Dubai Exiles beat Al Ain Amblers in explosive preseason friendly

Matt Jones - Editor 00:15 13/09/2015
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Dubai Exiles and Al Ain Amblers will lock horns in the UAE Premiership.

    Dubai Exiles and Al Ain Amblers can go into the new UAE Premiership campaign full of confidence after both teams showed flashes of brilliance in their explosive clash.

    – UAE: Kotze feels UAE can become one of top sevens teams in Asia
    – UAE: Date set for Dubai Rugby Sevens ticket launch

    There was pace and power aplenty on show in the Garden City as Al Ain hosted its pre-season tournament, with the highlight of the day Exiles’ 34-24 triumph in the night’s showpiece match.

    Both teams have new head coaches, Jacques Benade seeing his Exiles jump into an early 22-7 and then 27-12 lead before the hosts stormed back in the second half, Andrew Rouvi’s men at one point closing the gap to 27-24 before a fifth Dubai score settled matters.

    Benade was pleased with the competitive streak his side showed.

    “That’s what we want to do,” said the South African. “The boys have been working hard the last four weeks and we want to go and compete. We don’t really have a target, we just want to go and see if we can win every game. If we can do that it will be brilliant. 

    “(Friday) showed, with ball in hand, we can be very good. Without the ball we just need to be more disciplined.

    Al Ain Amblers recorded a perfect season in the UAE Conference.

    “It was an excellent game against a brilliant team so it was ideal, it’s what everyone needs.”

    New Amblers coach Rouvi, meanwhile, believes his side will hold their own in the Premiership.

    “It’s early days but I like to think we will,” he said. “We’ve got a good starting point but we need to work from here. I think we need to do some fine tuning.

    “Exiles exposed us a bit in the first half, so there’s definitely some things to work on, but we’re never beaten.

    “We were down then came back to within three points. I think we showed good skills and some brilliance, but we have to keep it consistent and I think we’ll get there, but this was a good starting point.” 

    Both teams will perhaps head into the 2015-16 campaign feeling they have something to prove.

    Amblers are the new boys, promoted to the Premiership after a stunning, unbeaten season on their way to being crowned kings of the UAE Conference, but aware the Premiership is an all together different environment.

    Exiles, meanwhile, endured a frustrating campaign, finishing fifth in the Premiership and missing out on the elite Gulf Top Six competition.

    They were forced to watch as Abu Dhabi Saracens, who they beat on the opening night of the season, went on to lift the West Asia Cup. 

    All the signs from Friday, however, point to the fact that anyone believing these two will be the weakest links will be left eating their words.

    Jerry Kilicanasau was the stand-out player for Al Ain Amblers.

    English twins Ryan and Danny Rapello caught the eye for Exiles, full-back Ryan displaying lightening pace to scamper over for two of his side’s tries, scrum-half Danny scoring one too.

    South African fly-half Durandt Gerber was assured with the ball in hand or at his feet, nailing one impressive touchline conversion in swirling wind.

    Exiles also have Tosh Masson in their ranks, the 30-year-old former centre spent time with Harlequins in the UK between 2007-10, making 21 appearances and scoring two tries for the English Premiership outfit. He also touched down in Friday night’s win. 

    Amblers also showed plenty of promise in their second half fight-back, especially Fijian Jerry Kilicanasau, who made his international bow for the UAE Under-20’s sevens side in the two legs of the U-20 Asia Sevens Series in Malaysia and Hong Kong last month.

    He was at the heart of everything good Amblers did in attack, touching down for one try and also having a hand in a few more.

    Recommended