The Arabian Gulf's rugby bosses have had to make some frugal decisions as to where they allocate their modest finances because the uncertainty surrounding the impending restructuring of the game in the region. Such is the shoestring budget on which rugby in the Middle East survives, the union were forced to sell the shirt-front sponsorship rights for the representative side on eBay ahead of the ongoing Asian Five Nations.
One area they have not chosen to scrimp on is air fares. They earned due reward for their outlay when two UK-based players scored all the points in their maiden victory in the competition at the weekend. James Love, the full-back, kicked nine points while Jonny MacDonald, the scrum-half, scored the sole try to embellish a powerful defensive display by the Gulf, as they won 16-9 over Hong Kong in Bahrain.
The duo both study in Britain, and were flown back to play and train with the regional side ahead of this competition. Ironically, the Bahrain-born Love and Abu Dhabi-born MacDonald are two of the small contingent of homegrown players in the expatriate-dominated Gulf team. The victory was particularly sweet for Love, who learned his rugby on the same field in Seer, and was familiar with many in the 1,800 strong crowd.
"We have some old heads up front, but also some young guys with real rugby ability," said Bruce Birtwistle, the Gulf coach. "Jonny MacDonald is obviously a special player, and with James Love playing in front of his home crowd, he wasn't going to let anybody down. His goal-kicking was very important to us." Success kept alive the dream of qualification for the 2011 World Cup for the Gulf's players. A second-place finish in the Asian Five Nations would earn them a place in a four-team play-off in Uruguay, where the 20th side at next year's showpiece will be decided.
"Hong Kong are a team with a lot more skill and mobility [than the Gulf's previous opponents, Kazakhstan], so we had to match them physically and skill-wise," added Birtwistle. "I thought we could do that, and we really needed to establish a platform, not only controlling our set-piece but going out there and dominating. "We certainly dominated them at scrum-time and our line-out was reasonably secure.
"One of the problems we had against Kazakhstan was the defence. We leaked more than we should have. "We worked very hard on our defence this week, to the point where guys were battered and bruised in training and we had blood spilled on the pitch. "That gave us the physical edge we were looking for going into this game and it was really our defence that won out." Mike Cox-Hill, the Gulf captain, added: "It was a great effort from the boys, they could not have given any more than they did."
The Gulf face a daunting assignment this weekend when they travel to Tokyo to face Japan, the powerhouses of Asian rugby. The fully-professional Brave Blossoms laid down a marker when they opened their Asian Five Nations campaign against Korea yesterday. Kosuke Endo touched down five tries as the Japanese gave their closest rivals a merciless 71-13 thrashing. John Kirwan, the former All Black who is Japan's head coach, fired a warning to the Gulf players as he said: "We need to work harder moving forward, but I will take it as a first game."
pradley@thenational.ae
