Perhaps the biggest selling point of the Emirates Airlines Dubai Rugby Sevens is its magical appeal to the communities. And that's a quality that tournament director Donal Kilalea is eager to bring to the biggest event to come to the new Sevens venue yet, the IRB Rugby World Cup Sevens next March.
In a candid chat with XPRESS, Kilalea said: "The difference between the World Cup and this is that this is a mix of international and social teams. So [for the World Cup] we won't have the social teams.
"When people come in March, they know they will be coming for a World Championship which only happens every four years. But we still want to have a village area, we still want to attract the children. And why not? The rule is children under 12 will still get in free."
Family affair
Pointing to the number of children happily strolling about on the side pitches, Kilalea added: "We want this, we want children to enjoy themselves. What we must do is have a world event which is very good and make sure the whole family can enjoy it."
Kilalea said the Sevens has given him, his team as well as the IRB plenty of positive vibes ahead of the March showpiece. "We've had a full delegation here from the International Rugby Board. We are looking at different systems that we will use for the World Cup. So far they are very pleased.
"For any large international event, you should always do a test event as it's called. And this is an incredibly good test event. It is going to give us some very good indicators on how we can improve our systems and make it the best World Cup ever.
"Dubai is very ambitious as is Emirates. And when Emirates bid for the Sevens, it was on the belief that this could be done and it should be done in the best possible way," he said.
Gulf coach seeks positives from outing
Despite losing five of their six matches, Arabian Gulf captain Stephen Cooper did not think the results were a fair reflection of their overall performance.
"Looking at the tournament as a whole, I would give us 85 per cent. In terms of our attitude as a team and how we came together, I would give us 120 per cent. I'm happy and extremely proud. We are just going to get stronger.
"We are willing to fight for every point but that killer instinct is something we lack. We do have a lot of shortcomings especially on the physical side. That's what we need to work on," he said.
