Dubai: The UAE Rugby Federation (UAERF) will bid to host the 2018 International Rugby Board’s (IRB) Sevens World Cup, it was announced on Sunday.
Dubai last held the event in 2009 at the Sevens Stadium on Al Ain road. Thirteen other national bodies have expressed an interest to host the event including; England, Fiji, France, Hong Kong, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Scotland, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, the USA and Wales. Submissions will have to be formalised by December 5 before the winner is announced next May.
UAE RF secretary general Qais Al Dhalai said promising attendance figures stood in Dubai’s favour, especially after a disappointing turn-out at the last Sevens World Cup in Moscow last year.
However, a preference from IRB organisers to hold the event in August — when temperatures in Dubai will be stifling — could derail the UAE’s ambitions.
Elsewhere, the UAE RF has announced incentives to try and integrate more Emirati players at club level in order to benefit national team development.
There are limited week-in-week-out domestic playing opportunities for Emirati players with most going straight into the national team programme, but coach Roelof Kotze has said club rugby is vital for their development.
The UAE RF has offered to pay 80 per cent of each Emirati player’s club membership fee with clubs paying the remaining 20 per cent. But, so far, only one club has agreed to the subsidies.
Last month, the UAE finished 12th in the 12-team Hong Kong Sevens in round one of the Asian Sevens Series, conceding 160 points to just five scored. They will look to improve ahead of this weekend’s second round in Kuala Lumpur, but confidence is low following the UAE National Olympic Committee’s decision not to include them in the delegation for this month’s Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
The UAE now look toward 2016 Olympic pre-qualifiers in Dubai on October 31 and India on November 30. But even if they qualify to the 12-team final round of Asian qualification next year — including powerhouses Japan and South Korea — only one team from the 12 will make it to Rio de Janeiro.
