Abu Dhabi Saracens have lost their last two games by a combined margin of 10 points but the men who play in the shadow of Abu Dhabi International Airport hope their season belatedly takes off tomorrow.
They welcome new-look Bahrain to Al Ghazal and their captain Jaen Botes admits it’s been a hugely frustrating start to the 2016/17 campaign.
They had an opening day 45-3 victory against Al Ain Amblers reduced to a forfeit after Amblers fielded two underage players – a result that was later wiped out completely when the Garden City side withdrew from competition.
They then lost heavily in Doha before battling to 20-13 and 10-7 defeats to Abu Dhabi Harlequins and Jebel Ali Dragons in their last two encounters.
But UAE international Botes says he and his team-mates can’t wait for tomorrow’s game.
“It’s been a tough start for us… it’s quite frustrating as we had a very good preseason,” said the burly Botes.
“We know Bahrain will come and play a very organised game, they have done some recruiting over the last year and we’re fairly aware that they will be good in set piece and open play.
“For us it’s about obtaining that first win and getting things off to a good start. We were disappointed in last week’s performance against Dragons, a game there for the taking but no excuses, we are working hard and looking forward to Friday.
“We have a strong team and a team I’m sure Winnie (coach Winston Cowie) would expect will take on Bahrain with full force. It should be a good game and I just hope we pitch up for the occasion.”
Bahrain coach Loui Tonkin is looking forward to his first trip to Abu Dhabi and is buoyed by a return of several players from injury, including influential skipper Adam Wallace.
“It’s a big game this weekend and we’re looking forward to coming to Abu Dhabi for the first time,” said the Welshman.
“We’ve got a decent side, a few boys coming back from injury, including Adam Wallace our captain. I think we’ll be able to put our strongest side out this season so that’s good.
“We know how hard it’s going to be, we know how strong they are up front, we know it’s going to be a huge challenge, and we’ll have to play extremely well to go there and win.
“Having said that we’re really excited. We’ve had a few good weeks and we’re in a pretty good place. Hopefully we’ll put in a good performance and the result will look after itself.”
