he was also not aware that the time had run out.
“Yeah, nag-grupo-grupo kasi. ‘Yung Mongolia nag-group kami. Ang Turkey at saka Korea nag-group din. So medyo marami na ang tao nasa circle, sa loob. Para hindi malaglag yung team mo, dapat marami yung [nagtutulak],” Querubin said.
“Kaya hindi ko rin namalayan ‘yung oras. Actually pag nandun ka talaga, ang isip mo talaga is paano manalo, paanong gagawin ‘yung first reaction mo, ‘yun talaga ang unang gagawin mo. Kaya nahawakan ko ‘yung ano, hagis ko na lang. Tapos pagbalik ko, wala na palang oras.”
Coveney admitted he was extremely disappointed by the outcome, which was compounded after Team Philippines lost anew in the Shipwreck Transportation Challenge after Ray Querubin gassed out early.
The rugby player, who won 2 gold medals in the SEA Games, however, was able to help turn things around in the sudden death match, in which players must grab a ball on a pond surrounded by sand and try to score a goal in 3 minutes.
Coveney defeated his opponent - Thai National Team wrestler Anucha Yospanya - by simply hanging on to the ball nearer to the goal without being taken down with a suplex.
Team Philippines won the Death Math against Team Thailand before moving on to the Team Representative challenges.
Coveney was matched with Querubin for the Stone Totem Endurance test, where 2 players from each team support four 135kg totems while standing back-to-back.
Querubin said that while it was his first time to compete in a Hercules hold-type match, the challenge is somewhat similar to a farmer’s carry or farmer’s walk where an athlete walks with a pair of dumbbells in each hand.
“Grip strength talaga siya tsaka endurance. ‘Yun ‘yung laban sa Hercules hold. Magaan siya but [the longer you hold], bibigat siya dahil ma-se-stretch na ‘yung muscle mo. Since dalawa kayo naghahawak, dapat balanced talaga siya,” he said.
During the challenge, Coveney could be seen struggling and reciting the names of his wife, Hadassah, and children Cillian, Solana and Jaxson as he held on to the totems with Querubin.
He also asked Querubin to take the weight as he adjusted his left side before his grip gave out at 9:42 of the match.
Team Australia won the match, with Team Korea taking second place.