Camels 1 stayed unbeaten in the Qatar Rugby Sevens 2016 to pick up the title at the Aspire Warm Up Track here yesterday.
The Lliese Rakabu-led side, who had stepped directly into the finals after being the top team at the end of the league phase, beat DRFC Hurricanes 38-12 to win the inaugural edition of the tournament, being organised by the Qatar Rugby Federation (QRF).
“It was a very good game today. It is very hard for us to come up to the finals, since we have been playing every week. We worked hard for it and we today bore the fruits for all those efforts we put in,” Rakabu said after the win. “Every day we worked hard, we trained hard and we did it all together as a team. Some of the boys who joined us were absolute beginners but you look at the way they have developed over the past few weeks.”
The Hurricanes began the finals evening with a 29-0 win over Al Khor and with Lions scoring a 17-5 win over Camels 2, the two winners faced off for a shot at the title.
Unlike last week, when the Issac Banks-led side had blanked Lions 29-0, yesterday, the latter did not let go off of the match easily. Hurricanes, however, still managed to advance to the finals with a 22-12 win.
Banks found positives despite a loss in the finale.
“The previous two times we played them, the first time they smashed us 50-0, the next time they smashed us 70-0. So to come back and pull 12 points from them, I look at it as a fantastic achievement for us. We have obviously always played to win, and to come within that margin, it has been fantastic,” Banks told Gulf Times.
Talking about the fatigue creeping in, he said, “Towards the end of the match, we had played three games. We were obviously very tired. And then these guys are also very big physically. So against a smaller team like us, even though we may have the skills, power play was effective. But Camels 1 are a classy team, there is no doubt about that at all. Congratulations to them.”
Asked about the advantage of playing only one game on the day, Rakabu said, “It’s because we worked hard over the past weeks and played well that we directly reached the finals. And it is the same for all the other teams too. Maybe we have given an inspiration to the others to work hard, so that they play like us. We played one game today but that’s also because we played hard over the past eight weeks to get to the finals.”
Rakabu expects tougher competition next time onward. “Next time, it will be a bit tougher. I have looked at many of the boys playing in the league becoming better and better as they keep playing more. They know how to sidestep, they know how to defend. When we first came in, we saw that they were not as good but the development has been tremendous. They are really good and the next season will be tough.”
Earlier, Camels 2, who were placed third in the league with 42 points, took on Al Khor in the Plates Finals and emerged victorious 33-10. In the Bowls Finals, played between the sixth and seventh placed teams of the league — College of North Atlantic – Qatar (CNAQ) and Blue Falcons — the former took the honours with a 24-10 win.
RESULTS
QF1: DRFC Hurricanes beat Al Khor 29-0
QF2: Lions beat Camels 2 17-5
Bowls Finals: CNAQ beat Blue Falcons 24-10
SF: Hurricanes beat Lions 22-12
Plates Finals: Camels 2 beat Al Khor 33-10
Finals: Camels 1 beat Hurricanes 38-12