Teams arrive in town for Dubai Rugby Sevens

Sunday, Nov 24, 2013

Dubai: The top rugby sevens players in the world have started to arrive in Dubai in preparation for one of the biggest events in the emirate’s sporting calendar.

The teams have been arriving all weekend and final preparations for this weekend’s Emirates Dubai Rugby Sevens have been taking place at various locations around Dubai, including The Sevens stadium itself.

Among the first to arrive for the November 28 to 30 event were the USA women’s team. For them it is the start of their season, with Dubai hosting the first round of the new IRB Women’s Sevens World Series season.

“It’s been a long flight — 13 hours — but we’re delighted to be in Dubai,” said team manager Joanne Kos. “We’re really looking forward to the tournament, it’s a fantastic event and we’re here to win it

“Okay so the New Zealanders are favourites, but we had a good World Cup, finishing third, and preparations have been going well ahead of flying out to Dubai, so we’re all really excited.”

The USA will be among 12 teams competing in their tournament, while England will be among 16 taking part in the second round of the HSBC Sevens World Series.

“It’s great to be back in Dubai,” said head coach Simon Amor, who was twice a winner as a player in Dubai when he was England’s captain. “We’ve had a productive time together after Australia and we’ve done a lot of hard work, so we’re looking forward to the tournament.”

The Emirates Dubai Rugby Sevens gets underway on Thursday, with pool matches in the IRB Women’s Sevens World Series and the start of the Invitation Tournament. Entry on Thursday is free.

The Women’s tournament reaches it’s climax on Friday, with the men’s HSBC Sevens World Series tournament getting underway the same day before concluding on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Ireland’s women’s team hope their Dubai debut can act as the first step towards qualifying for the Olympic Games tournament in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

The Irish squad achieved ‘core’ status in the IRB Women’s Sevens World Series after reaching the quarter-finals at the World Cup earlier this year.

And they proved then — as they did in their only series appearance last season, when they finished fifth in China — that they have the potential to make quite an impact in their first Dubai campaign and throughout the season.

“We are really excited about making our debut as a core team at the world seven series in Dubai,” said coach Jon Skurr.

“It’s a busy year for Irish rugby and we will see lots of new players stepping up to the international game.

“It’s going to be a tough start but our plan is to develop a bigger pool of players who can qualify for and compete in the first Sevens Olympic tournament in 2016.

“The first stage in this development is Dubai and we are looking forward to the challenge of playing in such a great sevens tournament.”

Staff Report