Oval Office February 2008

Two in a row for Capital gals

By Warwick George

The Abu Dhabi women’s rugby team has won its second AGRFU Ladies League tournament in succession, when it went unbeaten on home turf in the fourth round of the Gulf sevens competition played at the Al Ghazal Golf Course on Friday.

There has been plenty of talent on display and it augurs well for a strong side to fly out to the Hong Kong Sevens.

Held in ideal tournament conditions, the capital lady ruggers were the form team from start to finish, with player of the tournament Estelle Uren leading the way as her team whitewashed a physical Kuwait Nomads 26-0 in the tournament final.

Abu Dhabi scored an impressive 100 points for the afternoon thanks in part to Uren’s accurate goal kicking and conceded only a lone try as they notched up victories over Dubai Sevens champs, Dubai Falcons 22-5, Dubai Exiles 31-0 and reigning ladies league champs Dubai Hurricanes 21-0, before finishing off in style against Kuwait.

With the Women’s rep team being selected shortly to contest the Hong Kong Sevens, excellent displays from Abu Dhabi’s Lynda McGovern and Simone Muller must surely have caught the attention of the Gulf selectors.

In what will in all probability be the last women’s matches to be played on the quickly-shrinking Dubai Exiles ground, the Dubai Falcons host their League tournament. Match play is now limited to one pitch and while the facilities are now down to a minimum, it will not deter the eight women’s teams competing against each other on February 1.

Falcon’s coach John Mamea may well have been keeping his powder dry when giving his newcomers valuable match experience at the last ladies competition, and the Dubai sevens champs will likely field their top lineup as they attempt to win as hosts this weekend. One team wanting to step up will be last seasons champs the Dubai Hurricanes who have yet to fire this season and remain without a tournament winner’s trophy, despite the efforts of five Gulf representatives in its ranks.

Hopes in tatters for Exiles and Dragons

Abu Dhabi’s big win, Bahrain steady improvers

With demolition already well underway and the remnants of January’s heavy rainfalls still evident, it’s hard to imagine the Dubai Exiles ground as the same facility that hosted the Dubai Sevens less than then two months ago. Also, in a similar state of disarray, are the cup aspirations of two of Dubai’s top clubs after the latest round of matches saw teams battling for semifinal places.

Dubai Exiles and Dubai Dragons clubs now have only their league and consolation title hopes to play for after recent weekend defeats (at the time of going to press).

Playing away from home proved too tough for the Exiles who were knocked out of the AGRFU Cup when they were defeated 12-8 by the steadily improving Bahrain, while 2006 Cup champions Dubai Dragons were smashed by a rampant NBAD Abu Dhabi, who dispatched the former champs 34-0 on a surprisingly firm Exiles ground on a recent Friday evening.

The Capital side had been threatening a breakthrough win since the beginning of the season and orchestrated its victory by building up a handy first stanza lead that was never threatened playing into a strong second half wind.

Tries to former Tunisian representative Ridha Dhaouadi, vice captain Ali Thompson, former Dragons player Peter Sampson and inspirational skipper Mark Simon sealed the result which was founded on a outstanding display of defensive tackling – at times the Dragons players must have felt like rag dolls as they were continually cut down by the Abu Dhabi boys.

Club captain and fullback Matt Holzl was full of praise for his team mates, saying; “The team’s defence as a unit was the best it has been all season and despite being a man down in the latter stages we resisted numerous Dragon onslaughts to post our first shutout victory.”

In the earlier curtain-raiser the French Frogs snatched a late victory over Dubai Hurricanes II when Steve Quetard slotted a 79th minute penalty to advance his side to the semifinals of the AGRFU Bowl competition with a narrow 8-7 victory. With a well functioning lineout, calming leadership from veteran Ben Toomey and an early converted try to Hurricanes speedster James Tometzki, the reigning champion’s second team looked to be in control but a shocked opposition hit back with an unconverted try to Jacques Antoine Leconte after some strong counterattacking running following a miscued Hurricanes clearing kick.

Playing with renewed vigour in the second half and displaying typical French rugby flair to match their resplendent pink, blue and white playing kit, the local French team counterattacked on numerous occasions from deep within their half, only to have try-scoring passes go to ground. French frustrations at the tackle area and the Hurricanes losing a powerful attacking weapon due to uncontested scrums made for moments of discontent from both teams that saw referee Martin Jennings busy for the evening before Quetard coolly slotted the winner.

Hong Kong? Tokyo? Give us a Test too…


Why can’t we get the Wallabies and possibly either the All Blacks or South Africa for a match in the Gulf? We can stage a rugby showcase here as well as Hong Kong and Tokyo.

The Wallabies are set to play matches in Hong Kong, possibly Japan and at Wembley Stadium later this year to broaden the sport’s appeal.

Aussie Rules has already gone in under the Wallabies’ guard with its Pies versus Crows match at Ghantoot in the UAE.

ARU officials have been in Hong Kong working with local and New Zealand officials to complete the planning preparations and financial arrangements for the match.

Oz rugby supremo John O’Neill also said there was also the possibility of a trans-Tasman Test in Asia becoming a semi-regular fixture with Tokyo another potential host.

He said it was yet to be determined whether the Hong Kong fixture would be part of the Bledisloe Cup programme.

O’Neill said there was also the possibility of a match against the Barbarians at Wembley Stadium.

There is likely to be an expanded Super 14 programme too. How about a couple of trials here?

Why ring the changes?

You can already hear the giggles coming from the conservative camps up north as the Super 14 looks to bed in another set of laws designed to revolutionise the game. I sense a touch of deja vu.

When Sanzar was formed in late 1995 and launched the Super 12 and Tri-Nations the following year, the north looked down their long noses as the southern hemisphere embarked on a style of razzle-dazzle rugby that produced plenty of points. But not so much substance.

Regular critics such as the one-eyed Stephen Jones, have long reminded New Zealand that its preference for running rugby doesn’t always amount to much when it matters most. A look at its World Cup record and it’s hard to argue.

Graham Henry’s intent to show that a free-flowing game could counter a defensive one fell over in the quarter-finals. The World Cup has a history of tight finals where bump and grind has won out over sides containing mobile forwards and fleet-footed backs.

Now, on the back what can only be considering a bore fest in terms of rugby standards at last year’s World Cup, rugby has decided it’s time to try something different again. New Zealand, Australia and South Africa are the guinea pigs while England, France, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Italy continue under the old rules in their Six Nations championship up north.

It raises the ridiculous situation of the southern sides then having to dig into their memory banks and revert to last year’s laws, when they host the teams from the north for test matches in the middle of the year. It’s looking like a bit of a mess all round. What other sport has its premier athletes running around performing under different rules?

Judging by the feedback from the warm-up matches held over the last weekend in NZ and Australia, the rugby resulted in games that were a combination of bull-rush, sevens and something out of the 1996 version of the Super 12. Players, coaches and even referees all had mixed responses to what was trying to be achieved.

Time is a great healer and I’m sure that by the time the fifth or sixth round of the Super 14 rolls around we will all be feeling a bit more comfortable about things. But right now, I’m wondering if all this was really necessary. If the IRB, in its wisdom were convinced enough to thrust the experimental rules on teams south of the equator, why weren’t they good enough for the blokes who play the stodgy rugby up north? Surely they are the guys who need a nudge in the right direction when it comes to playing an open game. I sense some of the enforced changes have come about because rugby administrators have eyed rugby league’s style with a bit of envy.

But league is like any sport – there are good games and there are bad ones. Rugby is just the same. The World Cup final between South Africa and England was a bit of a snore, but there were some good matches embedded in the sport’s showpiece event – Fiji v Wales stands out.

Some tinkering is necessary to eradicate the kick and chase approach, but I sense the rule makers may have gone a bit too far with this latest version. That’s why they haven’t chosen to make the changes universal yet. It all smells of change for change’s sake. My money is on more alterations coming later in the year when they try to get both hemispheres playing the same game.

Mr Jones and his ilk will be laughing at what’s on show Down Under and they will clearly be hesitant to embrace something that threatens the traditional strength of their game. One always gets the feeling that despite the south winning five of the six World Cups to date, it is the north that holds the balance of power when it comes to dictating how (the elimination of Rucking being a great example) when and where the game is played.