Little of the ill-feeling which surrounded November’s UAE Premiership final will remain when Jebel Ali Dragons and Dubai Hurricanes renew their rivalry at The Sevens this afternoon.
Which may be in large part due to the fact the country’s form side will be playing elsewhere.
While the Dragons have a bulging trophy cabinet to show for the fact they are officially the best side in the region at present, Taif Al Delamie, their captain, reckons Abu Dhabi Harlequins are the side to fear.
Both the 2012 UAE Premiership finalists – Dragons and Hurricanes – have suffered at the hands of the capital outfit already since the turn of the year.
And Al Delamie says the chastening loss they suffered to the Quins on the opening day of the Gulf Top Six campaign earlier this month was a valuable reality check for the Dragons.
“You can’t rest on your laurels at all, and that was a very firm reminder of that,” Al Delamie said yesterday.
“Hopefully that loss will help us and it has done for us so far. We are looking forward to playing them again next month.
“We’ve bounced back from a very bad defeat to Quins. We have had good wins against Bahrain and Abu Dhabi Saracens so we are happy with how things are progressing
“But this is a huge game against Hurricanes. They are always very strong and very competitive.”
The last time Dubai’s two leading sides met, the Dragons were resounding victors in a game which had the sort of fervid build-up that is rarely seen in domestic rugby.
Today’s encounter is less about local bragging rights than practicality, though.
While the Dragons have bounced back from their opening-day humbling with two impressive wins, their hosts need to find victories soon or they will be out of the race for silverware.
Russ Huxtable, the Hurricanes coach, says their record of two losses from three matches to date reflects the strength of the competition rather than poor form by his side.
“There’s a lot of games to go yet and there aren’t any easy games,” Huxtable said. “Guys are going to have to go away to Bahrain and Doha and it is tough for people to travel, and they are going to have to come up here.
“It is, by no means, over. There’s seven games to go so we are certainly not disheartened yet.”
pradley@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter at @SprtNationalUAE
