Crouch, touch ... engage | Jury still out on Dubai Sevens
Gulf event packs in nearly enough rugby action and ‘cheesy’ entertainment to rival Hong Kong’s annual showcase
Dubai and its sevens tournament are giving me rather mixed emotions. I suspect that as a proud member of the organisational crew for our own Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens I was hoping my first experience of this famed rugby festival in the Middle East would be mildly negative and leave me able to safely declare that it wasn’t a patch on our own event ... but I'm just not sure.
I got off to a perfect start with a soul-destroying 45-minute wait in the immigration queue at Dubai airport, leaving me quietly seething and comparing the experience unfavourably with the slick efficiency of our own Chek Lap Kok operation.
After actually arriving at “7he Sevens” stadium however, a superb sporting oasis somewhat strangely stuck out in the desert about an hour from downtown Dubai, my opinion began to subtly shift.
What Dubai offers first and foremost is space – in every aspect the event’s complex provides superb facilities for the participating rugby teams, officials, spectators and sponsors. There are numerous luscious turf pitches surrounding the main Stadium on which a massive smorgasbord of sevens and 10s competitions are played out over the weekend – everything from national women’s teams to ageing rugby legends, extremely social sides and not forgetting the youth teams.
I stood on a grass bank with ex-Scotland coach Frank Hadden watching a team led by Jason Robinson take on a side boasting Waisale Serevi, Stephen Larkham and Carlos Spencer in their back line – and that wasn't even on the main outside pitch!
Meanwhile back in the corporate village there was a superb array of both culinary skills and liquid refreshments on offer, regardless of which marquee you decided to gate-crash.
