UAE coach Duncan Hall pleased with progress despite 93-3 loss

Dubai: UAE coach Duncan Hall was pleased with his team’s showing despite caving in to a 93-3 loss against Asia’s number one team Japan in the Asian 5 Nations at the Emirates Sevens ground on Friday.

With the score reading 111-0 the last time the two teams played each other, Friday’s showing was enough to convince Hall that his team of youngsters had made some sort of progress.

“We showed better application to the plan, especially in the second half. We can be proud of what we have achieved,” Hall told media on Friday.

This time the UAE defence did well to keep Japan at bay, conceding just one try in the first 20 minutes to have the score reading at 7-0.

But with some swift passing in the middle, Japan managed to get a hold of proceedings with Yuta Imamura and Takashi Kikutani accounting for seven tries between themselves as Japan went into the break with a 41-0 cushion.

The second half was no different from the first, except that the hosts managed to make movements up front. Ten minutes into the second half, James Ham managed to kick in a penalty from 35 yards to secure what proved to be their only points of the evening.

The UAE’s future assignment will be even more significant as they travel to the Philippines next week. A loss in Manila would mean the UAE will be unable to save their place in the top level of the Asian 5 Nations.

“The guys know what they need to do next week. We have to go all out looking for a win,” Hall said.