Billy Graham, the Abu Dhabi Harlequins captain, said the hurt that his side felt at topping two leagues last season yet losing the ensuing finals to Jebel Ali Dragons fuelled their comprehensive victory on Friday.
Last season’s habitual runners-up trounced their three-time conquerors 34-7 on the opening day of the new Gulf Top Six campaign at Zayed Sports City.
Chris Marshall went over for two tries, while Luke Stevenson and Sam Bollinger also touched down as the side from the capital laid down a decisive early marker against the defending West Asia champions.
The Quins know from experience that the trophies are not handed out in January, having claimed an early win against the Dragons last term, too.
However, rarely has the distance between the two leading UAE clubs been quite this pronounced in favour of the side from Abu Dhabi.
“The disappointment of winning both leagues [UAE Premiership and Gulf Top Six] last season then going on to lose both finals, we are still hurting from that,” Graham said.
“We think we are a better team than that, so we hope today’s result has given us the push we need to move on from that.
“Hopefully it has given us the confidence that our systems and game plans do work.”
Graham said that his side benefited from curbing their natural running game in favour of deploying a territorial kicking strategy.
“We had a very strict game plan and we stuck to it,” the Quins loose-forward said. “We got ourselves into a position in the areas of the field where we could play our game plan and it worked for us.
“When you play against the Dragons, they have threats all over the field so you have to be tactically aware.
“We kicked to the corners where appropriate, we competed well in the scrum and the line out, especially defensively and at the breakdown.”
Elsewhere on the opening day, Abu Dhabi Saracens succumbed on their debut in the region’s leading cross-border competition, as they went down 35-20 to Bahrain at Al Ghazal.
Nathan Ramsey, Ali Thompson and Dillon Gage scored the tries for the home side.
“A bit of post-Christmas fatigue and lack of fitness cost us in the second half, but I think we showed enough to suggest we deserve to be in the Gulf Top Six,” said Dave Jackson, the Saracens president.
Doha signalled their intentions of reclaiming their status as the region’s No 1 side with a four-try, bonus point win against Dubai Hurricanes.
Don Blake, Mark O’Donnell, Liam Frost and Luke Ward all touched down in the 32-9 win for the home side in Qatar.
pradley@thenational.ae
