The Headmaster of Dubai College has today hailed the talents and resilience of the school’s staff and students, after thier teams’ unprecedented success at the 49th edition of the Dubai Rugby Sevens.
Despite facing strong opposition from across the GCC, both of DC’s teams emerged as the teams to beat in the U19 Gulf Competition, before facing off against each other in a never-seen-before final. The two sides had dominated their matches in the early rounds, but came up against stiffer opposition when they faced familiar foes in the semi-finals. DC’s B team first produced a huge upset to claim a 31-21 victory over reigning champions, British School Al Khubairat, before the A-team edged a nail-biting encounter with another of the pre-tournament favourites, Dubai English Speaking College.
With history already made, the tournament came down to a fight amongst playground friends. Despite a valiant effort from the school’s B-team, they were unable to shake off fatigue following the exertions of their semi-final triumph, with the A-team eventually running out convincing 50-11 victors.
A delighted DC Headmaster, Mike Lambert, put the achievements of both teams into context.
“Never before in the history of the Dubai Sevens has an A-team played a B-team in the Championship final, and for our boys to do so in the school’s 40th year is a huge achievement. This truly is a historic moment as Dubai College reclaim the top-spot as the leading boys rugby team in the Gulf.”
As well as lauding praise on the school’s players, Lambert also heaped praise on the school’s Director of Sport, Andy Jones.
“The school would be lost without (Andy). To be continuing to secure historic victories alongside increasingly tough competition is testament to Andy’s talent and determination, made all the stronger through his partnership over the past three years with Director of Rugby Jacques Benade.”
It wasn’t just DC’s boys that Lambert will be proud of. The school’s U19 Girls Netball Team also made it all the way to the final of a stacked Open Youth Netball competition, where an outstanding display saw them deadlocked after regular-time with South African powerhouse, Hoërskool Noordheuwel. The DC girls then cruelly lost out to a golden-goal in overtime, but will take huge heart from an extremely positive showing over the weekend.
Congratulations to Dubai College from everyone at Gulf Youth Sport on a fantastic weekend’s work!
To see a full rundown of results from the Dubai Rugby Sevens, click here.