DUBAI: UAE Rugby's Shaheen team, a development squad comprising Emiratis, are making the right noises as they prepare to face Afghanistan on Friday at 7he Sevens, according to UAE performance manager Duncan Hall.
"A number of boys have shown great improvement and it will be a good test for them on Friday," he said.
"They are training well, their rugby skills are improving, including the handling, passing, and the understanding of the game has improved so, hopefully, all these should be put to good use against Afghanistan."
The Shaheen side will play three 7-a-side Rugby development games against Afghanistan followed by the senior national team's Asian Five Nations opener against Hong Kong.
"We are very excited to see Shaheen run on to the pitch this Friday," said Qais Al Dhalai, UAE Rugby general secretary. "This is a major step in UAE Rugby's strategic development plan to have a larger number of experienced Emirati players to call on to represent the UAE in future rugby tournaments."
Early success
The all-Emirati side, founded over a year ago, has tasted a fair amount of success so far. They created history at the Bangkok Sevens when they edged out Philippines in the final to claim the Shield in February. The team also did well during the annual Sharjah Wanderers Rugby 10s where they lost in the semi-finals.
Hall said: "Winning at Bangkok was a good result for them. At Sharjah, we would have liked to have more games, but it's been positive. Since then the preparations have been good and the boys are practising twice a week."
The Australian noted the team were doing well on the fitness front too, but added: "I feel fitness can always be better and it's one of the challenges. I just see the boys twice a week and we are not at the moment playing regularly.
"It's not a normal club season where you can gauge the fitness level and improvement. Currently the practices are skill-based and a little of fitness in the end."
Detailing plans for the next season, he said: "The boys at the moment are excited to play against Afghanistan. They will be playing a 15-a-side match against Dubai Irish and we have 15 players at the moment and we got to have 20 to 22 for that game.
"So once we play Afghanistan, in two weeks we got to target to get some boys to come and play and give them an opportunity.
"We need to be recruiting more and more players. We are starting a programme shortly to encourage the under-19 Emirati boys to come and have a go at rugby.
"We will be nominating a team for Kazakhstan in October and for that we will go after all the under-19 boys to get a team ready by then."
