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Bahrain set for five nations spectacular

April 28 - May 4, 2010
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Bahrain Rugby Football Club (BRFC) will also this weekend act as the venue for the first of the Arabian Gulf's home games in this year's HSBC Asian Five Nations (A5N) tournament against Hong Kong.

The club was granted the honour, alongside The Sevens in Dubai, as hosts of the two home fixtures after a special meeting at the Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union (AGRFU) head offices in Dubai.

The competition holds extra significance for all those participating this year, as it also serves as the Asian qualifiers for the seventh Rugby World Cup in New Zealand next year.

Back in the top tier of Asian Rugby Football Union's (ARFU) signature competition after a drop to Division 1 in 2009, the Arabian Gulf kicked off their campaign away to Kazakhstan losing 43-28 on Saturday. They host Hong Kong in Bahrain on Friday.

They then move on to play reigning champions Japan in Tokyo on May 8 and complete their campaign against Korea in Dubai on May 14.

The Arabian Gulf squad, chosen from players from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, picked up its preparations for the A5N tournament with a warm-up game against Tunisia.

Despite coming up against a team ranked 14 places above them in the IRB World Rankings on their own home patch, the Gulf were unlucky to register a 25-22 defeat after conceding an injury time-try.

The April 30 game in Saar will be the first full Arabian Gulf fixture to take place in Bahrain since the visit of India for a World Cup qualifier in 2001.

Scheduled to kick-off at 7pm, the match will be televised live on Bahrain TV.







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