DUBAI // Ed Lewsey has moved a step closer to completing a remarkable family double, after being named in the UAE squad for the Asian Rugby Championship Division 2 tournament in Malaysia this month.
The Abu Dhabi Harlequins scrum-half is in the 25-man tour party for Test matches against Thailand, Malaysia and Chinese Taipei in Kuala Lumpur.
If he makes his debut in Malaysia, he will follow his brother Josh, who won the World Cup with England 12 years ago, into the international game.
The British School Al Khubairat teacher will be handed the No 9 shirt when the UAE play a warm-up game against a touring side from London at The Sevens, Dubai this evening.
Make it through unscathed, and he says he will then start to think about the prospect of a full Test appearance. “I don’t want to tempt fate,” said Lewsey, who dovetailed teaching with a career as a semi-professional rugby player in the UK before moving to Abu Dhabi in 2011.
RELATED:
[ Adam Telford looking ‘very strong’ upon return to UAE setup following lengthy injury layoff ]
[ Taif Al Delamie, a ‘leading light’ for Jebel Ali Dragons and Gulf rugby, forced to retire age 28 ]
[ UAE rugby making progress with a little help from friends like Steve Thompson and Apollo Perelini ]
“We have this practice game, two more training sessions, and I don’t take anything for granted.
“If my body can get through those, and I am sat on that plane, I will be chuffed. I am very excited and delighted to be involved. It is an honour.”
The England-born Lewsey may be on the brink of a Test debut, but he still represents a seasoned presence at half-back.
Now 36, he last played international representative rugby for Welsh Students 13 years ago.
Having played for Wales in age-group rugby, he once harboured the aspiration of turning out for his mother’s homeland at senior level.
However, he is grateful for a belated chance with his adopted nation, which had seemed a highly unlikely prospect when he had planned to give up the sport after taking up his teaching job in the UAE.
“I reached 31 and my body was in pieces,” said Lewsey, who was a contemporary of future Wales players Mark Jones and Robert Sidoli in age-group rugby.
“With my career meandering, an opportunity came up in Abu Dhabi, I thought I’d give it a shot, and that would be the end of my playing days. I had to embrace reality and wanted adventure and a new challenge. I didn’t think I would play rugby.”
On arrival in the capital, he was talked into joining Harlequins by his BSAK colleague Alistair Thompson, the former UAE captain. “I didn’t think I would be getting this opportunity,” Lewsey said.
“I had two ambitions in my life: one was to play international rugby for Wales, the other was to play the piano like Jerry Lee Lewis.
“Many years after that dream was conceived, I am closer to doing the first, albeit not for Wales, and I am very excited by it. As for the piano playing, that’s a work in progress.”
Lewsey is one of several new recruits in a powerful-looking squad set for Malaysia.
Adam Telford, the captain, has stated their aim is to win all three matches and announce the UAE are back as a force in Asian rugby after two years of struggles.
And Roelof Kotze, the performance manager, says the team bound for Kuala Lumpur are a vast improvement on that which lost to Singapore in their lone Test of 2014.
“All around, we will be a better side,” said Kotze, who wants his side to adopt an expansive, attacking strategy.
“Looking at us, I think we are still going to be a side who will look to play a quicker game rather than a slower game.
“We have got enough in that we can muscle them if we need to. That will be our aim, because we have so much elsewhere in the park that we don’t just want to play with the forwards.
“We are definitely thinking we will be a playing side rather than a metronome. We are going to play, that is our aim.”
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @NatSportUAE
