New Abu Dhabi Saracens head coach Winston Cowie has set the bar high by admitting he wants to win the West Asia Premiership in his debut campaign.
Sarries shocked the Gulf by being crowned champions of west Asia in 2014/15, beating Doha 26-20 in an epic clash in Qatar.
They remained competitive last year but were usurped as champions by Dubai Exiles, finishing third in the West Asia Championship, while also claiming fourth place in the UAE Premiership.
Fixtures for both competitions will be combined in 2016/17, acting as double-headers, with both to be decided by finals between the top two sides, and Cowie has targeted bringing some silverware back to the Al Ghazal trophy cabinet at the end of the campaign.
“I am incredibly excited by the opportunity to work with one of the Gulf’s top sides,” said Cowie, who the club revealed earlier this month would take over from last season’s joint head and player coaches, Stephen Hamilton and Craig Nutt.
“I am particularly looking forward to working with the forwards, harnessing the power of this beast of a pack, and working hard with the team to win the West Asia Premiership this year, in what is shaping up to be one of the most competitive Gulf competitions ever.
“With the excellent group of players we have we will be working hard in the pre-season and my challenge will be to ensure that week in week out we are a consistently physical team that gets results.