DOHA TOURNAMENT 11TH FEBRUARY 2011 Match Report

DOHA TOURNAMENT 11TH FEBRUARY 2011

Abu Dhabi ladies Harlequins travelled to Doha for their fifth tournament of the season. The first pool game was against Dubai Exiles who had been strong finishers in previous tournaments. In the past Abu Dhabi have not managed to break the Exiles defence and again they made Abu Dhabi work hard and the Exiles looked strong in their attack and defence. Abu Dhabi took the ball forward in attack but were unlucky in the break down as Exiles constantly turned over the ball. In the second half Abu Dhabi finally found a gap in the Exiles strong defence, with Tiffany Allard going through to score a try from half way. Final score was 31-5 to the Exiles.

Abu Dhabi’s second game of the day was against Doha Trojans. In the first half Abu Dhabi kept possession well, however the Trojans defence was very strong. Abu Dhabi had many new players on the pitch who were playing rugby for the very first time. Mairead Holohan’s dissecting runs and consistently strong tackling by Paula McCarthy was encouraging but at half time the score was still dead locked at 0-0. A purposeful half time talk by Kevin Ashdown and Chris Kitchen led to a change in play for the second half. This was clearly successful as in the second half Abu went on to score 4 tries, Paula and Tiffany both going over for two tries each.

Abu Dhabi’s third and final pool game was against Toa Dubai, who currently top the AGRFU ladies table. Abu Dhabi tried hard to keep them away from the try line but Toa consistently dominated in attack and were successful in turning over lost balls in the break down. Abu Dhabi found it too difficult to keep possession and Toa ended the game on top.

Abu Dhabi’s fourth and final game was for the 5th & 6th play off against Sharjah Wanderers. In previous encounters Sharjah had won on every occasion and were overall tournament winners in the last tournament held in Abu Dhabi. In the beginning, Sharjah went over to score an easy try with missed tackles from Abu Dhabi. However Abu Dhabi worked hard on their defence and kept possession well with Paula going over for a try under the posts, making the score 5-7 at half time. At the start of the second half Sharjah came back with a strong attack and reached the try line taking it to 12-7 with a successful conversion. Abu Dhabi fought back with Aideen Butler taking the ball from the break down and popping to Kellyann Davey who went round the blind side to score and take the game to 12-12 at the final whistle. The ensuing ‘golden try’ extra time was intense with nerves on and off the pitch running high. Excellent fitness and determination from Abu Dhabi was evident in the final stages of the match. By maintaining possession with clean passes and good lines of running Abu Dhabi were able to keep the ball alive, giving space for Tiffany to edge past the outside of her opposing winger and go over to make the winning score 17-12 to Abu Dhabi resulting in a well deserved 5th place! Abu Dhabi’s player of the tournament went to Paula McCarthy.