Reports

The opening match was against Brighton Rugby Club from the UK. The Brighton team had just come off a tour from South Africa and was a well-drilled team. We were unable to score against them and they went on to win the Bowl competition. St Peters a local team, were next and beat us by a resounding 36 to 0. The Doha team started to play as a team in this match however numerous mistakes saw us losing the game without scoring.

Thurstans College was our final group match. The teams played their hearts out in this game and were unlucky not to score. The final score of 26 to 0 was not a true reflection of the game. Thurstans went on to play in the final of the Plate Competition, losing to Royal College.

On the Sunday Doha were drawn to play a local school, Wesley College. Once again the team was beaten and unable to put any points on the board. The team was starting to work together now and not withstanding the physical size of the players, they were showing a good fighting spirit. The final game was played against an English Team, Sutton and Epsom. The team showed true courage in the match and were rewarded when Arif Saad took a perfectly timed pass from Byron van Blerk and ran 60 metres to score under the posts. Paddy Mc Grath converted and Doha was on the scoreboard. The match was lost 28 to 7. Sutton and Epson went on to win the Shield final.

U-16's
Doha travelled to Dubai with only 13 players, most of them making their competitive debuts. Unfortunately, unlike most of the other age groups, where there were plenty of teams, the U-16's consisted of only 3 teams, Doha, hosts Exiles and a Barbarians team made up with players from Kuwait, Abu Dhabi and Muscat and 2 from whatever team wasn't playing. Doha's first game was against the Barbarians and after going a try down, Doha fought back with 2 well taken try's. One each from captain Tim Hayes and forward Marcus Hayles to start off with a win.

The second game on Thursday was against the fancied Exiles team and although defeated 20-0, the boys actually played better in this game than the first one. Only tactical naivety when Doha were camped on Dubai's 10m line for a long spell only to give away a silly penalty and be hit with a quick breakaway try.

Friday's first game was again against the Exiles, who again ran out 15-0 winners, but again another good performance from Doha. It took until midway through the first half before Doha clicked into gear, but by them the damage had been done.

The final game of the tournament was against the Barbarians. It was another hard fought game with Doha dominating for long spells, but not able to convert the pressure into points until near the end when Marcus Hayles finished off a fine attacking move by touching down in the corner. For the record, the Exiles beat the Barbarians 25-0 on Thursday and 5-0 on Friday.
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Overall it was an excellent performance considering the lack of matches the team has played and people playing in new positions for the first time. The boys put in a great deal of hard work and have now set themselves a target of matching their effort with skill and letting the backs have the ball occasionally! 

George McVicar

COLTS
The Colts went over to Dubai with exactly 14 players meaning there were no subs for any of them. This was a gamble but at least we were able to field two sides and almost all the lads coming to practice regularly were rewarded with the trip and playing rugby. The draw favoured the 1st team as they had two supposedly easy games before playing Exiles 1st. They won the first match with no problem with Richard Davies, Greg Gibbs-Jones and Tim Newman scoring. The second game was more of a nail biter as the opposition came back at them in the second half and we battled to keep the lead. The third game was against Exiles 1st and our team made a very nervous start. In the second half they realized they could beat Exiles and played hard, scoring twice but unfortunately to late and so went down. This drew them against English College in the semi final, who ran out the winners to play Dubai College in the final.

The second Colts team had a more challenging pool draw. They played and lost the first two games but in the last game summonsed all the strength they had and came back from being down at half time to beating the Exiles. Special mention to be made of this team as they had not practiced together as they were not going to Dubai. After the initial fumbling and getting to know each other, they came right in the end and played an extremely entertaining match in the end. Nic Cowan refused to leave the field, although injured, showing true team spirit. Almost all the colts were asking to play for the senior sides the next day and two were selected to play for the Doha 2 team - Dukhan Tigers. The lads had a good tour and were extremely well behaved. Comment was made on their arrival at the ground how they are a credit to the Doha Rugby Centre with their appearance.

DOHA 1ST TEAM

In the first league game against Jordan, Doha began to put into practise what had been done on the training ground and came out strong winners 19-0. Doha went from strength to strength in the second game, totally outclassing their opponents Dragons II and winning 43-0, and demonstrating excellent sevens rugby. In the third league game concentration slipped slightly and the first points of the day were conceded, as Doha lost 5-0. Doha then entered the quarter finals of the Khanjar trophy on the second day and overcame a fairly strong Saudi Select team, which drew them in the semi finals against the much fancied Bahrain I. Doha stuck to their game plan of playing sevens style flowing rugby, keeping the ball alive and a tight defense. These tactics paid off, with Doha earning a much deserved victory, totally out playing and out scoring Bahrain I. Doha then faced Dragons I in the final. Doha took a good lead in the first half, going clear at half time. The Dragons fought back in the second half, and the full time result was a tie. This took the match into sudden death. Within minutes Dragons scored the winning try. The Doha squad played extremely well, and demonstrated some of the finest sevens rugby of the tournament. The teamwork and communication between the players being the key to their success. Thanks must go to Simon Firth, the coach of the squad, who's hard work clearly paid off. 

LADIES 

Doha RFC's ladies rugby team captured the Dubai 7s Trophy for the second successive year in front of a capacity crowd of 15,000 people at the Dubai Exiles rugby ground. Doha, sponsored by AEA Technology, won through to the semi-finals of the competition on Thursday having topped their group on points difference with victory over Muscat (61-0), a walk-over against Saudi Select and a draw with Kuwait (19 -19). On Friday morning the ladies met Abu Dhabi in a repeat of last year's semi-final. In a closely fought contest, Doha were trailing narrowly at half-time by five points to nil. In the second half, however, the Doha girls showed their true spirit and eventually ran out winners on a 19-5 scoreline. There were some impressive performances in the scrum by Georgina Eite, Hanna Stapley and Patricia Lynch with backs Jane Shaw and Helen Martin running in the tries. In the final, Doha faced a very strong and determined Kuwait team. Doha brought the game to them early on and, only for some poor passing, would have been well clear at half time. As it stood the half time the score saw Doha leading 7-0, with captain Grainne O'Donoghue converting a try by J. Shaw. Again Doha were exerting all the pressure in the second half and H. Martin broke through to score a crucial try with G. O'Donoghue again converting. Doha then experienced a period of pressure in which Claire Rimmer was outstanding in defence ably assisted by her forwards. Kuwait ran in two late tries but it was a case of too little, too late. The final whistle was blown to signal great celebrations both on the pitch, and in the 'Doha Stand', as the ladies were crowned Dubai 7s Ladies Trophy Winners 2001. The girls would like to take this opportunity to thank their sponsors AEA Technology, their coaches Simon Firth and Paul Rimmer and the supporters from Doha Rugby Club for all the support they have given them. 

VETERANS 

Doha Veterans failed by the narrowest of margins to make the semifinals at the Dubai 7's, winning two and losing one of their group games. Having been given the honour of playing the opening game of the Tournament by the organising committee, Doha beat Kuwait comprehensively, scoring four tries and conceding none in the process. In their second match against Das Island, it was also Doha's privilege to take part in the first game in the tournament's history to be refereed by a woman. Play was deliberately slowed down to allow the referee to keep up and Doha ran out comfortable winners by five tries to one. In the last game, Nondescripts from Kenya, who were also unbeaten, were totally outplayed for most of the game, but defended bravely to limit Doha to just three points from an Eddie Beveridge stab. But in the last minute, with a place in the semis beckoning, Doha's wall of steel was breached by Nondescripts who scored under the posts to win 7-3 and Doha's dream was over.

Despite rumours to the contrary the Dukhan Tigers roared again at Dubai, with some new faces and some young Veterans, the tigers pride passion and honour was restored. With competition fierce to wear the Tigers stripes, strict selection criteria had to be enforced. The Tigers were first let out against a much fancied Al Ain first Team but within the first 2 minutes, Tony the Tiger Severs had mauled Al Ain's aspirations with a delicately and finely balanced run tiptoeing through the defence, to score. No sooner was the ball back in play than Richi Lightfoot Davies and Manu "the Frenchman" Barry combined with Andy "Silver Fox" John (The Ex Vets Captain) to put the Jakarta Tiger Clive Thomas over in the corner. With a successful 68 yard conversion from the touchline, Al Ains aspirations were savaged and it was an opportunity for Tiger cub Clever Trevor Gibson to make his awesome debut in a 35 - 0 Victory. Flushed with Success the Tigers took to the field a second time, against a combination team playing under the name of Al Ain 2nds. This time it was Rob Taylor who made the play that saw Lightning Tim Newnham streaking down the wing to put the Tigers in the lead. After a short period of pressure from Al Ain, storming tackles from John Barclay and Debutante Khalid Cairo had Al Ain licking their wounds. Scenting blood the Islamabad Tigers Rashif Khawaja and Aftab Kureishi moved in for the Kill that left the final score a resounding 40 - 0 The satisfied Tigers had a well-earned rest before they were to play their groups Favourites, the mighty Kuwait First team. Several Members of the team were required by the officials to take blood tests, results confirmed Rabies, Alcohol, Brufen and twins, but no banned substances. 

The Final Game of the day saw Tony the Tiger in a relaxed almost complacent mood, and as a result the game was finely balanced. It took a move that had the ball passing through 14 pairs of hands, in a terrific show of ferocity, that took the Tigers into a 5 - 0 lead at half time. It was not without cost however, as both Khalid Cairo and Tony the Tiger sustained life threatening leg injuries. Rashif and Rob roared on and from the resultant feeding frenzy Richy Davies raced 70 yards to score under the posts and leave the final score at 12 - 0. At the end of the first day the rampant Tigers had scored 87 points and not conceded a single point. This ferocious display left the Tigers facing the Premier competition, the MMI Dhalagh Trophy. After a quiet evening's celebration, the Tigers took to the field against the current Champions Abu Dhabi. Within the first 3 minutes the Tigers had them within their claws but were unable to convert this pressure into points. After a disallowed try Abu Dhabi scored against the run of play. This left the tigers confused at being challenged and for a period Abu Dhabi Dominated and ran in another 2 scores. In the second half the Tigers regained their composure and "Nice Boy" Nigel Cole scored from the kick off. The Tigers kept up the pressure and dominated the second half. Despite this Abu Dhabi scored a breakaway try to kill of the Tigers challenge. The final score was 7 - 28. Overall a hungry pride of Tigers did their name proud and contributed to the outstanding performance of Doha Rugby Club (and we drank more beer than the Vets!)

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