Bahrain stars set for Abu Dhabi clash

It will be a case of stepping into the unknown this week for Bahrain Rugby Football Club’s (RFC) first XV in the opening round of the Gulf Top Six competition as the men from Janabiya take on Abu Dhabi Saracens for the first time in the club’s history.

Reflecting the growth of the UAE capital and the number of rugby players now living there, the Saracens club was set up in 2011 to offer some competition and an alternative outlet from long-established city rivals, the Harlequins.

After initially taking part in the UAE Conference, the Saracens have made huge strides in the last couple of years.

Not to be outdone by their city rivals – who have close ties to the Harlequins of London – the club signed a formal partnership with English Premiership giants Saracens during the summer and it is no coincidence that they have made their biggest breakthrough to date since then.

In this year’s UAE Premiership – played out before Christmas – the Saracens claimed a couple of significant scalps to finish ahead of Xodus Wasps and, most shockingly, former heavyweights Dubai Exiles to claim fourth place and with it a spot in the Gulf Top Six.

Speaking ahead of Friday’s match at the Shaikh Zayed Sports City complex, Bahrain skipper Tom Ham said his side was excited by the prospect of a new challenge.

“You get used to playing the same teams year-in, year-out in this part of the world so it makes a nice change to come up against new opposition and we’re excited at the prospect.

“Obviously, we don’t know a whole lot about them or how they play as such but we know they’ve got a few ex-Harlequins boys in their ranks so they’ll be well-drilled.”

Skipper Ham added: “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit surprised to hear that the Exiles hadn’t qualified for the Top Six but it just shows how competitive the UAE League is and any team that qualifies from that group will be a decent side, so we certainly won’t be taking anything for granted.

“In saying that, we are definitely targeting this as a must-win game. I know you can’t win the league in one game but away wins are invaluable in this competition – especially for us with the travel involved – so if we can get an away win first up it would be a huge boost for the rest of the campaign.

“We had a chance to do that last year against the Hurricanes but we came up short and we were playing catch-up there after so we don’t want to make the same mistake again.

“The fixture list looks more balanced this year and it’s probably a bit kinder to us in that regard so if we can get a result on Friday then we’ve got two home games to come after that so we have a chance to build some momentum to carry forward.”

It’s been something of a mixed bag in terms of performances for Bahrain’s First XV so far this season as a disappointing defeat in Doha and a lucky escape in Muscat sandwiched a straight-forward bonus point win over the Omani side in the opening three games of the Gulf Premiership.

Things have taken a significant turn for the better since then, however, as Bahrain went on to claim the Premiership title for the very first time thanks to an emphatic home win against old rivals Doha back in November and then took home the Gulf Men’s Plate crown from the annual Dubai Rugby Sevens.

“It hasn’t exactly gone to plan at times this season but it’s been great to get some silverware in the cupboard,” Ham admitted. “The Gulf Top Six is the big one though and the goal was always to make sure we qualified for that ... but nicking the Premiership trophy from Doha in the process has given us a big psychological boost and to win the Plate at the Sevens was a nice bonus.

“The big challenge for us now, having not had a competitive game for two months, is that we have to hit the ground running on Friday.

“It goes back to what I was saying about momentum. Momentum I think will be very important in this competition so that has to start from the opening day.”

l Friday’s match in Abu Dhabi is the first of 10 games for Bahrain in the Gulf Top Six. For more details or to see the full fixture list, check out www.bahrainrfc.com.