Dubai: UAE rugby coach Epeli Lagiloa has credited last week’s training camp in South Africa with raising his team’s confidence and morale heading into the Asian Sevens Series.
The UAE spent a week at the Natal Sharks training academy in Durban ahead of their four-leg Asian Sevens Series, which starts in Kuala Lumpur on August 31. It is the first time the UAE are sending an all-Emirati squad of 12 on tour, as the fledgling rugby nation looks towards possible future Olympic and Asian Games contention.
Lagiloa told Gulf News: “All in all it was very successful. We trained twice a day every day except Saturday and everyone emerged fit and well except for a few niggles.
“It was very conducive to our preparations and we couldn’t have asked for a better place to train. The Sharks are one of the biggest franchises in the world and they have great facilities and equipment with all the latest sports science.
“We played matches against their academy teams everyday and although we can’t compare as they are much fitter than us, the boys kept their heads up and held their ground, we even scored some classic tries breaking from midfield.
“Indeed it was a big learning curve for the boys but this will help us a lot on our Asian tour. We now have 12 training sessions left to iron out our limitations ahead of the start of the series.”
After Kuala Lumpur the UAE travels to Bangkok on September 21, Mumbai on September 12 and Singapore on November 2.
