Dubai Exiles – Emirates Dubai 7s Gulf Men’s League Champions 2021
It was the welcome return of the Emirates Dubai Sevens and it turned into quite the weekend for Dubai Exiles Rugby Club, and not just for the rugby section of the club, the Exiles’ Netball players and Cricketers also had a fantastic time at The Sevens Stadium and Cricket Grounds.
For Dubai Exiles RFC the fireworks started on the Thursday. The Exiles‘ Under 16s had made the Plate Final of the Youth Sport Final which gave the young men of Dubai Exiles RFC and their opponents the opportunity to play at the ‘Big Show’. The Exiles‘ Under 16s got over the line with the last play of the game to break a 10 – 10 deadlock with the Dubai Tigers and win the Plate Final 15 – 10 on Pitch 2.
Straight after the excitement on Pitch 2, it was a dash over to Pitch 4 with the Dubai Exiles RFC Under 14s in the Cup Final of the Youth Sport Festival against Dubai Hurricanes RFC. In what was a very competitive match, the Exiles‘ Under 14s came off pitch and headed to the Winners’ podium with a 20 – 5 win.
They’re obviously great results for the Dubai Exiles‘ Mini & Youth rugby, but what was also great to see was how well supported the teams were by mums, dads, brothers, sisters, friends, extended family and club members. It was a theme that would recur at many of the Exiles‘ matches throughout the 3 days of the tournament.
Dubai Exiles Under 14s receive their Cup Winners trophy from Ben Ryan and James Haskell
Dubai Exiles Under 16s receive their trophy from Ben Ryan and James Haskell
The Exiles‘ Vets made a welcome return to proceedings at the Emirates Dubai Sevens. After an absence from the competition for a few seasons they announced themselves on Pitch 3 with a hard earned 5 – 5 draw with Dubai Hurricanes RFC. In the quarter final of the Plate competition they posted a big 25 – 0 win over Bahrain RFC’s ‘Golden Oldies’ before missing out on a spot in the final losing 12 – 5 to ‘Daddy Canes’.
Dubai Exiles‘ Under 19 Girls played their Cup Final in front of an almost capacity crowd on Pitch 1
Before this weekends’ Gulf Under 19 Girls Cup Final the young ladies of Dubai Exiles RFC had won the tournament in 5 out of the last 6 occasions. After a round of pool matches that saw these very talented young ladies score 127 points in 3 pool matches, without conceding a single score, it was going to take something special to halt their march to making it 6 out of 7.
A BIG THANK YOU to Miles the Exiles bear for his unrelenting support
Celebration time!
The roadblock to the title was almost installed by DESC Under 19 Girls, another side in the competition with a significant amount of Exiles‘ girls in their squad. After a nail-biter of a semi-final, squeezing past Dubai English Speaking College (DESC) by 19 points to 12 the Dubai Exiles Under 19 Girls had earned themselves a Cup Final on the showcase, Pitch 1, in front of a near 20,000 crowd against S22 UAE Academy.
Dubai Exiles‘ Under 19 Girls – Dubai 7s Cup Winners
Dubai Exiles Under 19 Girls Squad
With seemingly all potential roadblocks lifted the Dubai Exiles‘ Under 19 Girls were quick to settle in to the pressure of Pitch 1. With an excited crowd having a great time in the Sevens Stadium they were quick to find their rhythm and open the scoring. When the 14 minutes had ticked by and the referee’s whistle had brought proceedings to a close, the Exiles‘ Under 19 Girls were Gulf Under 19 Girls Champions once again, 43 – 0 winners.
Dubai Exiles‘ Under 19 Boys – EMIRATES DUBAI 7s Kit Presentation
On the Exiles‘ ‘home’ pitch at The Sevens Stadium
The Dubai Exiles RFC’s Under 19 boys had drawn a tough pool in the Gulf Under 19 Boys competition. Pool A contained the Exiles, with defending champions Dubai College, Abu Dhabi Harlequins and Bahrain Colts. The opening match against Bahrain finished with the Exiles victorious by 21 points to 5. Next up were defending champions Dubai College, it was a combative performance from the Exiles but they eventually finished with a 31 – 5 loss to a team that would make the tournament final against DESC.
A 12 – 10 win over Abu Dhabi Harlequins had given the young men of Dubai Exiles RFC second spot in Pool A and a place in the Cup Quarter-Final, but a powerful performance from Jumeirah English Speaking School (JESS) ended hopes of a semi-final place against DESC in what could have been an almost all Dubai Exiles Semi-Final.
It would be remiss not to congratulate DESC on winning the Gulf Under 19 Boys title. Their win over Dubai College in the Pitch 1 final was helped significantly by 10 players of their 12 man squad being players from Dubai Exiles RFC.
The article in The National summed it up pretty well – Dubai Exiles celebrate return to Sevens glory on Golden Jubilee weekend. The Exiles‘ Gulf Mens squad got underway on Pitch 2 on Thursday evening. It was a nervy start against defending champions Dubai Hurricanes RFC which the Exiles scraped over the finish line by 12 points to 10. The scoreline was flattering to the defending champions, Exiles had dominated large portions of the game and should have been out of sight, but game 1 and a win is a win.
Game 2 of Pool A was against Abu Dhabi Saracens. A late evening kick off saw the Exiles men run in 8, unanswered, tries and head home for a well earned night’s rest with a 48 – 0 win.
The Exiles‘ final Pool A match pitted them against the Abu Dhabi Harlequins. Abu Dhabi were the only team to provide any competition to the Exiles in the UAE Premiership this season, it was a tough win over at Sheikh Zayed Sports City and this match was another humdinger that could have gone either way, it was only a last minute try from the Exiles that guaranteed their place at the top of Pool A and a Cup quarter-final spot against Dubai Hurricanes 2.
Exiles‘ Captain Justin Walsh on the hoof – Picture courtesy of Max from MXPVISUAL
Anthony Kapp gets ready to lift Robbie Sproul – Picture courtesy of MXPVISUAL
After dispatching Dubai Hurricanes 2s by 45 points to nil in the Friday evening quarter final, it was a Saturday semi-final, an early start with a 9am kick off, against the Jebel Ali Dragons. By 9.20am on Saturday morning Dubai Exiles RFC was in the Cup Final of The Emirates Dubai 7s Gulf Mens League. The Dragons were under the cosh for most of the game, Exiles winning 33 – 7.
Exiles‘ Jaen Botes creates his own spacef – Picture courtesy of MXPVISUAL
Dubai Tigers were the Exiles‘ opposition for the Emirates Dubai Sevens Gulf Men‘s Final. The Dubai Tigers had invested heavily in new players since the 91 – 0 thrashing they received at the hands of Dubai Exiles RFC in the opening match of the 2021-22 UAE Premiership campaign.
The Exiles were the first out of the blocks, Schalk du Preez outpacing just about everybody on the pitch to open the scoring in the right hand corner of the Sevens DHL Stand end. Half way through the first half the unfsthomable happened. Captain Justin Walsh was yellow carded for a high tackle, closely followed by a yellow card for Jaen Botes. The Exiles were down to 5 players for 2 and a half minutes, much to the delight of the Dubai Tigers supporters.
Job Done! – Picture courtesy of MXPVISUAL
Matt Mills, Epeli Davetawalu, and Jaen Botes are all smiles
With 5 against 7 everybody on the Exiles‘ bench, and their supporters held their breath waiting for the inevitable to happen. But it didn’t happen. The five Exiles on the pitch worked their socks off to keep the Tigers away from the try line. A turnover was followed by a minute of ‘keep ball’ and Justin Walsh‘s immediate contribution on his return to the pitch was to crash through the Dubai Tigers defence and score under the posts. 12 – 0 to the Exiles. Half Time and back to full compliment.
Things were looking good for Dubai Exiles RFC, the hard work of protecting their try line with 5 men on the pitch had been done and they’d turned around with a 12 – 0 lead. The hard work was almost immediately undone, a missed tackle in the first minute of the second half had given the Dubai Tigers a clear run to the posts which they gratefully accepted. 12 – 7 and nails were being severely bitten.
Conor Kennedy was next to cross for the Exiles, wide out left on the Land Rover end, a magnificent conversion followed and Exiles were up 19 – 7 with 3 4 minutes to go. With Exiles‘ Director of Rugby, Jacques Benade, screaming at his charges to make sure that any potential score from the Tigers was pushed out wide, another missed tackle in the middle of the field gave the Tigers another free run to the posts. 19 – 14. More nerves. Lots of nerves.
With match officials frantically being asked for the mount of remaining time, and anxious faces all-round, Robbie Sproul put an end to any doubts and nerves. When Robbie crossed in the final minute of the game, the result was put beyond any doubt. Dubai Exiles RFC 24 – Dubai Tigers RFC 14.
