Having seen a three-year unbeaten home record ended seven days earlier, Abu Dhabi Harlequins set about starting a new streak with a valuable win over Bahrain at Zayed Sports City on Friday.
Phil Brady, Luke Stevenson and Andrew Semple scored the tries as the defending West Asia Premiership champions climbed back above Jebel Ali Dragons at the top of the table.
With Dragons being without a match this weekend, Harlequins’ win was enough to edge them back into a single-point lead at the top, ahead of their conquerors from last week.
Although the final winning margin suggested a comfortable win for the home side, the run of play in the first half in particular was quite the opposite.
Brady crashed over with the first attack of the game, but they were forced to withstand 35 minutes of pressure from then until the interval.
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They were not helped by their own indiscipline, as they lost two players to yellow cards. The fact they made it to the break with a 7-0 advantage in tact was due to their own doughty defence, as well as profligacy by the Bahrain attack.
Ironically, the travelling side managed their only score, a try through Rhys Fitzgerald, when they themselves were down to 14-men due to a yellow card.
Once they were back to the full quota, however, Harlequins stretched away, adding further tries via sparkling breaks by Stevenson and Semple.
“We all took it pretty badly last week, as it has been three years since we last lost at home, and it came as a bit of a shock because we didn’t really turn up,” Stevenson said.
“We knew that if we played our game we probably should have won last week. We didn’t, and they deserved it, so it was something for us to set a marker at.
“We started well today, then the yellow cards came at the worst possible time for us. We had 13 men, and we kept them scoreless for 15 minutes, which was down to good work rate.
“That is one thing we wanted to improve from last week, to make sure the work rate was higher, and keep the ball. It was pleasing to get through that first half.”
Another defeat on the road leaves Bahrain with ground to make up if they are to challenge for honours at the business end of the season.
Louie Tonkin, the Bahrain coach, said “mental issues” are holding his side back from reaching their full potential.
“I asked the boys [post match], ‘What is it?’ and I think it is down to belief, if we are honest,” Tonkin said.
“We probably had 80 per cent territory and possession in that first half, and created five try scoring opportunities, but didn’t score any of them.
“When you exert that much pressure on someone, and keep letting them off the hook, all you are doing is feeding their belief, while you are losing belief.”
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What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
How the UAE gratuity payment is calculated now
Employees leaving an organisation are entitled to an end-of-service gratuity after completing at least one year of service.
The tenure is calculated on the number of days worked and does not include lengthy leave periods, such as a sabbatical. If you have worked for a company between one and five years, you are paid 21 days of pay based on your final basic salary. After five years, however, you are entitled to 30 days of pay. The total lump sum you receive is based on the duration of your employment.
1. For those who have worked between one and five years, on a basic salary of Dh10,000 (calculation based on 30 days):
a. Dh10,000 ÷ 30 = Dh333.33. Your daily wage is Dh333.33
b. Dh333.33 x 21 = Dh7,000. So 21 days salary equates to Dh7,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service. Multiply this figure for every year of service up to five years.
2. For those who have worked more than five years
c. 333.33 x 30 = Dh10,000. So 30 days’ salary is Dh10,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service.
Note: The maximum figure cannot exceed two years total salary figure.
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