‘We are serious and here to stay’: UAE rugby looks ahead after landmark Asian campaign

After soaring to its highest position in world rankings following a brilliant Asian Rugby Championship, national team eyeing a spot at World Cup qualifier next year

UAE celebrate their win over Malaysia in the Asian Rugby Championship at the Sevens Stadium in Dubai. All images Chris Whiteoak / The National

The UAE secured a second-place finish in the Asia Rugby Championship (ARC), their best placing in the competition

Fans cheer the UAE during their thumping win over Malaysia in Dubai

UAE's Jean Botes speaks with his Malaysian opponent at the Sevens Stadium

UAE captain Matt Mills after the win over Malaysia

UAE's Sakiusa Naisau celebrates the win on Friday

UAE technical director Apollo Perelini and head coach Jacques Benade

UAE defeated Malaysia 62-19 at The Sevens two weeks after claiming a historic first win over South Korea

Apollo Perelini might be forgiven for sitting back and basking in the glow of a job very well done on Friday night.

The UAE team which he helped mould were in the process of putting Malaysia to the sword in a 62-19 win at The Sevens, Dubai. Two weeks earlier they had claimed a historic first win over South Korea at the same venue.

It gave them a second-place finish in the Asia Rugby Championship (ARC), their best placing in the competition. Their world ranking had reached a peak of 57, and that is likely to get a further bump after the thrashing of 49th-ranked Malaysia.

And yet even in the midst of such a landmark success, Perelini was looking at the bigger picture.

Instead of losing himself in his laptop or helping the side with tactics at half time, the technical director for UAE Rugby was on the microphone ensuring the spectator experience was a memorable one.

He was organising prize giveaways, a crossbar challenge, and sprint races involving members of the mini and youth sections of clubs from all over the country.

It was a simple, time-honoured way of making people who might not otherwise have been bothered feel involved. Don’t leave the sport to sell itself. Make the audience want to come back next time.

And the prizes were good ones, too: replica UAE shirts for the lucky winners. Like it was something to be coveted.

That has not always been the case here, but the players on the field did a good job of showing why it should be. Their two wins over the past couple of weeks were ones to be proud of.

“There is a long way to go, but hopefully we have taken a giant leap in the right direction,” Matt Mills, the UAE captain, said.

“Hopefully the federation and the people in the community see that UAE rugby isn’t a joke. We are serious and we are here to stay. Our hard work is finally bearing some results, and hopefully UAE rugby is going to be at the top level now moving forward.”

It was instructive that, in the UAE huddle at the end of the Malaysia game there were two people who had previously played at Rugby World Cups. Perelini had played for Western Samoa in 1991, while Aaron Persico, the side’s assistant coach, did so for Italy in 2003.

Such a rarefied tournament seems a world away from the game in the UAE. Compared to football and cricket, it remains a relatively niche sport, played by amateur players.

And yet this campaign has given plenty of reason to believe the future can be bright. And a World Cup place? It is not totally beyond the realms of possibility.

The tournament in Australia in 2027 is being expanded by four teams to 24. With Japan already qualified, there will be an extra side from Asia guaranteed a place.

Hong Kong swept all before them again in this year’s ARC, as they claimed a fifth successive title. They look like a shoo-in for a World Cup debut.

But, for the first time in five seasons, it was not South Korea who took second behind Hong Kong. Instead, UAE took that berth. If they do the same next year, they will make it to a World Cup repechage qualifier with sides from other continents. Playing in that itself would be a significant achievement.

“At the moment Hong Kong are at a very high level, a good team with a good coach, and that is what we aspire to be,” Jacques Benade, the UAE head coach, said.

“We need to be there. The wins against Korea and Malaysia gave us a lot of confidence, but this is unknown territory for us.”

UAE's Sakiusa Naisau during the Asian Rugby Championship match against Malaysia at the Sevens Stadium in Dubai on Friday, June 21, 2024. All photos Chris Whiteoak / The National

UAE celebrate victory over Malaysia in their Asian Rugby Championship match at the Sevens Stadium

UAE's Sakiusa Naisau is tackled during the match against Malaysia

UAE dominated their Asian Rugby Championship match against Malaysia

UAE defeated Malaysia 62-19 in their Asian Rugby Championship match in Dubai

Malaysia's Harith El Iskandar gathers the ball at the Sevens Stadium

UAE's Justin Walsh scores on Friday

UAE's Sakiusa Naisau scores at the Sevens Stadium

UAE's Sakiusa Naisau celebrates scoring against Malaysia

On the subject of aspiration, the crowd at The Sevens on Friday included scores of young boys and girls. The side itself included players who grew up here, watching matches on that same field at the Dubai Sevens.

Mills reckons retaining talented young players like that in the system, rather than losing them to studies and rugby abroad, will be crucial to the development of the game.

“They are getting jobs in the UAE because they see this as a long-term option, and a real option to progress their career,” Mills said.

“When I leave playing and move full time into coaching, hopefully I will have left a bit of a legacy where players want to come back and play for the UAE.

“Not because it is an easy option, but because it is competitive and because they have been aspiring to make it while they have been coming through the system.

“If they wanted to come back and be involved in the international season even if they are living outside the country, that would be great as well.”

One such player is George Hipperson. Mills coached the young centre when he was a student at Dubai English Speaking College.

Hipperson is currently on a gap year having deferred admission to university in the UK in order to play rugby for Dubai Exiles and the UAE, while getting experience coaching back at his old school.

Even when he does head off to study at Nottingham Trent, he said he will be straight back on the plane to play for UAE whenever he is asked.

“I would be back here without hesitation,” said Hipperson, who was born in England but moved to Dubai with his family when aged six.

“It is such a good experience playing international rugby. Going forward, I think this will be way more beneficial for me than a lot of opportunities other people have had.”

And the atmosphere created by the impressive crowds at the two matches over the past fortnight is another reason to want to stay involved, he said.

“I played on Pitch 1 [in Gulf Under 19s finals at the Dubai Sevens] but this is totally different as everyone is here to watch you play,” Hipperson said.

“When you hear all the shouting and screaming, it is class. It pushes you a little bit extra. When it is so tough like this, super-humid, super-hot, and so physically challenging, it gives you that little boost to push on.”

Another player who watched umpteen Dubai Sevens when he was growing up, before playing in it himself, is Toby Oakeley.

The Dubai Hurricanes wing, who first arrived in the UAE when six months old, opened the scoring in the 10-try rout of Malaysia.

Oakeley, who went abroad to study before returning to Dubai and is now a teacher at North London Collegiate, said the crowd for the XVs game had a totally different feel to playing at the Sevens.

“I have never had a XVs home game,” said Oakeley, 29, who has been involved with the national team for the past seven years.

“I have been fortunate enough to play at Dubai Sevens and win two Pitch 1 finals, but that is a whole different experience.

“This was something special because they were only here to watch us. When you go to the Dubai Sevens, they are there to watch the international teams. It so happens that we are playing, but they are not really focused on the games.

“This time, everyone in the stands was focused on us. That felt amazing. Especially in a game like the Korea one, which was a lot closer, when you hear the crowd cheering you in those important moments, it gives you that bit extra to push for the next ruck, or push for the next carry or tackle.

“Hopefully these two wins that we have produced are going to kickstart something extra special in rugby here.”