Muscat-born Taif Al Delamie has been handed the captaincy of the Arabian Gulf Sevens team which is set for their final hurrah at the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Seven tournament this weekend at The Sevens ground off Dubai-Al Ain Road.
“It’s a great honour,” said Taif who was vice-captain of the team at the World Cup Sevens hosted in Dubai last year and is of Omani-Irish parentage.
The Dublin-based player who turns out for Lansdowne RFC will lead Gulf side’s final international campaign before the Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union (AGRFU) is disbanded on December 31.
It will be an emotional occasion for many Gulf veterans including former captain Sean Hurley who will be making his 11th appearance at the Dubai Rugby Sevens.
However, Taif will not let this weigh down on their performance in the December 3-4 tournament.
“We are more focused on getting wins in the tournament. We are not dwelling on the fact that it’s our last tournament together. We want to compete and cause a few upsets,” said the Gulf skipper who have the daunting task of facing IRB Seven Series holders Samoa, reigning World Cup Sevens champions Wales and Kenya in the pool stages on Friday.
“If you want to do it, you got to do it the hard way,” said Taif, 24, who has been an integral member of the Arabian Gulf Sevens team in the recent past.
He is happy with the composition of the squad which comprises a mix of old hands like Hurley, Jonny MacDonald, Chris Gregory and James Love plus several new faces.
“It’s good to see some young kids coming through such as Hayden Palmer which is exciting,” he said as the squad assembled on Monday flying in from different parts of the world such as Bahrain, England and Australia.
“We are little rough around the edges but positive,” said Taif after the Arabian Gulf warmed up with a practice match against USA.
“It is the first run of the team. Some of the guys didn’t come down to Australia (Gold Coast tournament) and got off the plane this morning. They were a little bit flat,” said Hurley.
“Apart from that there are no excuses. We went out with the goal to work on our defence and close the gaps. We achieved that. We are also getting the guys together again,” said Hurley although they leaked in six tries in three seven-minute games while Jason Voyce crossed the line once after a lovely break by MacDonald.
Coach Shane Thornton was excited at the prospect of 18-yyear-old Hayden Palmer in particular. “He is improving every time he gets on the field. He gets his chance this year,” said the New Zealander of the Dubai Hurricanes flier.
Bahrain RFC’s Rory Binder and Daniel Bell, Tim Fletcher of Dubai Dragons and Rama Chand of New Zealand-Fiji parentage from Toa Dubai are the new faces in the side.
“We had a few players who pulled out from last year and these guys have put their hands up,” said Thornton.
“It will be our last hurrah. We will be putting everything into every game and hopefully the crowd will get behind us. And hopefully we will get a win,” said the coach optimistically.
Arabian Gulf squad
Jason Voyce (Muscat RFC)
Daniel Bell (Bahrain RFC)
Sean Hurley (Dubai Dragon RFC)
Shane Stapleton (Bahrain RFC)
Jonathan MacDonald (Cardiff University RFC/ Abu Dhabi Harlequins)
Taif Al Delamie (Captain, Lansdowne RFC/ Muscat RFC)
James Love (Bahrain/ Hartpury College RFC)
Tim Fletcher (Dubai Dragons RFC)
Chris Gregory (Dubai Hurricanes RFC)
Rama Chand (Toa Dubai RFC)
Rory Binder (Bahrain RFC)
Hayden Palmer (Dubai Hurricanes RFC)
Reserves:
Khaled Helal (Dubai Hurricanes RFC)
Duncan Murray (Dubai Hurricanes RFC)
Shane Thornton (coach)
Lacey Congram (physio)
Martin Warburton (manager)