Bahrain are probably sick of the sight of Abu Dhabi Harlequins, their Zayed Sports City home and indeed the UAE.
On their last four Gulf Top Six visits to Quins, the club’s first XV have shipped 160 points, including a 48-0 defeat last Friday, while they have not even bothered the scorers in their two previous trips.
In total, Bahrain have won only two of their last 10 games in the UAE and will be back in Dubai on the weekend to face the Hurricanes.
Playing in the regional competition means Bahrain – as well as Doha – must play half of their games on the back of international travel. Not that you will find them complaining.
“It would be easy to say yes, but then we have always had to do it,” Bahrain’s Tom Hanratty said when asked if travel requirements had an adverse effect on his side’s Gulf Top Six performance.
“Teams have to travel to us as well and I guess that works the same way. We have half our games at home and we should therefore have a bigger advantage when UAE teams visit than when they play against each other because it’s not such an effort [for them to travel].”
However, Hanratty does believe that Bahrain and Doha sometimes struggle due to a lack of competition at the start of the season, when teams from the UAE are playing each other in the Premiership.
He added: “One thing that kills us is not having enough games before Christmas because we tend to get a game and then a break of three weeks and then a game and then a break of three weeks.
"There is never a chance to build momentum.”
