DUBAI // Roelof Kotze, the UAE performance manager, says national service is a temporary inconvenience that could have long-term benefits for rugby. The national team will play at the Beijing Sevens this weekend with an experimental squad that has been denuded by a variety of factors.
The absences have been forced by various visa and administrative reasons, but army conscription has also accounted for a clutch of promising young players.
However, Kotze said the standards of discipline that should be learnt when joining the services could have a lasting effect on young Emirati rugby players.
“National service is a good thing, it is just an inconvenience at the moment,” the former Sharks Academy coach said. “From what we have seen from the guys who have come back from national service so far, they already look fitter than they were before. They will definitely benefit from it and one of the things I am positive about is the discipline aspect of it.
“Rugby is a disciplined sport, and I think national service will help with instilling that discipline.”
In many of the sport’s established nations, the heritage of rugby and the services are intrinsically linked.
As a recent example, when England won the 2011 Dubai Rugby Sevens, Greg Barden, their captain, had only recently completed his military service.
Isoa Damu and Josh Drauniniu, two former England sevens players, were also in the military when selected to play in the world series. Kotze hopes the lessons learnt on national service will mean players will never have their commitment questioned in the future.
“We have had a few instances with clubs telling us players just won’t come to training one night, and then will be there tomorrow wanting to play,” Kotze said.
“It is going to take time for the guys to understand. If you are part of a team, you are part of it. Hopefully this will teach them that. Because the army and the services are a team and if you are not part of it, it doesn’t work.
“If they can get the essence of being part of a team through national service, hopefully that can transform how they think about being part of our team and committing fully.”
This weekend’s competition in China is the last Asian Sevens Series event of the season.
The national team will then switch their attention to a tournament for the continent’s developing rugby nations, which will be hosted in Al Ain on October 31 and November 1.
“We have a very inexperienced squad [in Beijing], but the more matches at this level these young guys can get the better,” said Mohammed Shaker, the UAE team manager.
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