Abu Dhabi Harlequins strengthened their grip on the Gulf Top Six with a 40-27 win over the Jebel Ali Dragons at the Centre of Excellence, but the game was much closer than the scoreline suggests.
Indeed, the Dragons were the better side for the first 40 minutes and crossed the whitewash three times in the opening half, through Ian Overton (2) and a penalty try.
Their dominance was not reflected on the scoreboard though, largely due to the boot of Luke Stevenson who converted Jeremy Manning’s try and kicked three penalties to keep Quins – who had No8 Mark Hibbs sin binned – in it at 17-16.
Chris Marshall grabbed a try within minutes of the restart to put the Quins in front, and although a try for Rory Binder and drop goal from Murray Strang would nudge the hosts back in front, the capital club hit back with two tries in the final 15 minutes through Ed Lewsey and Phil Abraham to snatch victory.
Quins fly-half Stevenson would finish the game with a personal haul of 20 points, all from the boot. “We were totally dominant in the first half,” Dragons coach Ross Mills said afterwards.
“We had control on our own possession, winning a lot on their scrum and won two of their lineouts, and I think half-time came five or 10 minutes too early for us.
“We could have done with getting another score before half-time to put the game to bed.
“We came out in the second half and I’m not disappointed with the effort, but we started to do things against what our structure is. “If we play to our structure, which is very basic, teams can’t live with us.”
Had Strang not missed two firsthalf conversions, and Manning not profited from a mix-up in the Dragons back three to score against the run of play, the hosts could have been out of sight by the break.
And Philippines international hooker Phil Abraham, who scored Quins’ fourth try, admitted his side had not been at the races in the opening 40 minutes, particularly up front.
“We knew we hadn’t put our best in and we knew that there was a lot of things we could improve on,” the 30-year-old revealed.
“We are pretty proud of the standards our forwards usually set and we knew that in the first half our set pieces weren’t up to standard. So we knew that there was a lot to improve on and if we squared those details away we could do much better.”
And Quins definitely improved as the game wore on, especially following the introduction of try-scoring scrum-half Lewsey with around a quarter of the game to go.
There appeared to be some handbags as Abraham completed the scoring, but the 30-year-old said he was just concentrating on putting the ball down.
He added: “It’s not a position I usually find myself in so I just forgot about everything else, I looked up and knew we’d scored so we were in a good position.”
Elsewhere, Doha failed to capitalise on the slip-up from the Jebel Ali Dragons as they lost 38-28 to the Dubai Hurricanes at 7he Sevens.
Prior to kick-off, the race for second place appeared to be between Doha and the Dragons. However, the side from Qatar were unable to stake their claim for a place in the final as they were well beaten in Dubai.
Doha did secure a try-bonus point, but with the Dragons matching that in defeat to Quins it is as you were in the standings.
Meanwhile, in Bahrain fly-half Oli Luke produced a scintillating try to seal a dramatic 36-31 win over Abu Dhabi Saracens.
Saracens, who were denied a win in Doha earlier this season in the final minute of the match, had led 31-17 at one stage in the second half. However, with time running out, Tim Jankowski touched down to bring the hosts within striking distance.
The try kickstarted a stunning comeback as Bahrain quickly drew level before Luke’s late intervention.
Defeat leaves Saracens at the bottom and still looking for a first-ever victory in the Top Six
