Dubai: In the third week of the HSBC Asian 5 Nations (A5N) competition, the Arabian Gulf will be up against top seed Japan in their penultimate A5N match on Saturday.
The game will be played on Japan's home turf at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium, Tokyo, and will kick off at 2pm local time.
Off the back of their historic win 16-9 against Hong Kong last weekend, the Arabian Gulf have a tough match ahead with Japan, ranked top seed and 13 in the world , looking to claim their second consecutive win in the competition and remain on course to securing direct entry into the Rugby World Cup 2011.
The winner of the A5N gains automatic entry into the Rugby World Cup 2011 in New Zealand and will be seeded in Pool A alongside the hosts New Zealand, France, Tonga and Canada. The second ranked team still has a chance to compete in the Rugby World Cup 2011 through a repechage process, which if successful will see them placed in Pool B alongside Argentina, England, Scotland and Europe's second direct entry to the Rugby World Cup 2011.
In the Arabian Gulf's first match they were defeated 43-28 by Kazakhstan in a thrilling match, which saw Trent Eastgate score the first try for the Arabian Gulf in the competition. The following week, the Arabian Gulf came out firing in Bahrain and claimed their first Top 5 victory against Hong Kong 16-9. James Love scored 11 points to take the tournament's top scorer honours in week two, while Jonny MacDonald scored the game's sole try.
Squad
Backs: Jonny MacDonald; Sean Hurley; Duncan Murray; Paul Beard; Ross Stapleton; Steve Smith; Taif Al Delamie; Trent Eastgate; James Love; Josh Sherrin.
Forwards: Mike Riley; Mark Gathercole; Nick Croker; Rory Power; Dan Heal; Mike Cox-Hill; Steve Little; Jason Voyce; Karl Sutcliffe; Ed Le Pine-Williams; Byron Kraemer; Dave Clark.
