Dubai: The outgoing head coach of the UAE rugby national team Bruce Birtwhistle has recommended his assistant Shane Thornton to take up his vacant post. The news comes after UAE RA chairman Mohammad Abdul Rahman expressed his interest in filling the void left by Birtwhistle as soon as possible.
Birtwhistle, who is returning to his native New Zealand to spend more time with his family, having led the UAE to third in the Asian Five Nations said: "Thornton, my assistant, should most definitely be retained with the side, he's a very good coach and will have good focus on the upcoming Sevens. He's from a strength and fitness background and that's where we need to improve."
Having drawn against Sri Lanka away 13-13, beaten Kazakhstan at home 24-10, lost to Japan at home 111-0 and Hong Kong away 62-3 — the UAE finished higher in the A5N than any previous team from this region.
"Hong Kong went away from their loss last year to the AGRFU side in Bahrain and did a lot more work on their strength and conditioning. Having just lost against them in the A5N, this is exactly what the UAE needs to do. A strict programme needs to be distributed among clubs and administered," he said.
More cohesion
"Hong Kong also had more cohesion which will only come to the UAE when they get more games under their belt," said Birtwhistle who holds finishing third this year up there with the achievement of A5N Division One promotion in 2009 and capturing wins over Korea and Hong Kong last year.
Birtwhistle bows out having coached the AGRFU side for three years and the UAE for the first five months of their existence.
The AGRFU was disbanded into nation states by the International Rugby Board in order to spread the game and potentially see teams compete at the Olympics.
Mohammad Abdul Rahman Falaknaz, Chairman of the UAE RA, said: "Bruce's leaving puts us in a situation where we have to go back to the drawing board.
"After the success of the A5N we were very happy to finish third. It was a great achievement and we didn't want anybody to leave.
"We don't have the luxury of time in this appointment as the Sevens is fast approaching. We will look at whoever is available with credentials that fill the criteria to lead. A board meeting will be held early next week to discuss this matter further."
Meanwhile, Birtwhistle says he's in no hurry to return to coaching in his native New Zealand. "It's half-way through the season there, so I'll just watch my two boys from sidelines of their schools matches and go along to Eden Park to watch the Rugby World Cup — I'll go back to watching from the sidelines for now I think."
