Dubai: Stuart Gibb cemented his place in Arabian rugby folklore by scoring the union's first-ever Rugby World Cup Sevens try against New Zealand on Friday and his side very nearly did the same after they stunned Italy, only to concede the match in the last minute of play.
Had Arabian Gulf shown a little patience and had they focused on defence rather than offence in the dying seconds, they'd have beaten Italy 17-12. But as it turned out, Kristopher Shaun Burton ran in a try in what seemed the last second of the match to help Italy win 19-17.
"We are gutted," said Marcus Smith, who scored one of Arabian Gulf's three tries. "The guys showed a lot of character. We stuck to our game plan; we knew we were fitter than most of them and we had a game plan that was suited to attack and it worked.
"Going into this tournament we knew we would not be able to put big scores on the screen, but it comes down to guts and that's sevens really and [yesterday] it bounced their way right at the end. Sometimes it goes their way and sometimes it goes our way."
Chris Gregory and Taif Al Delamie also ran in tries for Arabian Gulf and Smith added two points with a conversion. Roberto Mariani and Marco Stanojevic contributed with a try each and Tomas Pucciariello converted twice in Italy's win.
Arabian Gulf, now in competition for the Bowl, were clearly missing two of their fastest men in Gibb and Delamie, the latter limping off after opening the scoring for the hosts against Italy.
Gibb missed the entire Italy game after picking up a hamstring injury at the end of the match with New Zealand, and it is doubtful whether either will start today.
Arabian Gulf coach Mike Lunjevich was critical of the refereeing and said two disallowed penalties and his side's "go for the kill" attitude cost them victory.
"I think sometimes it comes down to patience. We are disappointed with the way the referee saw the game and I feel sorry for the guys because they put in nine months of hard work to get here and they must be really disappointed because of that one defining moment," said Lunjevich, who agreed his side could have shut Italy out.
"They always could have done more. I think maybe if we had closed the game down in the end... maybe we committed too many guys to try and win the ball, when we should have just shut them down till they made a mistake.
"Maybe we were impatient trying to go for the kill. So it's all down to experience really," Lunjevich said.
