Dubai Exiles 2021-22 Rugby Season Review

Dubai Exiles Under 19 Girls – Emirates Dubai 7s Winners 2021 / Dubai Exiles Men – Emirates Dubai 7s Winners 2021

Dubai Exiles Under 5 and Under 6

It’s been quite the season for the youngest members of Dubai Exiles Rugby Club. After the Covid hit 2020-21 season it was great to see so many Exiles‘ ‘Minis’ having so much fun and enjoying themselves running around on the rugby pitches at the world-famous Sevens Stadium.

The Exiles‘ Under 5s and Under 6s didn’t only have a great time on Pitch 7 at The Sevens Stadium on Saturday mornings this season, they also entered teams in the HSBC Mini & Youth Rugby Festival, the largest Mini & Youth rugby festival in the region as well as the Abu Dhabi Mini & Youth rugby tournament at Zayed Sports City in early March.

The Exiles Under 5s and Under 6s are coached by Allison (allison@dubaiexiles.com), who is an Early Years specialist teacher, and Mario Barilli. They enjoy the help of many of the Exiles‘ Emirates Dubai Sevens winning Under 19 girls as well as senior Premiership players who help guide these young rugby players as they take their first steps in to this wonderful game.

Dubai Exiles Under 7 and Under 8

The Dubai Exiles‘ Under 7s and Under 8s are coached by two of the Dubai Exiles Premiership players, Fijian Epeli Davetawalu and Kenyan Brad Owako. Epeli has an impressive playing history having played for Fiji at the Under 20 World Cup in Tokyo he was part of the Fiji 7s squad in 2012. Epeli is a current UAE International in both 15s and 7s formats of the game. He is a Dubai Exiles Premiership player and played a significant part in the Dubai Exiles winning The Emirates Dubai 7s tournament in December 2021.

Brad Owako is a former Kenya Sevens International. He also played professionally in Spain after gaining a hard running and hard hitting reputation at Mwamba Rugby Club in Nairobi. Since his arrival in Dubai Brad has been a great asset to the club. He’s on the pitches at The Sevens Stadium every Saturday morning helping to coach the club’s Under 8s and also helped to coach the Exiles‘ Under 19 Girls to the Emirates Dubai 7s Gulf Under 19 Girls title in December.

Dubai Exiles Under 9 and Under 10

The Dubai Exiles Under 9s are another age group that have enjoyed a wonderful season of rugby in Dubai and the UAE. Under 9 rugby is a player’s first steps into the full contact form of the game after learning the basics of passing and evasive running playing tag rugby. The Exiles Under 9s are another age group that benefits from being coached by a current Exiles‘ UAE Premiership player, Conor Kennedy.

Exiles Under 10s coach, Matt Mills, is a UAE International and current UAE Premiership player. Matt is also a PE teacher at Dubai English Speaking College. He has been helping to coach the Exiles‘ midi rugby players for a number of seasons and delivers knowledgable and fun coaching sessions for our Under 10s to enjoy and learn.

• Dubai Exiles Under 9 – HSBC Cup semi-finals 2022
• Dubai Exiles Under 10 – HSBC Cup semi-finals 2022

Dubai Exiles Under 11

The Exiles’ Under 11s have enjoyed an amazing season of rugby. A superb performance at the HSBC Mini & Youth Rugby Festival at The Sevens Stadium in January saw them take the top prize, Cup Final Winners on the Saturday afternoon. That was followed up with a repeat performance in March at the Abu Dhabi Rugby Festival where the young players of the Exiles’ Under 11s again battled their way to another Cup Final win.

Congratulations to the players, the coaches and team staff as well as all the mums and dads for making it such a special season for our Under 11 rugby players.

• Dubai Exiles Under 11 – League Runners-Up
• Dubai Exiles Under 11 – HSBC Mini & Youth Rugby Festival Cup Winners
• Dubai Exiles Under 11 – Abu Dhabi Mini & Youth Rugby Festival Cup Winners

Dubai Exiles Under 12 & Under 13

The Dubai Exiles Under 12s and Under 13s have enjoyed a busy season in the UAE Leagues and each age group attended both the HSBC Mini & Youth Rugby Festival and the Abu Dhabi Festival in 2022.

• Dubai Exiles Under 12 – HSBC Cup semi-finals 2022
• Dubai Exiles Under 13 – HSBC Bowl Winners 2022

Dubai Exiles Under 11, Under 13 & Under 15 Girls

It’s been an enjoyable season of Girls ‘Quick Rip’ rugby at the Dubai Exiles with many young ladies getting involved with rugby for the first time. Numbers have grown significantly throughout the season and there have been some notable wins along the way! The Exiles‘ ‘Quick Rip Rugby’ girls are coached by UAE Premiership player, and Nord Anglia School PE Teacher, Dave Gairn with the ever enthusiastic assistance of Clay Willing.

• Dubai Exiles Under 13 Girls – HSBC Plate semi-finals 2022
• Dubai Exiles Under 15 Girls – HSBC Cup semi-finals 2022

Dubai Exiles Under 14

The Exiles’ Under 14s have had another great season of rugby in the UAE. In April they finished with the UAE League title after battling to a win in the final over the Dubai Hurricanes. Cup winners in the HSBC Mini & Youth Rugby Festival, Runners-Up in the Abu Dhabi Festival and Cup Winners in the Emirates Dubai 7s’ Youth Sport Festival, a festival in which the final was played at the ‘Big Show’ in December.

• Dubai Exiles Under 14 – ‘A’ League Winners
• Dubai Exiles Under 14 – HSBC Mini & Youth Rugby Festival Cup Winners
• Dubai Exiles Under 14 – Abu Dhabi Mini & Youth Rugby Festival Runners-Up
• Dubai Exiles Under 14 – Emirates Dubai 7s Youth Sports Festival Cup Winners

Dubai Exiles Under 16

2021-22 has been quite the season for the Dubai Exiles Under 16s. Undefeated in the UAE Under 16 s League, culminating in a win in the Final at the Sevens Stadium over nearest rivals, the Dubai Tigers in April. HSBC Mini & Youth Festival Cup Winners and Abu Dhabi Festival Cup Winners. The Exiles’ Under 16s (and Under 15s) have a great team of volunteers behind them. Head Coach, DuRandt Gerber has also been assisting UAE National Coach Apollo Perelini with the UAE 7s squads for the last two seasons. Forwards coach, Jaen Botes, is a current UAE Premiership player, a UAE International, and has played professional rugby in the Welsh Premiership with both Llandovery RFC and Neath RFC for a number of seasons.

• Dubai Exiles Under 16 – HSBC Mini & Youth Cup Winners 2022
• Dubai Exiles Under 16 – Abu Dhabi Festival Cup Winners 2022
• Dubai Exiles Under 16 – ‘A’ League Winners

Dubai Exiles U16 v Dubai Tigers U16 – UAE Under 16 League Final 2021-22

Dubai Exiles Under 19

It’s no secret that many of the Dubai Exiles Under 19s are called upon by Exiles‘ Director of Rugby, Jacques Benade, to play in the senior UAE Premiership and UAE Division 1 leagues. It’s this policy of letting the younger players, who qualify to play senior rugby, play in the top tiers of UAE Rugby that has led to several being regular features in the UAE Premiership and many more developing their skills in Division 1. In the recent Phuket 7s, three Dubai Exiles Under 19s joined Apollo Perelini and the senior UAE 7s squad and helped to bring back the Asia Rugby Sevens Trophy from Thailand in April.

It was a pretty goo year for the Exiles Under 19s, after they’d won the HSBC Mini & Youth Cup Final in January they almost pulled off a win in the ‘A’ league Under 19 final while a significant amount of the Under 19 squad was away in Al Ain playing the Amblers in the Division 1 semi-final. It really was a great season to be an Exiles‘ Under 19 rugby player.

• Dubai Exiles Under 19 – ‘A’ League Runners-Up
• Dubai Exiles Under 19 – HSBC Mini & Youth Rugby Festival Cup Winners

Dubai Exiles Under 19 Girls

It’s been another magnificent season of Under 19 Girls rugby for the Dubai Exiles. What made it very special this season was the decision of the organisers of the Emirates Dubai 7s to play the Gulf Under 19 Girls Final on Pitch 1 at the Sevens Stadium. When the final kicked off at 4:58 pm there were over 14,000 spectators enjoying the pitch 1 atmosphere and the Exiles’ Under 19 Girls went a long way to ensuring the Dubai Sevens admission ticket was good value for money!

The 2021-22 season got off to a great start with seven of the Exiles Under 19 Girls selected to represent the UAE at the Asia Rugby U18 Girls Sevens in Tashkent. After defeating Rugby India in the final by 21 – 10 the trophy and the title were on their way back to the UAE. It was a double at the 2022 HSBC Mini & Youth Rugby Festival with the girls winning both the Cup Final and the Plate Final effectively completely locking out the tournament.

• Dubai Exiles Under 19 Girls – ‘A’ League Runners-Up
• Dubai Exiles Under 19 Girls – HSBC Mini & Youth Rugby Festival Cup Winners 2022
• Dubai Exiles Under 19 Girls (2) – HSBC Mini & Youth Rugby Festival Plate Winners 2022
• Dubai Exiles Under 19 Girls – Abu Dhabi Festival Cup Winners 2022
• Dubai Exiles Under 19 Girls – Emirates Dubai 7s Gulf Under 19 Girls Champions

Dubai Exiles Women

Women’s rugby made a much welcome return in the 2021-22 season to Dubai Exiles RFC and by the end of the year the ladies had grabbed some silverware in their first season in an Exiles shirt!

• Dubai Exiles Women – Gulf Women’s 7s Series Bowl Winners

Dubai Exiles Men

By any stretch of the imagination it’s been a fantastic season for the Dubai Exiles senior men’s rugby squad. An undefeated and table-topping season in the UAE Premiership League fixtures with 8 wins from 8, finalists in the UAE Premiership, semi-finalists in UAE Division 1 and Emirates Dubai 7s Gulf Men’s Champions.

The opening UAE Premiership match against the Dubai Tigers turned out to be a complete thrashing for the visitors. The Exiles opening their Premiership account with a 91 – 0 battering of the Dubai Sports City based Tigers. A trip to Abu Dhabi Harlequins was next with the Exiles escaping Zayed Sports City with a 17 – 26 win. Wins over the Jebel Ali Dragons (8 – 55) and Dubai Hurricanes (59 – 17) meant the Exiles Premiership side reached the season’s half-way mark undefeated.

The half-way point of the UAE Rugby season heralds the arrival of the world’s Number 1 Sevens Tournament, the Emirates Dubai 7s. A strong Exiles 7s squad, populated with UAE International 7s players, took the Gulf Men’s Title with a 24 – 14 win over the Dubai Tigers in the Final.