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The Bahrain Rugby Football Club is on the brink of glory as it crushed long-time rivals Abu Dhabi Harlequins in the UAE to put one hand on the West Asia Premiership trophy.
Coming into the game, Bahrain had a slender advantage of four points at the top of the table, knowing that a loss would see their opponents overtake them, whereas a win would put daylight between the two.
Despite the score being 11-8 in Bahrain’s favour at half-time, it only told part of the story as the Harlequins defence had withstood almost relentless pressure throughout. The dam finally broke in the second half as Bahrain thundered over for a further 38 points to emerge with a massive 49-15 bonus point victory.
It leaves the men in red nine points clear with four games remaining and a maximum of 20 points up for grabs. The next game is home to Dubai Eagles on Friday, a team without a win in 11 games this season and who were hammered 88-7 in the reverse fixture in November.
Bahrain’s director of rugby Louie Tonkin was effusive in his praise of his charges’ efforts on Friday. “That was by far our best performance in the whole time I’ve been here,” the Welshman gushed.
“It’s such a massive win. Both ourselves and Quins had broken away from the rest and in a straight shootout for the title, we’ve scored a significant blow.
“I wish I could say there was a secret to such a comprehensive win, but it was literally going back to basics that did it. We were all over them in the first half, but only had a three-point advantage to show for it.
“I told them to keep banging on the door, don’t try to be too clever and just focus on the skills you know, and it will eventually break. The rugby we played in the second half was as slick and technically outstanding as anything I’ve seen in the Middle East during my tenure.”
Bahrain’s remaining fixtures are Dubai Eagles at home, Dubai Exiles and Jebel Ali Dragons away, before finishing against Dubai Hurricanes at home.
As always, Tonkin is refusing to think of the bigger picture and his mentality is very much the same as it always is … take each game as it comes.
However, a home draw in the semi-finals of the West Asia Premiership Playoffs is already secured and with the team in such scintillating form, it’s getting increasingly difficult to put a lid on fans’ expectations and excitement.
Rugby club chairman Mike Cunningham shares the sentiment. He explained: “We have another home game on Friday and we expect our ‘red wall’ to be out in full voice. It’s been many years, too long in fact, since our rugby fans have had such a strong team to get behind, and they’re enjoying every minute of it.
“Rest assured, Louie and the boys are not taking anything for granted, but they’re a different animal this year. After losing to Harlequins in the West Asia Premiership Final in 2017, a team which has always been a bogey team for us, we’ve beaten them five times in a row.
“As always, we urge all fans to come down to the club on Friday and see the boys in action as they try to move closer to the championship. All support is massively appreciated.”
The game kicks off at 5pm.
Meanwhile, on February 8, the rugby club will be hosting a Veteran 10s competition, with nine teams already registering interest. This includes teams from Bahrain, Khobar, Riyadh and the UAE all playing each other followed by an evening dinner.
