Reasons for optimism: Malaysia mission was a reality check for UAE rugby, not a catastrophe

The safety net of the one-off, non-relegation ruling from Asian rugby's top tier should not paper over the cracks though. Clearly, after three defeats, improvements needs to be made. So, how to go about it?

UAE fly-half Luke Stevenson, second right, attempts to tackle a Sri Lanka player during the Emirates' 33-17 defeat in the Asian Rugby Championship Division 1 match in Ipoh, Malaysia. Asia Rugby / TigeShow more

DUBAI // Given how disconsolate the UAE players feel after their listless Asia Rugby Championship Division 1 campaign, any glibness in assessing the state of the game here might be misplaced.

But their coach was nicknamed “The Terminator” during his illustrious playing days, after all. So it is safe to assume, they will be back.

They went to Malaysia for their 2017 Test programme with hopes soaring for three wins, and promotion to the top tier of Asian ruby for the first time in half a decade.

They got the exact opposite. At least they were spared automatic demotion back to tier three, thanks to a little-known rejig of the rules for one season only.

The safety net of the one-off, non-relegation ruling should not paper over the cracks though. Clearly, after three defeats, improvements needs to be made. So, how to go about it?

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Perspective

The mission to Malaysia failed, but it was a reality check rather than a catastrophe.

“I had a big plan for this team moving forward, playing well in this tournament, but we just couldn’t put it together,” Apollo Perelini, the coach formerly known as “The Terminator”, said.

“It is not a problem of scoring tries. When we dug deep, we scored tries, but we couldn’t stay with it. We lost focus. That cost us.

“The problem we have is we don’t play at the speed and the pressure of this at club level in the UAE. Therefore the players are not playing under the same conditions. But we will get there.”

The UAE went behind early in all five matches this season, including the two warm-up games against scratch sides of Conference and Premiership players. They conceded four or more tries in all but one game.

Both those problems suggest disjointedness, stemming from players being unfamiliar with each other. Understandable, given how little actual game time they have as a team.

Three Test matches plus two friendlies, as they had this year, is more than in the past. But it is hardly a guaranteed formula for improvement.

“Those two warm-up games were as tough as we could have had,” Daniel Perry, the UAE vice-captain, said before the tour. “If we could guarantee no injuries, ideally we would have had another one.”

How to remedy it?

One solution might be to rearrange the domestic season to include matches involving the national team.

The region’s top club competition has been through various incarnations, but has yet to settle on one that satisfies everybody.

Retain the current, cross-border league of 12 matches, keep the grand final for the top two UAE-based teams, involving live TV coverage, which proved hugely popular on its debut this year.

Then, instead of the Gulf Cup play-offs as per this season, arrange four matches for the UAE representative team, against Bahrain, Doha, then select XVs of Abu Dhabi and Dubai all-stars (or Premiership and Conference sides, if that is preferential).

Making the first two of these matches away trips to Bahrain and Qatar would have many positive effects.

Touring would help tighten bonds within a team only just getting to know each other again after 10 and a half months apart, even if they do train together from December onwards. And away matches at those two Gulf rugby powerhouses are also the closest this region can provide in terms of replicating Test rugby.

As evidence, the only game Abu Dhabi Harlequins lost in their all-conquering, five-trophy winning season, was in Doha. They counted their win in Bahrain as their best performance.

Yes, it feels artificial. No doubt a variety of clubs would need persuading. But surely it is a conversation worth having?

Selection problems

Having said all that, the club game here is in relatively good health, even though the challenges for it are many.

The standard of play in the West Asia Premiership last season was widely regarded as the best it has ever been. The coaching is more focused, and of a higher pedigree, than ever before. And yet the national team still fell short.

The region’s transience, and the fact the representative team leans mostly on players who have been resident for three years or more, mean a strong domestic league does not automatically equal a strong national team.

The leading players are not always eligible for selection. Take the past four players of the year as a basic example. Jaen Botes and Ben Bolger, players of the year in 2015 and 2017 respectively, are key players in the national team. Sean Crombie and DuRandt Gerber, winners in 2014 and 2016, by contrast, were not eligible for UAE duty.

In the future, the pool of eligible players will shrink further. World Rugby have ratified a move to extend the residential qualifying criteria from three to five years from 2020.

Not that the squad touring Malaysia was light on talent. They fell short, but the tour was an instructive one for those involved.

“Going forward we need to be stronger,” Bolger, the UAE captain, said. “The boys now know what the standard is.

“We walked in a bit blind as to what that standard is. We look forward to getting back at it next year.”

Costs

There are plenty of reasons for optimism. Goodwill towards the representative team is as high as it has ever been, bar perhaps the final year of it being the Arabian Gulf. And harnessing the power of the rugby public can do wonderful things.

This is a region where the game survives despite exorbitant costs. Where clubs do not generate income themselves in the traditional ways of elsewhere. And where sponsors tend to be generous rugby philanthropists, with little tangible to gain from their investments.

Playing the game is not cheap. Subscriptions that range from Dh1,600 to Dh2,500 to be a senior player sound prohibitive. Depending on who you play for, you might be paying more than Dh200 per game over the course of a 12-match season.

But Stuart Quinn, a former UAE scrum-half who is the new chairman of Jebel Ali Dragons, points out clubs themselves bear sizeable costs, and that Dh1,600 for eight months membership of a rugby club is money well spent.

“It is actually incredible value if you compare it to gym membership,” Quinn said, pointing out gyms can charge as much as Dh900 per month.

“Training two nights a week. Games. Insurance. Away trips. We are lucky to have a top coach in Henry Paul. The clubs try to cover as much as possible.”

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Community spirit

And it buys unquantifiable things, too. Like the chance to be part of something bigger than one person, part of a club and a community.

At about the same time as the UAE were playing Philippines on Saturday, back at home members of Dubai Hurricanes were doing a charity run in the morning heat.

Between the Hurricanes and players from some rival clubs, 73 people ran 394 kilometres, to raise Dh13,000 for the chemotherapy treatment of former UAE player Dave Matasio's wife.

Back in February, the Dragons ran a series of triathlons to raise awareness of a rare form of cancer suffered by the wife of Ryan Baird, one of their players.

And at Abu Dhabi Harlequins, Mike Ballard is setting out his next goal, having changed lives for the better on a goodwill tour of Madagascar last year.

Who wouldn’t want to be part of a community like that? If they can work together for the greater good on that sort of scale, then there is a fair chance they can do the same for a more trifling causes, too.

Like making the national team winners again.

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