The UAE suffered a miserable start to the 2015 Asia Sevens Series after they were whitewashed during a pair of painful losses Saturday.
Roelof Kotze’s men travelled to China with hopes of breaking into the continent’s top-eight ranked nations from 11th.
But these dreams quickly fell apart in Pool A, opening with a 20-0 defeat to the Philippines and finishing up with a 24-0 reversal to Hong Kong.
The South African performance manager challenged his side to rebound and win all their matches on Sunday, starting with their Bowl semi-final against Chinese Taipei.
He said: “They were two tough defeats to take. The Philippines started much better than us in the opener and we couldn’t get going against Hong Kong.
“The players need to regroup quickly, as if we win our games it could help us towards ending the year ninth in Asia. That would still be a massive achievement and show clear year-on-year progress.
“We can’t lose more matches in China. I reckon we will end up facing Thailand in the Bowl final and I am confident we can beat them.
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“We are probably closer to 12th in the rankings as we speak, but we can certainly turn this around. I believe we have a good shot at it, Philippines are beatable in future and the likes of Kazakhstan can be targeted.”
The UAE have re-introduced expatriates to the fold for the three legs of the Sevens Series after they failed to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games.
This decisions has seen the likes of Abu Dhabi Harlequins winger Chris Marshall receive their first international call-ups. But the fresh faces received a tough introduction this weekend, Kotze hoping the “steep learning curve” will eventually bring out the best in them.
He said: “For some of the new boys, I think they had a shock at the speed and pace of international sevens. You cannot replicate that in training or domestic matches.
“It is a steep learning curve for them. The key thing is for us to identify a few players who will help take the team forward.”
The UAE finished rock bottom in each event during the 2014 edition. This year’s competition next heads to Thailand on September 26-27, before ending in Sri Lanka from October 10-11.
