Gulf ready for Singer Sevens

[shahul]

DUBAI — The Arabian Gulf men’s rugby team will be stepping up their World Cup preparations when they travel to Sri Lanka next week for the Singer International Sevens.

Having given the Asian region - IRB Satellite Sevens event a miss last year, the two-time Bowl winners of the 10-year-old competition are aiming for a top-three finish.

Arabian Gulf have been drawn in pool A with India, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand. Hosts Sri Lanka, Chinese Taipei, China, Singapore and Kazakhstan are in the other half of the 10-nation tournament to be held from September 5-7 in Kandy.

There will be three new faces in the Gulf team led by Dubai Exiles centre Stephen Cooper who has been Sevens captain since 2006. “We have a good mix of experienced players and have training hard for the past eight weeks. We would definitely like to finish among the top three,” said Cooper speaking to Khaleej Times. He rates Korea, hosts Sri Lanka, Taipei and Thailand as the toughest rivals but is eager to improve on their seventh rank in 2006.

The South African-born player relishes the challenge of switching to the shorter version of the game after their gruelling campaign in the inaugural Asian Five Nations. “I prefer Sevens because its more fun and action though its harder on the body and requires lot of fitness,” said Cooper who has been based here for the past seven years.

The Gulf are now entering the fourth month of what has been a committed training campaign as the squad gears itself for the annual Dubai Sevens in late November and ultimately the Dubai hosted IRB Rugby World Cup Sevens in March 2009.

The squad under experienced coach Mike Lunjevich has been able to far exceed any previous preparation endeavours due to it securing the assistance and major sponsorship of Global Process Systems. GPS is a global provider technology-based ‘design and build’ process facilities solutions for the upstream oil & gas industry.

Lunjevich has selected a team for Kandy, built strongly around the squad members who spend the sweltering summer months in Dubai training thrice weekly as a squad in addition to following individual prescribed programmes.

Debutants being rewarded for their summer toil are Dubai Hurricane Josh Sherrin and Abu Dhabi’s Jonny MacDonald. Sherrin has impressed with his physical play and improved level of fitness. More regularly a winger in the 15s game the strongly build Sherrin will likely pack down in the forwards for his first taste of international sevens.

Cooper is very enthusiastic about his team’s potential. “I’m really looking forward to getting out on the pitch and playing with these guys. We have trained hard over the summer and now we just want to get out there and play”, adding, “We let ourselves down in our last tournament (in Rome) so this is an opportunity to get things right and perform to a higher standard which I’m confident we can.”

Arabian Gulf team: Stephen Cooper (Captain, Dubai Exiles), Arron Brown (Dubai Hurricanes), Joshua Sherrin (Dubai Hurricanes), Chris Gregory (Dubai Hurricanes), Dave Clarke (Dubai Exiles), Gerry Considine (Dubai Hurricanes), Corey Oliver (Dubai Dragons), Jonny MacDonald (NBAD Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Stuart Gibb (Dubai Dragons), Dan Patching (Dubai Exiles)

allaam@khaleejtimes.com