Jebel Ali Dragons welcome Bahrain as pivotal three weeks at top of West Asia Premiership begins

Matt Jones - Editor 10:25 11/01/2018
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  • Familiar foes: Jebel Ali and Bahrain.

    A crucial period of the West Asia Premiership campaign begins on Friday as the fight for this season’s title begins to heat up.

    Dragons welcome Bahrain to Jebel Ali for the first of three mouthwatering weeks of fixtures involving the trio of favourites for silverware, after which things should appear clearer.

    At the moment just a point separates joint table toppers Jebel Ali Dragons and Bahrain on 21 points, with reigning champions Abu Dhabi Harlequins on 20 in third, all sides having played five games.

    All three face one another in the coming chaos, with fourth-placed Dubai Exiles – seven points adrift of Quins and buoyed by their Dubai Sevens success – looking to capitalise on any mistakes those above them should make in the hopes of making it a four-way tussle for the trophy.

    Dragons coach Henry Paul is glad his side have the advantage of playing at home, although the former dual code international admits that won’t count for much if his team don’t show up against Bahrain.

    “The boys are keen to get back to it, it’s not been ideal training with lots of guys away still from the holidays, but I suppose it’ll be the same for everyone,” said Paul, who feels that the destination of the title will still go down to the end of the season.

    “It is an important game in terms of league position and I’m hoping home field advantage sways it but we’ve got to turn up too and play smart, at times vs Canes (Dragons won 30-13 before Christmas) we were guilty of giving away cheap field position, plus Mike’s (Wernham, Canes coach) team played well early on.

    “Games come thick and fast now though it’ll probably go right to the final game of the season to decide the West Asia champion.”

    Dragons, like Bahrain, have been back on the paddock for two weeks, and skipper Ross Samson knows the importance of starting 2018 off right.

    “We’re excited to play this weekend after a decent break. We had last week and this week to run off the Christmas turkey,” joked the Scotsman.

    “It’s definitely a big game for us as we haven’t had the best run against them in recent times but I think we have improved a lot so it’s all to play for. We know they’ll be physical and not make too many mistakes so we just need to be accurate and take our chances when we get them.”

    Bahrain coach Louie Tonkin is aware of the task facing his side, but he can’t wait for the game.

    “We haven’t played since December 15 so we’re excited to be back,” said the Welshman.

    “We’ve been back for two weeks and the boys are working really hard and are eager to play. It’s a huge three weeks in the league, we play Dragons this week, Dragons play Quins the week after and then the week after that we play Quins, so it’s huge.”

    Despite the tendency to keep one eye on the future fixtures, Tonkin is adamant 100 per cent focus is on nothing but Dragons this weekend.

    “We’re focusing on ourselves and this game,” he added.

    “We have some boys back from injury and are bringing a good squad. We’re confident if we can do the basics well and get our game going we’re good enough to win there, but we know it’s going to be a huge task.

    “We’ve done some work on them and we know how talented they are. They’ve got some new threats to last year and we’re looking forward to the challenge.”

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