DOHA: Abu Dhabi Saracens yesterday beat hosts Doha Rugby Football Club 26-20 to win the ARFU West Asia Club Championship final.
The visitors - led by Ali Thompson - avenged their loss to the same side in their Gulf Top Six game a few weeks ago, leaving the home team disappointed after a gruelling battle last evening.
Playing in front of a boisterous crowd on their home turf, DRFC kicked off the proceedings with a promising start but the visitors took the game in the last four minutes to seal their win.
It was key player Liam Frost’s final game for the Doha side which was at full strength for the one-off clash.
“We were always confident that we would come here and perform,” Thompson said after the final. “The boys were relishing a chance to show how badly they wanted to win this,” he added after watching his side clinch the issue minus their influential skipper Jaen Botes.
“The club has come a long way in four years. The club has big ambitions. People talk about the big-spending Abu Dhabi Saracens but when you think about it that’s not true at all. The club have actively gone out and recruited players. It’s just trying to gain parity with Harlequins and attract players to a new club in the city,” Thompson said.
It was Saracens’ first official game in over two weeks but the visitors played to their strength against the home side backed by a vociferous crowd.
Doha coach Aaron Palmer was disappointed after the loss.
“You can win a league consistently over 10 weeks and you come to a final and then lose like this in the last four minutes. That was it - it was a gone. It was a hard pill to swallow. They were fantastic,” Palmer said.
“The guys didn’t play to our plans. I don’t know if it was nerves or was it that older fellows couldn’t provide it - I don’t know what it was,” the New Zealander wondered.
“But we didn’t play to a pattern and we gave away too many penalties. They put us in a corner and they used their strength. It is hard (to digest the loss),” he added.
“We missed a few shots and you know kicking is important in any game. It was a massive difference. It would have had an impact in the game. It was a great to see so many people turn up today. All enjoying themselves. These people are passionate about rugby. These are amateur players. They work 40 hours a week and then play the game on weekends and they come down here. This is what we do.
“It would be great if the game is televised. Any bit of promotion would be great. The fact that this community club puts on a great show for about 500 people is just magnificent,” he said.
Palmer said Frost would be hard to replace.
“Liam Frost is a good friend of mine for the last five years here,” Palmer said. “He will be sorely missed. Family (priorities) take over for him which is great. Every year players come in and go. He was a big part of our side,” Palmer said.
Palmer said the club would be looking at welcoming a new bunch of players in the summer.
“Every year you get players in, players out and we don’t know who would turn up. We would look to fill up good rugby players in the summer. We might have five or six or even eight who would move on,” he said.
Nicholas Hopton, the British Ambassador to Qatar, presented the winning trophy to Saracens captain before he handed over the Gulf Top Six cup to the Doha skipper. THE PENINSULA
