Ahead of Asian Championship Tests, five reasons why UAE rugby can look toward a bright future

There are plenty of reasons why the national team will start their 2015 Test campaign against Thailand in Malaysia on Sunday in good spirits.

The eligibility of Jaen Botes, centre, to play for the UAE is a big boost to the team and its performance manager Roelof Kotze. Pawan Singh / The National
Powered by automated translation

There are plenty of reasons why the national team will start their 2015 Test campaign against Thailand in Malaysia on Sunday in good spirits.

Going by the fledgling history of UAE rugby, it could easily have been all doom and gloom. The national team have won just two Tests ever, the last being almost exactly three years ago, and have been relegated twice in successive seasons. They are 90th in the world rankings, and are giving away 25 places to Thailand, 29 to Malaysia and 30 to Chinese Taipei.

Mere details, though. The bad old days of the recent past are gone, and the national team can usher in a bright future via this week’s Asian Championship Division 2.

Independent autopsy

The listless defeat to Singapore, in the UAE’s only Test of 2014, was difficult to palate.

After that, it was like the penny dropped among players who had hitherto not been interested in UAE representative rugby. Enough was enough.

Senior figures from Abu Dhabi Harlequins and Jebel Ali Dragons contacted each other and decided they should be part of the solution.

By the time the national team next assembled, many more players than before were bidding for selection. Numbers at try-outs were often double what they were last season.

“We have more senior and Premiership guys buying into what we are trying to do,” said Roelof Kotze, the performance manager. “Last year a lot of them were sitting and waiting to see.”

RELATED:

Power Botes

Having many regulars from Premiership first-team in the squad has not always been the case in the past.

This time, the stand-out player in West Asia’s No 1 team is even set for a debut. Jaen Botes, the Abu Dhabi Saracens captain, is an immense addition to the national team.

The No 8 could be a revelation in Malaysia – so long as he stays on the right side of the referees.

“I was lucky I identified him early enough, as someone had told me he would be eligible,” Kotze said of Botes.

“I have been working with him the whole season. Whenever I saw Saracens play, we started talking and he knows what I expect from him.

“I do think he is a handful, but I don’t mind. You need guys like that.”

Defeat to Lloyd’s

Followers of the national team could be forgiven for feeling nauseous when hearing about positives being taken from defeat.

They have seen too much of the latter, and pitifully little of the former down the years to believe it.

However, there was much to justify their upbeat response to a warm up defeat against Lloyd’s RFC, a social side from London, last weekend.

So they did throw away a winning position. The most telling part of the game were minutes 20 to 40, when the UAE had their most likely starting Test XV on the field.

They scored four unanswered tries, and shocked a side who contained a number of former professional players in their ranks.

Famous friends

Coaches cannot go out and win matches for their team. That said, everything about the XVs programme has been boosted by the staff available for this campaign.

Kotze called on help from some vastly knowledgable sources. Crucially, each has a strong feeling for the country.

Steve Thompson was not obliged to come and coach the UAE’s scrum at training in Jebel Ali. As a Dubai resident, though, the former England hooker did it because he wanted to lend a hand.

Apollo Perelini’s affinity for Dubai stretches back even further than Thompson’s. Residing here for the past seven years, he has seen the fortunes of the national team wax and wane from afar.

“It is important we start working to bring up the UAE flag,” Perelini, the forwards coach, said.

First and last chances

The squad has a mix of youth and experience which should complement each other neatly.

Paul Hart and Ed Lewsey, for example, are 30-somethings who must have thought their chance at international rugby had passed them by. It is nearly two decades since both played representative youth rugby in the UK.

Then, at the other end of the age scale, there are the likes of Botes and Justin Walsh, the debuting centre, who are in their early to mid-20s.

Keeping young players of their capabilities involved in the long term has proved a problem for the UAE in the past.

The future can wait for now, though. If they produce what they are capable of in Malaysia, the national team will be playing Division 1 rugby next year.

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @NatSportUAE