Friday 25^th September, 2009: The Al Ghazal Golf Club, Abu Dhabi, hosted a rare double-header for the 2009/2010 season that saw the Mens Abu Dhabi Harlequins senior sides take on the Dubai Exiles and Al Ain at HOME.

ARABIAN GULF PREMIERSHIP: Abu Dhabi Harlequins 28 – 7 Dubai Exiles

The Arabian Gulf Premiership defending champions continued their unbeaten start to the season with the demolition of a Dubai Exiles side to record a comprehensive 28-7 win in front of a home crowd of over 350 supporters.

Match Report

7pm - After a focused warm-up, the Quins 1^st XV were led out by head coach and captain, Ali Thompson, with mascot, Matt Greene, from the club’s Junior Section. The match unfolded at a fast pace and from the whistle the physical confrontation between the sides was obvious. A few handling errors from both sides saw Abu Dhabi take control at scrum time with a dominant display of text book technique form props Graham Murphy and Ben Compton.

Harlequins Captain Ali Thompson leads his team out with Mascot Matt Greene

The scoring was opened in the 6th minute by blind side loose forward Tom Fisher, from some good counter rucking the ball squirted from the bottom of an Exile ruck and he showed an impressive turn of speed to run virtually from the half way line to Dot down. Ade Lombo in probably his last appearance for Abu Dhabi added the two extra points.

Some indiscipline by the home side resulted in the Exiles being rewarded with a couple of straight forward penalties which were both not converted. A few minutes later Lombo slotted a straight forward penalty from some Dubai indiscipline. When play restarted Abu Dhabi were again soon on the attack, dominating in the line out and in loose play. In the line out the Exiles struggled with impressive defensive jumping by Captain Ali Thompson and Simon Osbourne.

The next score again came from the boot of Lombo as he chipped over after a scrappy passage of play by both sides. Abu Dhabi now 13 points up showed control and flair with the backs managing to take the game to the opposition.

Australian debutant Michael Haddin was delivering quick ball from set pieces and the classy distribution of fly half John O'Connor resulted in Johan Furie showing his electric pace and power by beating three tacklers to score the home sides next try. Lombo added the extra two points to take the score to 20 nil with only 25 minutes on the board. Abu Dhabi at this point looked like they might post a huge score.

Lombo then finished off some good phase possession to score in the corner to advance the score to 25 nil. On the strike of half time the Exiles again were awarded a penalty and the woeful kicking display continued with the ball falling well short.

Half Time: Quins 25 – 0 Exiles

In the second half the Exiles started well and Abu Dhabi showed character and determination to stop the away side from scoring. Sean McMahon in his return to Quins colours put in some impressive hits and the back row trio of Thompson, Jamie Clark and Fisher were keeping every attack at bay. A period of scrappy play resulted in a number of penalties being conceded by both sides. Lombo slotted over a simple attempt to advance the score to 28-0.

The Exiles replied with a very different approach, with no chance of possession at line-out and through their scrum they decided on an aerial approach, in a display of rugby league type tactics they peppered the Abu Dhabi back three with high up and unders. Mike Hartley playing full back in the absence of Tony Matthews was outstanding in his catching and fielding and by this point the away side looked short on ideas. The game then went a little flat with the Exiles keen to avoid conceding the bonus point decided to kill the game. This resulted in two yellow cards and a period of twenty minutes of patchy rugby.

The Quins then ran on the bench and all the replacements made an impressive contribution. Dubai playing down the hill managed some sustained pressure on the Abu Dhabi line when they were back to their full complement of 15 players. This resulted in a consolation try in the 79th minute.

From the kick off Abu Dhabi could have secured a bonus point when replacement full back Tom Calnan fielded a kick and showed composure and strength to beat a number of tackles and kick through. In the foot race the Exiles managed to carry over for a 5 yard scrum to the home side. From the scrum Thompson picked from the base and it looked as though he had put replacement flanker Craig Ciura in for the bonus point try but referee Scotty Herbert decided the ball had gone forward.

At the final whistle Abu Dhabi had ran out 28-7 winners and look in good shape to travel to the take on the might of Doha in Qatar next weekend.

Man of the Match: Johan Fourie

Thompson had the following to say after the match;

‘I was very pleased with manner of our win against the Exiles; they always pose a physical threat and we were able to match this in all areas of the field. Every time the lads gained possession, the Exiles were scampering to get back in numbers to thwart the attack. Had it not been for a couple of unforced errors in the second half, we would have scored a couple of more tries. Further to our attack, the entire team also showed great motivation in defence. We spent 10 minutes defending on our line, and gave away no tries. This showed character that will serve us well as the season progresses.’

‘I am slightly concerned about the penalty count against us however, and we must eliminate such indiscretions around the ruck in the future; Dubai missed a number of kickable penalties but other teams may not be as forgiving. That being said, our set-piece was immaculate and set the platform for the win; we comfortably won our own ball in the lineout and scrum, and caused them problems on their ball.’

‘Doha will pose a bigger threat in this department next week and we will continue to work on this area at training. Overall, I am thoroughly pleased with the performance at this early stage of the season; a number of potent combinations are forming and we can only get better.’

 from www.dubaiexiles.com

Abu Dhabi Take Honors

28/09/09

Despite a positive start to the match in which the visitors competed admirably and depossessed the Quins of  ball on several occassions, it was a simple loss of possession in contact that led to an easy blinside stroll to the line for the home side that seemed to dent the Exiles confidence. To follow, a series of quick fire tries from the opposition saw a dejected team go to the half time huddle at 25-0 down and a possible record defeat in the making. With flying winger Ori Laslau on the sideline nursing a knee injury and tactical changes being made early in the second row and backs a reshuffled team took to the field in the second stanza intent on restoring some lost pride.

With Man of the Match Johnny Ombler to the fore some self belief returned to the team and with new recruits such as utility players Alex Bailey and Luke Mohring taking their chances and later the injection of centre Mike Hardaker, things improved for the battling visitors. Wing replacement Jon Beeton sliced through for a late try after returning from the sinbin after some presuure from Hardaker forced a turnover and John Fawls made a fist of scrumhalf despite also spending 10 minutes on the sidelines with a yellow card.

After a first half dominated by Abu Dhabi the Exiles left the Al Ghazal ground bitterly disappointed with the 28-7 loss but at least could take some solace in the fact that they won the second half 7-3 (with only 13 players on the field for an eight minute portion) and had blooded a number of promising looking players. In the backs, the experienced Stephan Cooper never stopped trying and his centre partner of Brett Williams is an old style workhorse who's attitude should it rub off onto some of his team mates might produce a grittier outfit to complement their obvious skill and potential.

Not so comforting is a lineout that still lacks confidence and a team that at the moment has a penchant to seem to implode at times when pressure is exerted on them. This can easily be remedied with some improved adherance to training and the expertise of Assistant Coach Peter Aki.

Missing from action from the first two matches of the season were forwards Andre Redelinghuys, Lewis Pugh, Dave Clark, Carl Van Rosenveldt, Mark 'Stash' Gathercole and Chris Deacon and this certainly affected a usually dominant scrum. The return of Mike Cox-Hill was welcomed and despite taking an early knock the tall, rangey second rower looked comfortable back in Exiles colors. His presence will be a huge asset again for the Exiles pack. Cox-Hill will also have his Gulf locking partner Phil Stevens back in the fray now after serving a short suspension from last season, further strengthening a team which on paper looks a future formidable side.

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