Doha and Abu Dhabi Harlequins players slug it out during the opening round match of the Gulf Top Six Rugby Championship at Doha Rugby Football Centre yesterday.

 

By Sports Reporter/Doha


Doha started their Gulf Top Six Rugby Championship campaign on a commanding note, with a thumping win over defending champions Abu Dhabi Harlequins yesterday.
At the Doha Rugby Football Centre, the hosts convincingly beat Harlequins 50-10 in a lop-sided game. Doha had lost to Harlequins in the Sevens final 5-27 in December, and they took their revenge for that heart-break in fine style.
It was a very good win for Doha against Harlequins, with the Abu Dhabi’s oldest team mostly consisting of youngsters. For Harlequins, wingers Adel al-Hendi and William Umu, who enjoyed a storming Sevens final with a bagful of tries, were both missing, while Quins’ pack too were without a host of heavy-hitters, including flankers Renier Els and Charlie Farmer and lock Anthony Murphy and brother Graham, who is a prop. Harlequins’ full-back Jeremy Manning, at 29, is among the oldest members in the team but they have been in fine form last year. They won the two major titles last year – the UAE Premiership and the Dubai Sevens last year.
Doha couldn’t have been heading into the competition in any better form, having won six games out of six in their pre-Christmas tournament of the Gulf Premiership, beating Muscat, Kuwait and fellow Gulf Top Six representatives, Bahrain. Still it was touted to be a difficult encounter for Doha. In the end, the hosts hardly put a foot wrong in the first game of the competition.
It was pretty much a perfect conditions at the DRFC, with slight breeze and lush green cover making it ideal. Both the teams began on a careful note in the first five minutes, wary of conceding a try. It was Doha, who jumped into a 5-0 lead, after a fine hands off the back of the scrum resulting a in a try, which winger Flo Lacambra converted. However, Quins reduced the deficit by three points through a penalty.
Thereafter the pace of the pace picked up, with Doha strong lines causing havoc within Harlequins defence allowing the hosts to a take strong lead which they kept throughout.
A try by Tim Newnham and conversion from Greg Evans increased the lead to 19-3, before a strong run and a well-deserved try from David Ford made it 24-3 in favour of Doha. The hosts further increased their lead to 25-3 after a try from Kerne Wales.
Harlequins attempted to mount back and came out of the blocks quickly to reduce the deficit to 29-10, but that was the last try for them as Doha dominated thereafter till the final whistle.
Doha coach Aaron Palmer was pleased with the victory. “We have trained well this week, given that most guys have been away for the Christmas break and we haven’t had any 15s rugby since mid-November. We got back into our moves and patterns seamlessly and hope to carry that into the game tomorrow,” he said after the match.
“We welcome new flyhalf Stefano Hunt into the squad, he has arrived from Australia and should be a genuine asset for the team for the Top 6 competition,” he added.
After first round of the competition, Doha lead the Gulf Top Six table with five points ahead of Dubai Hurricanes and Abu Dhabi Saracens thanks to superior goal difference. Harlequins are at the bottom, below Jebel Ali Dragons and Bahrain.