UAE heads to Malaysia for Asian Rugby Division II event

Matt Jones - Editor 12:51 04/05/2015
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  • Flying the Emirati flag: Hassan Al Noobi is one of six local players in the team.

    The UAE will leave for Malaysia on Friday, hoping to rebuild a reputation that reached its lowest point a year ago when they were relegated into the third tier of Asian rugby.

    A 30-13 defeat to Singapore on April 23, 2014, cast the UAE out of Division I and into the realms of the lower echelons of eastern rugby, but they begin life anew this weekend in the restructured environment of the Asia Rugby Championship’s Division II.

    Roelof Kotze’s men will travel to Kuala Lumpur to take on hosts Malaysia, Thailand and Chinese Taipei in a division in which the Asia RFU feel teams of similar ilk will play each other.

    A new era for the national 15-a-side game began in fairly inauspicious circumstances on Friday night with a 36-31 defeat at the hands of a touring Lloyd’s RFC team.

    The UAE had led 31-12 at one stage before letting the game slip.

    Unlike the national sevens set-up, where Kotze has opted for an almost exclusive Emirati player base over the last year, his new-look 15-man side is heavily populated with expats. But it does have a fair sprinkle of local talent.

    After the game, the South African trimmed his 32-man training squad down to 25 for the Malaysia tour, with six Emiratis out of eight named on the original training list surviving the cut.

    One of those is Arabian Knights full-back Hassan Al Noobi, who is out to prove rugby can and is thriving among the local population.

    The 29-year-old livewire back said after after Friday’s match: “I’ve already showed my friends and family that I can play rugby.

    “I really  want to represent my country and I want more Emirati players to come and play rugby. 

    “I will be more than happy to go into schools and speak to children about what it’s like to play rugby and teach them how to play.”

    His ambitions are shared by Waleed Salem.

    Although he did not make the final cut, the 30-year-old is on standby should anyone get injured and apart from the honour of playing for his country, educating young Emiratis about the sport is part of his future ambitions.

    “I want to show people that there is not only football in the UAE. You can play rugby too,” said the man who actually played football as a defender for Arabian Gulf League side Al Nasr until 2010. 

    “Because all the people focus on football and they don’t really know what rugby is. But as soon as they see it they ignore it and say this is not our game. 

    “But they don’t know there are Emirati players playing rugby.

    “They need to have more media coverage of rugby and highlight it because there are locals playing rugby in the UAE, which is good for the future.”

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