Getting into the festival spirit

THERE was a true festival spirit at Bahrain Rugby Football Club over the weekend as the Janibiya facility played host to a ‘Festival of Rugby’.

Run over the course of three days, the festival combined two of the biggest events on the club’s calendar – the Veteran’s Midnight Tens and the HSBC Junior Rugby Series – along with the Gulf Top Six fixture between Bahrain and Dubai Hurricanes, coinciding with the second round of the Six Nations Championship.

Almost 40 teams from all over the Gulf region descended on the fields of Bahrain RFC for a series of competitions ranging from Under-8s all the way up to the Over-35s, in the presence of former England captain and World Cup winner Lewis Moody, who was on hand in his role as HSBC Ambassador.

The Midnight Vets Tens got the festivities underway on Thursday night, with 11 teams, including Khobar, Riyadh, KSA, Ras Al Khaimah, Muscat, Doha, Bahrain Golden Oldies and Bahrain Vagabonds battling for the title.

There was no love lost in a series of pulsating clashes, which, as is tradition, carried on into the wee hours of Friday.

The Vets then returned to action for the knockout stages on Friday morning, when the Bahrain Vagabonds overcame Riyadh to win the Shield final, Muscat won the Bowl with victory over KSA, Khobar Quins beat Bahrain Golden Oldies to take the Plate and Doha reclaimed the main Cup title after beating the Ras Al Khaimah Goats. The ‘Wooden Spoon’ went to a depleted NSA Bucks outfit.

The participating teams were among over 200 club members and guests to attend the traditional Midnight Tens Charity Dinner.

Aside from the trophy presentations, the dinner event – sponsored by Offshore Investor – also featured a talk by Moody, who regaled the audience with tales from his decade-long, 71-cap England career.

As all that was going on, the next generation of rugby stars was also strutting their stuff on the Bahrain RFC ground, as the HSBC Junior Rugby Series rolled into town.

Staged across four tournaments over the course of the season, the HSBC Series has established itself as the premier mini and youth rugby competition in the region over the last three years.

After tournaments in Abu Dhabi in October and Dubai in January, Bahrain played host to the penultimate round of this year’s series, which will conclude in Doha next month.

This year’s Bahrain tournament saw a considerable increase in participation levels, as the club welcomed teams from the UAE and Qatar for competitions at Under-8, Under-9, Under-10, Under-11, Under-12, Under-14 and Under-16 levels.

Day one of the HSBC tournament featured the Under-8 and Under-9 age groups, with teams from Bahrain, Doha and Dubai battling it out.

The home side took the spoils in the Under-8s competition as they edged out their big rivals Doha for the Cup title and Bahrain players Ben Barraclough and Slade Camara took the HSBC Fair Play awards thanks to their sterling individual efforts.

Doha gained some revenge in the Under-9 category as their Falcons team held off the challenge of Bahrain and Dubai Warriors.

On Saturday, it was the turn of the Under-10s, Under-11s, Under-12s, Under-14s and Under-16s and the Doha teams picked up where they left off on Friday as they came out on top of a competitive Under-10s group containing Bahrain and the Arabian Knights.

The Under-11s provided another brilliant competition, and this time it was the Warriors of Dubai who triumphed over Bahrain, the Arabian Knights and Abu Dhabi Harlequins.

One of the biggest cheers of the day was saved for the announcement of the winners of the Under-12s competition as the Bahrain team – beaten finalists at the previous two tournaments in Abu Dhabi and Dubai – beat old rivals Doha for the title, with the HSBC Fair Play Award going to the inspirational Josh Cornelius.

Doha, Bahrain and the Arabian Knights competed for the Under-14s trophy on the main grass pitch, with the Knights emerging victors after another close-run afternoon in which Bahrain’s Keegan Dickinson took the HSBC Fair Play award.

The final competition was the Under-16s group which, after a few late pull-outs, in the end consisted only of Bahrain and Abu Dhabi Harlequins and it was the well-drilled and physically larger Quins unit who took the best-of-three match series.

As if all that wasn’t enough activity at Bahrain RFC over the weekend, on Friday afternoon the club also played host to the latest round of the Gulf Top Six competition, with the Dubai Hurricanes the visitors to the fortress on the edge of Saar.

After three defeats on the trot – the first two of which came on home soil – Bahrain were in desperate need of a win to kick-start their charge at the Gulf region’s premier rugby competition and thankfully they got it.

They were forced to dig deep over a depleted but spirited Hurricanes outfit and indeed had to come from behind to secure the win.

An early try from fly-half Oli Luke after a Canes clearance kick provided Bahrain the perfect start but the visitors struck back with a try of their own soon after and that was to become a regular theme of the match.

Adam Wallace then powered over, much to the delight of the home fans, after a good win at the lineout and some nice hands from skipper Tom Ham but once again the Hurricanes hit back, with former Bahrain favourite Chris Coupland terrorising his ex-teammates with some superb running.

The Hurricanes hit the lead early in the second half as they added two penalties but the introduction of reinforcements from the Bahrain bench proved decisive in the final quarter.

Wallace then knocked over a penalty of his own before, with ten minutes left to go, sustained pressure on the Hurricanes line saw another kick charged down and veteran Sam Wilson emerged with the ball.

The last play of the game brought about another penalty for Bahrain and Wallace took great pleasure in knocking over the extra three points to a massive cheer from the large and vocal home crowd, giving his side a relieving 30-23 win.