Arabian Gulf’s Rugby World Cup dream is still alive after the team’s 44–24 victory over Chinese Taipei in Saturday’s RWC 2011 qualifier earned them promotion to the elite HSBC Asian Five Nations (A5N) Top 5 competition in 2010. Sri Lanka emerged victorious in the third place play-off, beating Thailand 51-17 to avoid relegation to the 2010 Division II tournament.
The Arabian Gulf jumped out to an early lead through two unconverted tries in the first 10 minutes and never looked threatened thereafter. Key to the Gulf’s success was its blend of young talented local backs and experienced veteran campaigners in the pack.
Locally born Arabian Gulf scrum half Jonny McDonald, the player of the tournament, scored the first try in the third minute. Taif Al Delamie, the first ever Arabian Gulf national to captain them, then notched the next home try in the eighth minute to bring the lead to 10–0. The try and the resulting victory was the ideal present to celebrate Al Delamie’s first captaincy role on his 23rd birthday.
Chinese Taipei struck next in the 18th minute through a well worked try that involved all of their highly experienced back three as they reversed pitch nicely after recycling ruck ball from the right-side five metre line.
The ball was shuttled through the hands out wide through wing and captain Wang Kuo Feng before reaching fly half Lee Chien Lin and ending up with towering wing Wu Chi Hsien, who dotted down in the far left corner to make it 10–5.
The Gulf quickly regrouped and set a pattern for the rest of the game as the forwards made some smashing runs before handing off to a young backline.
Notable for his efforts today was prop Mark Gathercole, Arabian Gulf’s most capped player with 32. In the 22nd minute, Gathercole finished another charging run by offloading neatly to fly half Luke Sinclair.
Sinclair in turn was well supported by flanker Martinus Neethling, who finished the offload to charge the last 10 metres and touch down near the posts. The try was successfully converted by full back Paul Beard to bring the score to 17–5 to the Arabian Gulf.
Three minutes later, the Gulf broke through again after another charging run by Gathercole. He offloaded to lock Michael Cox-Hill, who barged over the line to touch down for his side's fourth try in the 25th minute to bring the score after the conversion to 24-5. Cox-Hill was everywhere in the first quarter with his try adding to several impressive carries and a steal in the lineout all combining to keep Chinese Taipei off balance.
Chinese Taipei respond
In the 28th minute, Chinese Taipei struck against the run of play after a scything run by centre Wu Ju An, who weaved through five defenders before dishing the ball to flanker Chen Cheng Yang for a beautiful try. The try was converted by Lee Chien Lin to make it 24–12.
The Gulf’s local strike force crossed over the line again in the 40th minute as 17-year-old English College of Dubai student Khaled Helal finished off a flowing move to touch down in the corner after a final offload by number 8 Steve Huber to bring the score at the half to 29–12.
The second half did not offer much to the spectators as the Arabian Gulf ran in two more tries in the 58th and 70th minutes through flanker Karl Sutcliffe and centre Marcus Smith, the last of which was converted to bring the score to 44–12. The Arabian Gulf then allowed Chinese Taipei to sneak in two tries (one of which was converted) in the last 10 minutes to bring the final score to 44–24.
After today’s victory, the Arabian Gulf will be promoted to the Top 5 competition, playing four Test matches in five weeks from end April through May 2010. The winner of next year’s Top 5 will be Asia’s direct entry to Rugby World Cup 2011 in New Zealand.
Arabian Gulf reaction
The Arabian Gulf were relegated from the Top 5 last year after losing all four of their matches and captain Al Delamie admitted: “Today’s win is a great credit to the guys still in the squad this year from last year’s Top 5 team.
“The guys who played last year have a good understanding of what it takes and are keen to return to the premiership. We are delighted to get the win today and it's onward and upward for the Arabian Gulf.”
Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union Chairman Andy Cole joined Ms Kaltham Al Kojei, Regional Head of Communications & Stability, today in presenting the HSBC Asian Five Nations Division I trophy to the hosts and the Player of the Tournament Award.
Sri Lanka defeat Thailand
In the curtain raiser to the final, Sri Lanka outclassed a Thai XV that had bravely battled against size mismatches in both games in Dubai, losing the third place playoff 51-17. Thailand managed to hold the Sri Lankans to a 16–10 scoreline at the halfway mark, but then the cumulative effect of the two matches caught up with the Thais as the Sri Lankans ran away with the second half, scoring almost at will.
Sri Lanka captain Pavithra Fernando commented: “Today’s victory is a great tribute to the guys and our coach who came together quickly to achieve the result. We were very motivated coming here and wanted to prove a point. I think a lot will change in Sri Lanka because of today’s win. This is a big moment for Sri Lankan rugby.”
Next up in the HSBC Asian Five Nations is this year’s Top 5 competition, which will be contested by Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan and Singapore - who replaced the Arabian Gulf as the winners of the Division I 2008 tournament - between 25 April and 24 May.
