DUBAI // World champions in XVs. World Series champions in the abbreviated format. Commonwealth Games gold medallists every time the tournament has been staged. World Cup winners in men’s and women’s sevens. And the All Blacks have just completed a flawless year.
Where to from here? You cannot exactly improve on perfection. The burden of such exacting standards must weigh heavily on any player representing New Zealand.
“It comes with the black jersey: you pull that on and there is expectation,” said Sean Horan, the coach of the New Zealand women’s team pursuing success here this weekend.
“As with the guys, it is an unwritten rule. The All Blacks don’t talk about it too much; they just take care of the performance and we are probably quite similar.
“We walk towards it, embrace it and understand it. Even though we have only really been running for 18 months, we are still part of the New Zealand rugby family and that brings responsibility.”
As if they were not already aware of the standards expected of them, New Zealand’s women were presented with their jerseys by the full All Blacks on Wednesday.
Steve Hansen’s team are passing through en route home from their triumphant northern hemisphere tour, which concluded with an injury-time win over Ireland on Sunday.
They conducted a training session with the juniors at Dubai Exiles on Tuesday evening as part of an agreement with their shared sponsors AIG.
The All Blacks then met with the Exiles senior players at The Shack on Kite Beach in Jumeirah early yesterday morning.
Horan says his players are motivated rather than cowed by the feats of their compatriots.
“It gives you the self belief,” he said. “From a small nation, rugby is our national game and we are very aware of that.
“There are four and a half million Kiwis and if one of them is riding a horse we all want them to win.
“We are pretty tight as a rugby family and a New Zealand family. We understand we won the World Series and the World Cup and we are aware of what everybody else is doing, but we are just focused on what we believe in and in our programme.”
DJ Forbes, captain of the New Zealand men’s side, said his side were inspired by the nature of the victories of both their senior union and league colleagues. Each side won with final-play conversions last weekend.
“Watching those two games was like watching sevens – we have that type of thriller endings every time you play,” Forbes said.
“It was great to see the boys knuckle down and pull through in the end. Hopefully, we can use that as motivation and if it gets to that stage we can pull through, as well.”
pradley@thenational.ae
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Company%20Profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
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Company%20Profile
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Scoreline
Swansea 2
Grimes 20' (pen), Celina, 29'
Man City 3
Silva 69', Nordfeldt 78' (og), Aguero 88'
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
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THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
