Abu Dhabi Saracens on the fast-track to UAE rugby success

Paul Radley explains why the methods used by the Abu Dhabi Saracens to recruit players will pay dividends in the long-term.

The Abu Dhabi Saracens (red and black jersey) has deployed a robust recruitment drive. Jeff Topping / The National

When Abu Dhabi Saracens kicked off the new season back in September, many of their players had only just been introduced to each other.

Few of them would have been able to name each of their colleagues, let alone refcite their telephone numbers.

Never before in the history of Arabian Gulf rugby has a club employed quite such a robust recruitment policy as the capital’s youngest outfit.

They have actively been bringing ready-made players to the country with rugby as the primary inducement, rather than work.

That is a first for the sport here.

From a standing start, Saracens have become genuine challengers in the space of four years. It is impossible for a success story like that to happen on the cheap.

The operational costs for the first two seasons of Dh800,000 were entirely underwritten by the club’s founder. It is probably safe to assume their growing status on the field has brought with it greater outgoings off the field, too.

They are already beginning to reap the rewards, though. They have defeated the No 1 side in West Asia, Jebel Ali Dragons, twice in their last two outings, albeit separated by two months.

Few other sides have a positive record against Dragons – who won a domestic treble last season – during the past two years, but Saracens have.

Those victories have been comfortable, too. They do not come much more so than the four-try, bonus-point win they managed at Al Ghazal on Friday.

So when they line up against their neighbours, Abu Dhabi Harlequins, in the Gulf Top Six this weekend, Saracens will have little reason for trepidation. They are ahead on the form guide, after all.

The Capital Cup tie at Zayed Sports City tomorrow will be a culture clash. By dint of both its age and some savvy planning in the recent past, Abu Dhabi Harlequins have been reaping the benefits of a mature development system.

Many of their key personnel are products of the advances that have been made in schools rugby in general in the city since the turn of the decade.

They won the UAE Premiership at the end of 2014 with the youngest regular starting XV in the competition’s history. The homegrown talent has been retained after school age, which has been a perennial failing of the sport here.

Despite their youth, though, they will have to be wary of their younger brother this weekend.

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