Double Header Match Report

25/09/2009

Double Header Match Report

Friday 25th 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 1st 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.

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 Furie

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.’

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ARABIAN GULF CHAMPIONSHIP: Abu Dhabi Harlequins (2s) 8 – 39 Al Ain

A marked contrast to last week’s game where the Quins 2nd XV drew 5-5 with defending Championship league winners, the Dubai Dragons 2s, the Quins paid the price for having to field a team that saw a number of forced changes with key players having to play out of position.

Match Report

5pm – The Quins, led out by captain, Peter Muldoon, to a growing crowd on a hot and humid afternoon started the match full of fire and had the early attacks in the first 10 minutes. A good passage of play amongst fly-half, Alex Spence, and David Boyd playing at centre, saw the ball go wide on a number of occasions only to stopped by Al Ain’s growing defence.

A penalty awarded on 10 minutes 25 metres out was comfortably converted by scrum-half, Hansie Ramakumba, putting the Quins in front 3-0. The match looked set for a contest between the home side’s quick attacking passing play, and the visitor’s strong penetrating runs from their larger backs.

Steadily growing in confidence, Al Ain started to mount pressure through a series of decisive backs moves culminating in a strong run down the right wing, quickly covered by full-back, Ali Murray. The Quins fumbled the pass from the resultant scrum which was gathered up by Al Ain for an unconverted try. Quins 3 – 5 Al Ain.

From the re-start, Al Ain started to move up a gear dominating the line-out and through sustained pressure encamped in the Quins’ 22, managed to score close to the posts for another unconverted try taking the score to 10-3.

With 20 minutes of the first half to go, the hosts were soon on the back-foot again, with the heat and humidity starting to take its toll, the visitors’ larger players gradually took hold of the game through their dominance in the contact area.

Al Ain, choosing to stick with the aerial route after a period of play that saw several penetrating kicks into Quins’ territory, kicked over the hosts’ defence, where the ball was quickly intercepted and taken over the line taking the score to 15-3 on the 30th minute.

With 5 minutes to go, the Quins dug deep and through hard-working forward play led by Niko Van Niekerk, Andrew Taylor and Gareth King around the break-down area, managed to make gradual headway into Al Ain territory providing a glimmer of hope when they were awarded a penalty 35 meters out. The penalty was not converted.

Half Time: Quins 3 – 15 Al Ain

Both teams ran in exhausted and the Quins made a series of substitutions at half-time up front bringing veteran front-row forwards, Steve Armstrong and Sean Farrell on together with Matt Holtz replacing the injured Alex Spence at 10.

Any thoughts of a Quins’ come-back were quickly dismissed on 45 minutes when Al Ain, ever growing in confidence and strength, ran in strong from halfway through a series of decisive back moves and great passing to take the score, unconverted, to 20-3 to Al Ain.

Ahmed Al Bader came on at wing on 50 minutes and made a number of promising runs, only to be wrapped up by Al Ain’s organised defence. The following period of play saw the Quins’ try to recover some of their early form, with some good distribution from Matt Holtz. After gaining significant territory close to Al Ain’s 22, the Quins saw their fortunes reversed when a pass was intercepted by the visitors and run in unchallenged under the posts, converted, for an unassailable lead of 27-3.

Al Ain missed a number of opportunities to take the lead even further due to a number of unforced errors and, although Al Ain had the upper hand, both teams were visibly suffering from the hot and humid conditions.

A seized opportunity by Quins’ Ramakumba on 60 minutes, saw the quick-thinking scrum-half, run round two defenders for an unconverted try bringing the score to 25-8. Al Ain took the game by the throat in the last 20 minutes and ran in 2 more tries and 1 conversion to put the seal on the second half for a final score of 39-8.

Man of the Match: Niko Van Niekerk

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