Jebel Ali Dragons might have lost their way a little in the last 18 months but there was a familiar face back steering the ship against Abu Dhabi Harlequins at the weekend.
Murray Strang returned against their fierce old foes at Dubai Sports City, back in his accustomed fly-half role and completing a third consecutive 80 minutes after a sustained period out of action.
And after spending last season having to juggle the burden of a joint-head coaching role with playing, he is just happy to be fit again and part of a Dragons team looking like they are on the right path once more.
“I really enjoyed being back, it’s been great,” said the 34-year-old, who played for Quins for five seasons between 2008 and 2013.
“Hopefully I’m all clear now. Before Christmas I had a bit of time off, managed to do a bit of physio and yoga and thankfully the body seems to be holding up ok.
“I’m getting old now so it’s been the first time in a while I’ve managed to stick three games together in a row, three sets of 80 minutes and if the body can last a hit-out like that against the Quins then there’s still a little bit left in the tank.
“If there’s any game I want to be back fit and in the running for, whatever side of the fence I’m on, it’s Quins versus Dragons. It’s always a brilliant game and building up to this game at training we knew every single match between these teams is massive.
“When you get games like this it makes you grateful you’ve had the chance to get the body back together, even if it’s for a few games a season. It was enjoyable and great to see a few of the old boys at Quins too, running the show for them, like Reineer (Els) and the Bolger brothers (Ben and Sam), guys I used to play with like Chris Jones Griffiths, they still have that bite at the coal face and still going well.”
Familiar foes: Quins fought back to edge Dragons at the weekend.
Dragons led for 64 minutes against Mike McFarlane’s capital city juggernauts, proving that the
renaissance kick-started during the sevens season was not confined to the shortened format of the game.
Even though they eventually ran out of steam as Quins surged back to win 36-22, there are certainly encouraging signs following last season’s woes.
Having usurped Quins as the UAE’s top club for two-straight seasons in 2012-13 and 2013-14 when they won back-to-back trebles, Dragons sunk to unfamiliar depths in 2014-15. It started badly as they failed to qualify for the UAE Premiership final and got even worse in the New Year when they struggled in the Gulf Top Six, eventually finishing fifth, only above whipping boys Bahrain.
Although there is still a long road ahead of them, Strang thinks the signs are positive under new head coach Bruce Pendrey, who arrived last summer.
“It was a frustrating time last year trying to juggle playing and coaching,” admitted Strang. “One minute I’m trying to focus on getting out there and not managing, then I’m coaching a side that are struggling, so all in all last year was difficult.
“Then the first half of this year I was not involved at all. Bruce is doing a great job coaching and I wasn’t fit so I just had to go away and try and do my own stuff.
“I’m really glad, having put in four months of hard work, to play in games like this and be in real hard tussles, especially against former teams. It makes it all worthwhile but at the end of the day, when you’ve played in a Dragons team that’s won everything, going and completing trebles, when you’re doing anything short of that it is frustrating and tough.
“I’ve played in this jersey when we were the only ones picking up cups so to watch other teams beating us and to come away at half time saying ‘look we’re doing well against a good side’, I want to be back up there and I think everyone does.
“The sooner we can turn a corner and start building towards a team that’s getting to finals and winning trophies again that’s the next aim. I think we’ve got it in us, we just need to get fired up and going again.”
