It’s been a challenging few months for competitive rugby in Dubai and the UAE. With the West Asia Premiership, UAE Premiership and the UAE Leagues, senior and junior at a standstill while Covid restrictions and Return to Play protocols continue to work themselves out.
A Day at Sharjah Wanderers Rugby Club for the Super Sixes Touch Tournament brought some welcome competition, not just to the Dubai Exiles, but many of the clubs and teams that turned up seeking some sort of meaningful competition.
Dubai Exiles Under 19 Girls win Senior Women’s Cup
The Sharjah Super Sixes tournament went ahead on Friday and some almost normal service was resumed for rugby in the UAE. Even though the Super Sixes is a six-a-side touch rugby tournament, normal service returned for the Exiles trophy cabinet, with our almost untouchable U19 Girls side once again proving their class by winning the women’s Cup competition.
Our Emirates Dubai Sevens Winning U19s got their competition off to a fantastic start, overwhelming the Dubai Warriors Women by 8 tries to nil. Next up were the UntouchaBelles who were promptly dismissed by 7 tries to 1, a precursor to the competition’s Cup Final.
A real battle came next for the young ladies of the Dubai Exiles, ‘The Try Babies’, and after a hard fought match, the Exiles emerged with a 2 tries to 1 win, setting them up for a semi-final against Warriors Women, a team that they’d already dispatched by 8 tries to nil. By the end of the semi-final, our u19 girls had earned their place in the final after a 6 tries to nil win.
The Exiles u19 Girls went into the final with the UntouchaBelles as red hot favourites, and they were not to disappoint. After earlier dismissing the UntouchaBelles by 7 tries to 1, in the final they went one better and came away with the tournament spoils with a 7 tries to nil victory.
Dubai Exiles Senior Men’s Cup Competition
There is probably nothing more alien to the Exiles senior men’s team than touch rugby, for guys who are more used to playing 15-a-side and 7-a-side, as much as touch rugby sounds familiar, it’s only really the shape of the ball, and the necessity to pass backwards that remains constant – otherwise the game is totally unrecognisable.
The Exiles men won four out of five of their matches, eventually succumbing to eventual tournament winners FFP Men in the semi-final. The senior men’s side had a fantastic day, along with an education in playing touch rugby and stayed on to cheer our under 19 Girls to their tournament win.
Dubai Exiles Under 19s – Senior Men’s Competition
The Exiles under 19s entered two teams into the tournament, and the boys were certainly looking forward to stretching their legs for the first time this season. Playing in the men’s competition, the under 19s scored 2 wins from 4 matches and similar to the senior side, went down to eventual tournament winners ‘FFP Men’ in the quarter final.
Dubai Exiles Under 13s – Senior Men’s Competition
Undoubtedly the biggest cheer of the day went to the Dubai Exiles under 13s who were competing in the senior men’s competition. One of the great levellers of touch rugby is that any weight and strength advantage is negated in favour of speed, agility and skill. Our under 13 ‘Rhinos’ and ‘Cheetahs’ did extremely well, narrowly missing out on victories of much older, and more illustrious names which included a 7 – 5 loss to the eventual Men’s Tournament Cup winners ‘FFP Men’.
