Dubai: Abu Dhabi's David Clark will captain the Arabian Gulf in this month's daunting 2007 World Cup qualifier against Asian powerhouse Japan.
The No 8 leads a new-look squad which has been badly affected by injuries and non-availability for the clash on April 16.
Yet Clark is upbeat as he looks ahead to the Gulf's first-ever trip to Tokyo which will be followed by a home date with Korea on May 5, at a venue to be announced. One victory from these two outings could be enough to put the Gulf into the third and final round of Asian qualifying for France 2007.
He said: "We have already gone further in qualifying than any other Gulf team and want to keep going. We want to do the full squad justice."
There are five new caps Mark Simon (Abu Dhabi), Dubai Dragons pair Ronan Murray and Will Wood, Dubai Exiles' Wayne Esslemont and Bahrain's Rory Power as the Gulf, ranked 41st in the world, prepare to take on the 17th-placed professionals of Japan.
Gulf champions Dubai Dragons, meanwhile, are all but certain to end the regular league season in first place after comfortably defeating nearest rivals Dubai Exiles 32-8.
The Dragons extended their 100 per cent run to 12 games to put down an ominous marker ahead of this month's Standard Chartered Gulf Cup final, also against the Exiles, and the new championship play-offs scheduled for May.
Austin marked his return to action with two tries against the Exiles while fly-half Sebastian Mouchet, scrum-half Mike Lunjevich and centre James Wellings also crossed. Mouchet added two conversions and a drop goal for the Dragons who trailed at one stage to a Wayne Esslemont try and Luke Sinclair penalty before cutting loose.
Dubai Hurricanes crushed Kuwait Nomads 126-7 to move a step closer the three-team play-offs. James Tometski scored what can safely be assumed to be an individual Gulf record of 56 points from four tries and all 18 conversions while 17-year-old flanker Mike Lancaster crossed for a hat-trick.
Squad
Arabian Gulf:
David Clark, Duard Hoffman, Mark Simon, Jim King (all Abu Dhabi), Vivian Albertyn, Ronan Murray, Mick Zaicek, Andrew McFarlane, Sebastian Mouchet, Sean Hurley, Jamie Turner, Dushan Raveendrakumar, Will Wood (all Dubai Dragons), Mark Gathercole, Eben Rollitt, Francois Coetzer, Mike Riley, Ed Nicholas, Wayne Esslemont (all Dubai Exiles), Rory Power, Chris Pardon (both Bahrain), James Tometzki (Dubai Hurricanes).
