HURRICANES 29-31 DRAGONS
Dubai Hurricanes - Tries: Chapman, Longley, Johnson, Perry; Cons: Foster 3
Jebel Ali Dragons - Tries: Russell, Samson, Fourie, Crombie; Con: Strang; Pens: Strang 3
Man of the match - Taif Al Delamie (Jebel Ali Dragons)
DUBAI // Murray Strang realigned his radar just in time to kick Jebel Ali Dragons to a final-play, 31-29 win over Dubai Hurricanes and keep the West Asia champions in the hunt to retain their title.
There were a variety of reasons the Dragons fly-half was relieved to see his injury-time penalty kick go over.
Until then, he had been uncharacteristically errant off the kicking tee. His side had also suffered a miscommunication with the officials.
Strang said they had been told they were one point ahead, and they were thus planning to kick the ball dead instead to end the game.
Then the referee checked with his assistants, and then a scorer on the sidelines, before confirming the away side were in fact 29-28 behind.
“Thankfully I picked the right moment to remember [how to kick],” Strang said.
“Some days you think you are never going to miss, other days it’s a bit shaky. It was confusing that the referee was telling us we were one point up for 15 minutes, then switched it at the last minute.
“It was a mindset change that we had to kick it, but we got there in the end.
“I was feeling it at the end, but if you had told me at half time I was going to have a final-minute kick to win the game, I would have taken it. It went over, thankfully.”
Hurricanes’ Gulf Top Six campaign has been handicapped by slow starts in each match they have played. This time around, they were 15 points in arrears before they started playing.
The momentum shift after that, though, was stark. They went into a 29-15 half-time lead thanks to tries by Craig Chapman, Andy Longley, Daryl Johnson and Dan Perry.
The fact they failed to score another point in the game left Ross Mills, the Hurricanes coach, puzzled.
“I’m very disappointed, and it is all about how we pick ourselves up from this,” said Mills, who was the Dragons coach when they won a treble of domestic trophies last season.
“It feels as though we feel like we need to gift the opposition two or three tries, then we are in a rugby game. It is very strange.
“As a coach, you rack your brains as to why it is. It has been a problem that has been hurting us in the Gulf Top Six, and it wasn’t there in the UAE Premiership.”
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