The two current powerhouses of domestic rugby in the Emirates played out a thrilling stalemate in the Asia Rugby Western Clubs Champions League opening game at The Sevens – Durandt Gerber slotting an 80th minute penalty as the duo shared the spoils.
UAE rugby is surrounded by a lot of excitement right now with the national team doing well under Apollo Perelini.
That has been added to this summer by Jebel Ali Dragons appointing former dual code international Henry Paul as head coach while Dubai Hurricanes established a link with their Wellington-based Super Rugby namesake.
Bahrain and Abu Dhabi Saracens are also expected to improve, but it is the two teams who won the three major trophies last season who remain the benchmark.
Quins fly-half Luke Stevenson scored all 23 of his side’s points
“We were looking at it as pre-season, we wanted to bring in a few lads, but you can’t really take Exiles as just a pre-season game,” admitted Quins fly-half Luke Stevenson, who scored all 23 of his side’s points.
“We’re going to be playing each other three or four times this season and whoever won this one would have the momentum going into the next one.
“I think both teams were playing it down beforehand but everyone knows it’s going to be a tough one and we definitely took it seriously.”
Quins won the Dubai Sevens a year ago but they were pipped to the post in both the UAE Premiership and West Asia Championship by double winners Exiles.
Their head coach, Jacques Benade, believes last night’s result is a sign a fierce rivalry established last season is set to continue in the ensuing campaign.
“You can try to talk to your players and talk them down but it’s Exiles v Harlequins,” said the South African.
“There’s too many things that happened last year for this to be just a normal friendly. I hope there’ll be other teams picking up too, but Quins will be there around the end of the season. Hopefully we can get better as well.
“The score suggests the rivalry built last year will be exactly the same. No doubt about it. They’re a good side.”
Dead-eye Durandt Gerber booted 13 points for Exiles
Exiles were ahead for much of the game. It was only when Stevenson nailed a long penalty in the 76th minute that Mike McFarlane’s men edged in front for the first time.
Prior to that Exiles, led by the impressive Michael Sole, had taken a grip on proceedings.
Centre Sole, who played youth grade rugby for Exiles before attending university in Australia, opened the scoring after Gerber capitalised on Barry Dwyer’s error.
Stevenson restored parity almost immediately after good work from Dwyer but Exiles led by seven at the break thanks to Ed Armitage’s try after quick thinking from Gerber – arguably last year’s player of the season.
The second half was a largely sloppy, error strewn affair but Stevenson dragged Quins level at 20-20 with 10 minutes to go when he scored in the corner and his conversion bounced off the crossbar and over.
He booted a third penalty to seemingly give Quins a morale-boosting victory with minutes to go, but Gerber’s late intervention ensured a fascinating new rivalry continues to simmer.
