The Bahrain Rugby Football Club is strapping up and ready for another gruelling season of competitive rugby as their West Asia Premiership campaign gets underway this weekend.
After coming so close last term, narrowly losing to Abu Dhabi Harlequins in the play-off final, the team has recruited strongly during the summer and the squad’s crocked players are also raring to go after recovering from serious injuries.
Their preparations were capped off by a visit to Sri Lanka last week, where the team played a fixture against Kandy in the Asia Rugby Western Club Champions League, emerging victorious 24-23 against Kandy SC.
“Sri Lanka was a fantastic experience for the team, and the win was hugely impressive as Kandy haven’t lost at home for a long time and were backed by a massive crowd,” Bahrain director of rugby Louie Tonkin explained.
“After a 16-hour journey, which included a long flight overnight to Colombo and then a five-hour drive on some of the worst roads I’ve ever seen, to turn in a performance like that is a huge credit to the lads and also a huge confidence boost for the season to come.”
Away from the competitive side, the players visited underprivileged schools and donated sportswear to youngsters, hoping that they will be inspired to take up the game.
The Child Action Lanka charity, which looks after children who have been left on the street and are struggling, hosted the team and the squad spent an afternoon playing games with them and teaching them about the sport.
Heated rivals Quins emerged victorious in the three-team, round-robin Champions League format, having beaten Bahrain’s second team 36-32 earlier in September before drawing 29-29 with Kandy.
However, Tonkin’s sights are firmly on the Premiership, and admitted that the Champions League was a tool to prepare for Friday’s crunch fixture and build up performances so that his players fly out of the blocks. He said: “It’s purely luck of the draw that our first fixture is against Harlequins, but that’s a good thing as we want to start off with as big a challenge as possible and set the tone for the rest of the season.”
The fixture is likely to see the debuts of Bahrain’s five summer recruits, players who Tonkin coached throughout his previous coaching roles at Pontypool and Cardiff University, and who have experience of the Welsh Premiership. They are second row Jonathan Kenny, centre Iwan Phillips, fly-half Ross Preedy, winger Graham Bishop, and flanker Rhys Fitzgerald.
However, Bahrain will definitely be without the services of captain and talisman Adam Wallace on Friday, who has damaged his medial collateral ligament, one of the four major ligaments of the knee, and is awaiting scan results to see the extent of the injury.
Tonkin says he has the XV starters already planned in his head, barring any late injuries, and that his new charges have already settled well and are loving their time in Bahrain.
He explained: “The new lads have integrated really well, and the set-up of the entire team is more professional than ever. Wallace’s injury is very unfortunate, but at least now he can focus on his coaching!
“Our new team managers Tom Hanratty and Andrew Wilkie have also been awesome and I’ve already seen big improvements in the team.”
Bahrain will play 12 fixtures this season as seven teams contest the league. They are Bahrain, Abu Dhabi Harlequins, Abu Dhabi Saracens, Jebel Ali Dragons, Dubai Exiles, Dubai Hurricanes, and newcomers Dubai Eagles.
The club is doing much more this year to bridge the gap between players and fans, with the decision to treat matches as official club events is sure to be welcomed by the passionate legion of fans that descend on the Janabiya location to cheer on the team.
Each match will now be accompanied by a DJ playing live music with important announcements during the match relayed over a tannoy. After the match, players will give press interviews on the pitch and there will be a presentation for the ‘Man of the Match’ accolade.
Furthermore, there have been great strides on the corporate side of things, with pre-match programmes and dining for sponsors and members of the media.
Tonkin said: “We have such fantastic support that I felt like we needed to give something back. It’s time that we put more effort into pleasing our fans off the pitch as well as on it, so hopefully this is the first of many steps to integrate them into the club going forward.
“It’s going to be a thrilling game, so I hope as many as possible come down on Friday to cheer on the lads.”
Bahrain vs. Abu Dhabi Harlequins will kick off at 6pm on Friday. Fans interested in watching the Kandy SC vs. Bahrain game can see the full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJVMPaOApfs
