Action from the match between Doha RFC and Jebel Ali Dragons which was held yesterday at the Doha Rugby Football Centre yesterday. Pictures: Najeer Feroke
By Mikhil Bhat/Doha
Doha RFC overcame a difficult first half to blank out Jebel Ali Dragons 27-0 in their Gulf Top 6 match at home yesterday.
With table leaders Abu Dhabi Saracens winning their game 22-8 at bottom-placed Bahrain RFC yesterday, Doha’s win means that they stay put in second place in the competition with 19 points. Saracens lead the standings with 23 points.
The first half saw a few moves building up in both the halves of the Doha turf but there was nothing that could trouble the scorer. Hosts’ defence saved the half not allowing Dragons, the West Asia champions for two years in a row, to make any headway, even as the offence couldn’t up the momentum.
Moments before the break, Stefano Hunt put the first points on the board, making it 3-0 in favour of the hosts with the last kick of the half.
Coach Aaron Palmer’s words must have done some good to his players as Doha began the first half on a much better note. Minutes into the half, Greg Evans was under the posts and Hunt made no mistake with his conversion as hosts surged into a 10-0 lead.
Ten odd minutes into the second half, Doha was awarded yet another penalty and Hunt made it 13-0.
Palmer sent in Robbie Gaule and Jonathan Davis to get his team moving better and Gaule almost immediately made his presence felt with a try, which was duly converted by Hunt.
Davis had been making some amazing tackles in his half but soon found himself in a run with Aaron McLelland on the right flank.
McLelland took the ball past half-line before side-stepping a Dragons player and passing on to Davis who got it as close to the posts before lobbing the ball to Jamie Clarke.
Clarke got the touchdown and Hunt converted for a 27-0 scoreline.
“In the first 40 minutes, the ball wasn’t clean. We were not getting into the sort of numbers and situations we should have been. So we were on the backfoot. Luckily we toughed it out in defence to go 3-0 at half time,” Palmer told Gulf Times after the match.
Speaking about introduction of Gaule and Davis into the game, he said, “We just wanted a bit more mobility in the pack; get the forwards moving around the pack, which we were not doing up until then. We were just laboring. Once we got them moving, all we had to do was use the width.
“Things started moving from there. We wanted to spread them (Dragons’ players) wide, and then things started to open up from there.”
Palmer rued the missed chance of scoring a bonus point. “That will leave us on 19 points. It would have been good to get a bonus but we only got three tries, so we are only on 19. But we have to stay in touch with them (Saracens),” he said.