DUBAI // Bruce Birtwistle, coach of the UAE rugby union team, has no qualms about nailing his club colours to the mast tonight - even if that partisanship upsets some of his international squad members.
Birtwistle will be predominantly occupying his secondary role as the assistant coach to the Dubai Dragons, who take on their arch rivals the Dubai Hurricanes in the end of season grand final.
Dragons finished top of the inaugural UAE Premiership by winning all of their six matches, earning them home advantage at their new Jebel Ali headquarters for the clash with second-placed Hurricanes.
Birtwistle, a Kiwi expatriate, will be running the rule over 14 of the players on duty - eight Dragons and six Hurricanes - as he watches the fourth battle of the season between the two clubs.
"I shall be wearing my Dragons shirt and cheering them to what I hope will be a tremendous victory," Birtwistle said. "I have no problem with that approach.
"When it comes to assessing the talents of candidates for the national team I shall be completely impartial - the Hurricanes know that - but when the action starts I'm firmly in the Dragons camp."
"I think this is the biggest match so far under the banner of the UAE Rugby Federation and I hope it lives up to the occasion."
Steve Holohan, the Hurricanes' Welsh coach, is confident the match will provide a fitting end to the domestic season, especially as the winners will qualify for a West of Asia final play-off against Doha later this month.
"We want to put the record straight," said Holohan, recalling two victories by the Dragons in reply to Hurricanes' convincing early season win in the first of their local derbies. "And I believe we will do it.
"This will be the first time in 2011 that we can put together our full squad. We've had lots of injuries and people unavailable for various other reasons.
"We lost narrowly to the Dragons in our last meeting despite having two players yellow carded. We want to get the edge back over them and prove to everybody that we are the team to beat."
The Hurricanes have their eye on a double trophy triumph as they look forward to a March 17 fixture against Bahrain in which victory would clinch the Gulf Top Six title.
Chris Gregory, the Hurricanes captain and hooker, said: "The Gulf Top Six has been our priority and we are close to winning that. The Premiership is our second target but we want it badly.
"This is a massive game for us as it is for the Dragons. Whenever we've played the Dragons it has always been a fiercely competitive game. This one should be no different. Both teams want to win this badly.
"It is good that we've got the injured players back. When they were out it meant we had a weaker bench. Now we know that we have greater strength in depth, knowing that the subs could come and have the impact to win the game for us.
"It's not just about the 15 players on the field but the 22 in the squad. And we are glad that we've got our full 22 ready to go in this one."
Seeking to get his hands on the new trophy ahead of Gregory is Trent Eastgate, the Dragons captain. He said: "I reckon this is going to be one of the toughest games of the year.
"It is always a full on contest when we meet the Hurricanes and with so much at stake in this one it is probably going to be even more of an all-out battle.
"It can go either way because both teams have a good set of solid forwards and both have class among their backs. We are all looking forward to showing what we can do against our fiercest rivals and I'm sure the Hurricanes are feeling the same way.
"The competition in the Gulf is getting stronger every year. This match will determine who are the best in the UAE and the winners will then have the chance to proves themselves as the best in the region by winning against Doha."
The Dragons player-coach is Shane Thornton, a New Zealand born winger, who questioned the need to have a grand final play-off when his team have already won the Premiership.
"It should be the team who finish top of the table who go through to play Doha, but we accept the rules of the new competition," he said.
"This match is definitely a decider as to who can call themselves the best team in the UAE - and we want to be that team to be us."
