The UAE will be hoping the sight of familiar faces can boost their chances of success as they get set to jet off to the Far East for the first round of the Asian Sevens Series.
Roelof Kotze announced his 12-man squad on Sunday for the opening leg of the series in Qingdao, China, with eight of those selected for the September 5-6 tournament also part of the 25 that competed at the Asia Rugby Championships in May in the 15-a-side format.
The UAE have announced their 12-man squad for the opening round of the Asian Sevens Series in Qingdao pic.twitter.com/LRUS87NJqF
— Matt Jones (@MattJones360) August 30, 2015
The UAE performed admirably in Malaysia, beating Chinese Taipei and Thailand, promotion back to Division I of the revamped Championship snagged by the tournament hosts after a narrow 20-19 win against the UAE in Kuala Lumpur.
Abu Dhabi Saracens’ skipper Jaen Botes made his international bow in May and believes the bond forged in Malaysia can help his adopted nation recover from a disastrous 2014 Series which saw them finish rock bottom of 12 teams.
“There were a few players to pick from and to see that I’m one of them is a great honour,” said Sarries’ No8.
“The vibe has been great at training, just like we had in May with the 15s, and I’m sure the intention for everyone is to take the same positivity to China and get the results.”
The UAE, currently ranked 11th in Asia, have grand ambitions of climbing into the region’s top eight during the three-legged series.
This seems a tall order given the fact they finished last in every leg last year and that they face Asia’s second ranked team Hong Kong and fifth ranked Phillippines in Pool A.
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Their chances are, however, bolstered by the fact that expatriates are now allowed to play.
Despite not being part of the fold in 2014, Botes is determined to prove some of the doubters wrong.
“I hope I can do the UAE proud in China. We have a point to prove and unfinished business to complete after that one point loss against Malaysia,” said the 25-year-old.
“We want to show the teams in Asia that we can do the business. It will be a hard task but we trust in what’s been implemented from the management and let’s hope we can go there and get some positives out of it.”
Familiarity also comes in the shape of club-mates, Botes joined by new Sarries’ recruits Mohammed Hassan and Hassan Al Noobi.
There will be four Jebel Ali Dragons in the 12, including Niall Statham, Kenny Munier, Ian Overton and Ryno Fourie.
Fourie, 33, is aware of the size of the task the UAE face, but is relishing being part of the national side again.
“We have been drawn in a pool of death I think on the first day against Hong Kong and Philippines and we need to win at least one of them to reach our goal of finishing within the top eight,” said the South African.
“I believe we could do well in the first leg and build on to the second leg in Thailand in a few weeks and finish strong in the last leg in Sri Lanka.
“Training has been hard the last few weeks but things are starting to gel nicely. We have included a few big boys to use in China and hopefully this will work in our favour against some of the smaller Asian players.”
Full squad: Jaen Botes, Hassan Al Noobi, Mohammed Hassan, Niall Statham, Ryno Fourie, Ian Overton, Munier Kenny, Justin Walsh, Majid Al Balooshi, Walid Al Balooshi, Mohamad Al Alawi, Chris Marshall
