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Bahrain’s young rugby enthusiasts pummelled their way to glory last weekend as they dominated the two-day GAC Bahrain Junior Rugby Festival, emerging victorious in six of the nine categories.
Underneath sweltering sunshine that failed to melt the excitement and enthusiasm of almost 500 young players, the kingdom’s teams turned up the heat themselves as they battled against opposition from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Muscat, Riyadh and Kuwait in a series of age categories ranging from four to 16.
Held at the Bahrain Rugby Football Club in Janabiya, the competition got off to a superb start for the local heroes early on Friday. The Bahrain Pumas set the bar high, starting as they meant to go on with a thumping victory in the Under-7s. This was quickly followed by the Under-8s tournament being dominated by the Bahrain Tigers.
Ian Davis, the head coach for the Bahrain Under 7s and 8s, expressed his pride at his teams’ achievements at the festival.
He said: “We’ve achieved some fantastic results which has capped the end of an amazing season. Both of my teams have won two out of the three tournaments they have entered, they’ve been superb.
“They’ve been playing together since they were six, and now they’re going to move on up a year and continue to improve and grow into the game. Hopefully, they had a chance to see the older boys this weekend too and will go on to emulate their success.”
And success, the older ones certainly achieved. Although Abu Dhabi 1 ran away with the Under-9s category, Bahrain 1 fought back in the Under-10s and Under-11s to win both tournaments unbeaten.
Saturday started in devastating fashion as Doha narrowly edged out Bahrain in the Under-12s final, but the kingdom’s warriors fought back bravely to claim revenge against their Qatari counterparts in both the Under-13s and Under-14s finals.
Doha had the last laugh of the day as they won the Under-16s final with a narrow victory over Bahrain, but amongst the slight disappointment was the unanimous delight at a fantastic weekend of competitive rugby and essential experience to take into future tournaments.
Davis added: “The only way this event could have run was with the support of the parents and helpers on each day, as well as the club and the sponsors. It was a thrilling weekend for all of us; the coaches, spectators and parents … and most importantly, the kids.”
