Dubai: The UAE squad for this weekend’s third and final stage of the Asian Sevens Series in Colombo, Sri Lanka, was announced on Monday.
Roelof Kotze’s side comprising expatriates and Emiratis are looking to finish on a high after a ninth and sixth place finish in Qingdao, China and Bangkok in rounds one and two of the competition last month. So far the UAE are placed sixth overall in the series after targeting a top eight finish.
Colombo will be coach Kotze’s last tournament in charge before he joins the Pumas in his native South Africa to take charge of amateur development.
The UAE lost to Philippines 20-0 and Hong Kong 24-0 to finish bottom of their pool in Qingdao, before beating Chinese Taipei 24-12 and Singapore 15-7 in the third tier bowl semi-final and final.
They then beat Philippines 12-7 before losing to South Korea 33-10 to finish second in the pool in Bangkok, before losing their cup quarter-final with Japan 39-0 and beating Malaysia 27-14 in the second tier plate semi-final before losing the final 26-5 to China.
This weekend also sees the inaugural UAE Rugby Dubai Airport Sevens take place at the Sevens Stadium on Friday. The UAE’s All-Emirati Shaheen development side will play off against Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon in a tournament formed to develop the game regionally and give local players the chance to play against countries of a similar standard.
Meanwhile, the Arab Rugby Federation (ARF) was officially formed following an extraordinary general meeting held in Dubai last week. The ARF has been formed to represent Arab nations in Rugby, under the auspices of the Union of Arab National Olympic Committees (UANOC), with the intent to participate in regional games, which follow the pathway to World Rugby, and IOC sanctioned and recognised events.
Speaking at the general meeting, newly appointed ARF Chairman, Qais Al Dhalai said: “The formation of this federation is very important to the development of rugby [in the Arab world] as the sole focus is on rugby itself. We aim to support and stimulate World Rugby and Asia Rugby’s strategic objective of growing the game, and open doors for rugby’s inclusion at the upcoming West Asia Games and the Arab Games, which are both owned by the UANOC.”
ARF’s committee was also finalised, with Morocco appointed first vice-chairman, Tunisia second vice-chairman (both Morocco and Tunisia hold World Rugby membership), and UAERF Board Member Mohammad Shaker appointed as Secretary General. “I’m very confident the Arab Rugby Federation will offer various development opportunities to grow the sport among the Arab nations, which at the end of the day will benefit all parties,” Shaker added.
The new Federation’s formation was witnessed in the presence of nine Arab rugby bodies; UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco.
