Jebel Ali Dragons coach Ross Mills is already planning for a “monster match” with Abu Dhabi Harlequins, after his side booked their place in the West Asian Club Championship (WACC) final with victory against local rivals Dubai Hurricanes.
Dragons secured second-place in the Gulf Top Six table in the last game of the season, as tries from Ian Overton, Paul Hart, Kris Green and Sean Crombie secured a 27-7 win at Jebel Ali Shooting Club Centre of Excellence.
They now meet the all-conquering Quins in the April 4 showpiece, who head into the meeting with a perfect 10 wins from 10 GTS games played after they edged past Bahrain 26-20 on Friday.
“We have won our last three matches, which is good,” Dragons coach Mills told Sport360°. “We made things hard for ourselves [against Canes] but now it is all about preparing for the final against Harlequins.
“It is an absolute monster match, and one we will look forward to it. We will give them the respect their Gulf Top Six campaign deserves.
“If both teams are able to put out their strongest teams, it will be a really fitting finale for what has been a long and tough season,” the Dragons coach added.
Dragons were without influential fly-half Murray Strang, who has suffered a recurrence of a longstanding back problem. In his absence, Friday's match turned when Canes full-back Andrew Longley was sin-binned for a late hit.
The visitors were worn down by the effect of playing with a one-man disadvantage for 10 minutes. And the three-second half tries stretched the difference between the two sides which had been only three points at the interval.
“I think they took their chances better than us,” captain Guy Potter said. “They are a side playing with confidence and they moved the ball better than we did.
“We have a great group of lads, and we are already looking forward to next season. We have done well at home, and we will look to build on that next year.”
In Bahrain, Luke Stevenson’s valuable kicking nudged Quins ahead in one of their tightest games of the season.
Player-coach Jeremy Manning believed the test stood his team in good stead ahead of the WACC final.
“To win all 10 games is a great achievement and the boys are rightly chuffed with themselves,” he said. “This game was very tight, and it was exactly what we needed heading into the game with the Dragons. I would say we might be the underdogs because of their record in finals.”
The most entertaining day of the game occurred at Al Ghazzal as bottom-placed Abu Dhabi Saracens finished their GTS campaign on a high as they edged an entertaining 41-39 meeting with Doha.
The visitors went out of the blocks quickly scoring two tries, before Saracens’ livewire attack burst into life.
