Abu Dhabi Harlequins Vs Dubai Dragons

23/10/2009

Dubai Dragons v Abu Dhabi Harlequins Rugby Club

Friday 23rd October, 2009: The 7’s

On a very pleasant early autumn evening, the top two teams in the League from last season met with each of their unbeaten records for the new season on the line. Prior to the kick-off both teams were unbeaten thus far, having played 5 matches in both the league and cup with the Dragons coming into the game against last season’s champions, brimming with confidence having hammered Doha by more than 50 points last week.

With a number of interesting positional match ups between the two sides, the battle of the no10’s Andy Russell (Dragons) and Murray Strang (Quins) as well as out wide between Junior (the AGRFU Sevens coach from Dragons) and Dave Stolzenberg (Quins) amongst others, the match was sure to be fascinating.

From the start, Abu Dhabi were in control with it been evident that it was their match to lose. Murray Strang popped over a penalty in the 3rd minute and then slotted another in the 12th to take the Quins out to a 0 – 6 lead. The rest of the half saw Abu Dhabi dominating possession but unable to capitalise on the steady flow of good ball. At times it seemed as if the team were just to impatient to cross the chalk, trying to force passes when the ball should have been held or holding onto the ball when the overlap had been created. In the 30th minute Pete Samson was helped off the field with an ankle injury to be replaced by Charles Liley. Ben Crompton then caught a finger in the eye in the 38th minute and was replaced by Lele. These two front row replacements in no way diminished the dominace that Abu Dhabi had in the set pieces.

Half time saw the teams changing sides with Abu Dhabi still leading 0 – 6. Murray Strang was substituted at this stage having tweaked a ham-string just prior to the half-time whistle, been replaced by Michael Haddin, with Patrick Haggerty moving from 9 to 10

The second half started with Abu Dhabi playing into the wind which did not seem to affect them as they applied pressure to the Dragons. This pressure eventually told when after 58 minutes, Simon Osborne powered over the line from a standing start 5 meters out to take the lead to 0 -11. Tony Matthews, deputising as kicker missed the conversion. Seven minutes later Dragons Scrum-half, Shane Connellan broke down the blind side and ran in un-opposed to score. Dragons converted and Abu Dhabi were leading 7 – 11 with 15 minutes left on the clock.
Various attacks from both sides were thwarted and over the next few minutes . in the 72nd Minute, Tony Matthews kicked a penalty to take Abu Dhabi’s lead back out to 7 points. 7 – 14.
With the sounding of the final whistle, Abu Dhabi had completed their aim. They were the ones who travelled back to the Nation’s Capital, unbeaten Record intact.

It was fitting that the Man of the Match should be from the pack who dominated their opposition and Graham “Spud” Murphy was the man to receive the award. The Quins next fixture is at the Al Ghazal Ground on Friday 30th against the ever improving Muscat who won at home to Doha on Friday. With Bahrain beating the Dubai Hurricanes at home, also on Friday, they maintain their position at the top of the table (due to bonus points) setting up an interesting clash in Bahrain between themselves and Abu Dhabi in mid December (the Friday after the Dubai 7’s). At this stage they are the last two unbeaten teams in the region and that fixture could prove crucial come the end of April.

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