ABU DHABI HARLEQUINS LADIES – TOURNAMENT 1 (DUBAI EXILES)

09/10/2009

ABU DHABI HARLEQUINS LADIES – TOURNAMENT 1 (DUBAI EXILES)

Friday 09th October, 2009:

Abu Dhabi vs Dubai Hurricanes

The ladies team set the bar for the rest of the club with an impressive performance in their first tournament of the season. With rivals Dubai Hurricanes in their group, a win in the first game of the day was crucial to ensuring Harlequins finish ahead of Hurricanes and top the table after this first tournament.

Hurricanes started with all guns blazing, their starting seven are all involved with the Arabian Gulf team, it looked like it was going to be a long season for Abu! Two missed tackles from the unsettled Abu Dhabi lead to a try for Hurricanes in the second minute. Abu were under serious pressure and within another minute there was another try for Hurricanes. It seemed the writing was on the wall with the score at 12-0 after four minutes. But great work in defence and Rachel Proops putting in some of her trade mark smashing tackles eventually lead to a string of passes and a sprint to the line from Emily Lydall resulted in an inspirational try. Sorrell Bootham, back early from travelling, was solid as ever. A tackle from Sorrell resulted in Estelle Uren winning the ball from the ruck and she passed to oncoming Jenny Matheson (Shorty) who went blind and finished well with another try for Abu Dhabi. It was now business time! Half time finished 12-12.

Abu Dhabi started the second half as they finished the first. Their defence was amazing, new comer Tiffany Allard tackling like her life depended on it. She wasn’t alone and a sucession of tackles from Kellyann Davey and Rachel Proops, resulted in a penalty. Estelle had to tell the referee the rules and claim the subsequent lineout that resulted from her penalty kick to touch. The Hurricanes were putting all the pressure on but Abu were unlucky not to score on two occasions. In the sixth minute, substitute Lucy Jones, passed to Estelle from a scrum and it was clear there was only one thing on Estelle’s mind... it was going to be TRY TIME!! She took it up the middle, dummied one Cane and side stepped another, despite their efforts to chase her down, she scored under the posts. Conversion and whistle to follow. Final score 19-12 to Abu Dhabi Harlequins.

Abu Dhabi vs Doha Trojans

With an important win under their belt, the ladies were looking forward to the rest of their group games. Doha Trojans (Doha’s second team) were next up and Abu Dhabi were now in full swing. They gave an exhibitionist performance clocking up 38 points to no reply in the first half. Tries from Rachel (2), Shorty, Emily, Sorrell and Helen Martin combined with great work around the pitch from Lucy, Hilary Gibson and Laura McMahon meant there was no way through for this Doha team. The second half saw more of the same from Abu Dhabi. Great support from the newer members of the squad and the usual solid performances from the older ones saw more tries from Emily (3), Michelle Jones and Helen. Great kicking from Shorty and Rachel (captain for this game), ensured that the final score read 69-0 to Harlequins.

Abu Dhabi vs Kuwait

The third game of the day saw Sorrell show some of that speed and determination that we are so used to. The game started with three quick tries from Sorrell, who was ably assisted by Estelle and co. She carved them up the middle every time. Rachel was not to be outdone and took it straight through the strong Kuwait defence, to put down under the posts. Some great defence from Abu Dhabi made sure this Kuwait team were not going to score, and indeed even get into Abu’s 22. A smashing tackle from Laura resulted in a turn over and as usual Estelle was quite economical in her efforts and again put down under the posts. Half time 42-0. Some great communication and vision in the second half from Harlequins lead to tries for Shorty (2), Sorrell and Laura. Final whistle, 73-0. This win put Abu top in their group and set them up for a final against newly named Toa Dubai (formerly Dubai Falcons).

Abu Dhabi Friendly match vs Dubai Hurricanes

With so many new people to the game, a friendly match was organised against the Hurricanes, Toa and Harlequins. The Abu ladies did themselves proud and competition for places will become interesting for the next tourney. Ashley Fink, Zara Deen, Emma Cox and Jo Dymek all acquitted themselves well, but were sad to see Jo go down with a nasty injury to her knee early in the game.

FINAL – Abu Dhabi Harlequins vs Dubai Toa

Having scored 161 points in three games and only having 12 scored against them, the ladies defence spoke for itself, and needless to say they didn’t want to concede anymore tries. They settled down quickly and the first try came from a move involving Kellyann Davey, Sorrell, Shorty and Hilary, resulting in Emily scoring a fine try. With Toa having a number of girls training with the Arabian Gulf team, they were certainly no push over and were putting the pressure on Abu with some great defence. Estelle turned over a couple of balls from scrum areas and rucks and was electric in offence. Harlequins were unlucky not to score on a number of occasions, particularly Emily, who had Davey hot on her heels in support. It didn’t take long for try number two to arrive, Estelle passed to Davey, who was running great lines all day. She offloaded to Rachel who put Shorty through for a great team try. Half time 12-0.
Rachel was like a terrier after a bone in the second half. She ran ragged and hounded after every ball. Hilary was running great lines and promises to have an exciting season ahead. From a scrum there was a textbook try, technically brilliant, with Shorty and Estelle switching from the base of the scrum to score a blindside try. Again Estelle’s boot was on target and the score was 19-0. From the next kick off, Rachel slided onto the ball and again won possession for Abu. Lucy, Laura and Michelle all made impressions on the game when they came on. The final whistle left it at 19-0, a happy Abu Coach (Kevin Asdown) and a job well done.
Sorrell who earned herself COM after losing the team 20 metres for back chatting to the ref, had a great day out. But it was Tiffany, who only played one full game before getting a knock and suffering with concussion, who got Abu’s player of the tournament.

A great start to the season, 180 points for and only 12 against. Not bad for 56 minutes of play! Friday saw a huge squad have a great outing and looking forward to travelling to Doha in two weeks time.

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