DUBAI // Amid the gorgeous setting of Rugby Pitch 1 at Dubai Sports City yesterday afternoon, any observers would have been forgiven for failing to notice the Emiratisation of rugby taking hold.
One UAE national on the field, with another lending his support from pitchside as his recuperation from serious injury continues, represented the extent of it.
Happily, though, what Emirati rugby’s pioneers lack in quantity they made up for in quality in the first match of the UAE Conference season.
Mohammed Hassan, an Emirati prop, produced the type of performance for the Arabian Knights that makes people sit up and take notice.
For the 50 minutes he was on the field in the 18-13 win over Dubai Sharks, he was the outstanding player on the field. Which is handy.
Roelof Kotze, the performance manager for UAE rugby, has told his Emirati charges they must play club rugby this season if they are serious about progressing as players. He also has strong views on players being selected on merit rather than birthright.
The two issues are hardly mutually compatible, given that most indigenous players are just learning the game and are playing catch up on the experienced expatriate players.
So the more performances of the standard Hassan produced yesterday, the better.
The sultry conditions, which always prevail on the opening day of the rugby season in the UAE, do not really suit tight-head props, yet he was everywhere.
Most visibly, when he laid on Knights’ second try with a canny offload for Gershwin Saul.
It was not bad for someone who took up the game seven years ago with the modest aim of losing weight.
“I liked the fact it was a physical game, and I was bigger then, and rugby has helped me lose weight,” said Hassan, whose day job is as the operations manager of the Wild Wadi water park.
“Now I have been playing and training with the UAE sevens team I have lost more weight, which is even better for me.
“When the XVs season stopped, we didn’t stop. We kept working, so my fitness is much better, now I just have to work on getting my body position right in the scrum.”
The Knights expect to have about 460 children attending their mini and youth training sessions this morning.
If they grow any larger it will be difficult to give everyone enough playing time to make it worth their while.
Yet the club still jumped at the chance to offer subsidies to new Emirati players, as part of an official link up with the UAE Rugby Federation this summer.
“[Hassan] was brilliant, and these guys are role models,” said Neil Palmer, the chairman of the Knights. “We have to transition the way we think to help bring these guys through. This could take the club onto another level and we hope it does.”
Hassan is happy to be an example for his compatriots, too.
“It is about communication,” the 26-year-old forward said. “You need to support them. If you don’t support them they won’t learn.
“I keep pushing them and pushing them and that is what they need. They need some guidance and they are going to take time to develop.”
pradley@thenational.ae
