DUBAI // Ravin Du Plessis, the director of rugby for Dubai Exiles, hopes Sunday's match between London Wasps and Harlequins at the Emirates Palace hotel will be able to replicate the success exhibition football matches have had in the UAE in the recent past.
Staging a competitive 15-a-side fixture on these shores has long been talked about. The closest it came to coming to pass was in 2008, when Ireland and South Africa agreed in principal to playing a one-off Test match in Dubai.
However, the fixture was shelved because the new venue for rugby in the city, The Sevens, was still being constructed at the time.
In the meantime, many of the world's top football teams, such as Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan, Bayern Munich and Internacional, have visited the country to play in tournaments such as the Club World Cup and exhibition matches.
Rugby bosses in the UAE regularly battle against the overwhelming popularity of football in the Gulf in their bid to spread the word about the oval-ball game.
Du Plessis believes hosting matches like Sunday's encounter will help attract a wider audience to the sport here.
"Just look at what it has done for football in this country," Du Plessis, who was the technical director for South Africa at the 2003 World Cup, said.
"Abu Dhabi is fortunate to have this link-up, and we are building towards that. The more big names we can get here to market the game and get exposure for it, the better."
The Abu Dhabi Harlequins are an affiliate club of the English team of the same name.
Du Plessis hopes the Exiles will be able to forge an affiliation to a major club - possible one of the Super 15 sides the Pretoria Bulls or the Cape Town Stormers, or the English side Saracens - in the future.
Alistair Thompson, the Abu Dhabi head coach, hopes the LV Cup match will encourage a broader scope of nationalities to take up the game here.
"We need to do anything we can here to put rugby out there," he said.
"It is not the No 1 sport in the UAE, but it is a wonderful opportunity to showcase it, not only to the expats who have been fans of rugby all their lives, but also Emiratis.
"Any opportunity we have to showcase rugby, especially in a country where it is developing, is a good thing."
