Riding on three penalties scored by Luke MaClean and a try by Qatar International Jamie Frost, Doha RFC began their Gulf Premiership campaign with a 14-10 win over Bahrain RFC at the Doha Rugby Football centre here yesterday.
The win meant that Doha have come up trumps 12 out of the 15 times the two teams have played each other since 2008.
Doha, however, did not have the best of starts to the game when they made a mess of a scrum passing on the advantage to the visitors who managed to reach inside the 5-metre line within the first six minutes. An offside Bahrain player saved the hosts the blushes.
Five minutes later, playing against the wind, Bahrain was back in Doha territory but some good defensive tackles held them back from scoring this time too.
Bahrain continued making inroads into the Doha half and 25 minutes into the game, the visitors made a run for the white line with the hosts caught off guard. Adam Wallace sprinted the last 20-odd metres to score the first try of the Gulf Premiership. Oli Luke blew the conversion opportunity.
MaClean scored the first of the penalties seven minutes later, adding another one just shy of the half time with the scores reading 6-5 in favour of the 2011-12 West Asia champions.
Seventeen minutes into the second half, MaClean was back in business scoring his third penalty of the match.
Bahrain’s Jaxon McAllister messed up an opportunity to go one up five minutes later when he couldn’t hold on to a Brenton Conover pass inches from the goal line. The partisan crowd at the Doha Rugby Football Centre roared even as Bahrain’s frustration grew.
Former Doha College pupil Frost, who was part of the Qatar national team which won both their HSBC Asian 5 Nations division three matches against China and Guam to gain promotion, scored Doha’s first and only try of the match 8 minutes from time. Even though MaClean couldn’t convert this time, hosts held a commanding 14-5 lead.
Matt McKee scored another try for Bahrain but it was too late to force a turnaround.
“It’s a big season for us,” Doha captain Jamie Clarke said. “Obviously our goal is to take the West Asian Championship. Move over to the UAE and compete in the top 6 over there. We have a lot of new guys and today is just a new start for us. We take it game by game. Let’s see what happens after this.”
With Kuwait having pulled out of the competition, it leaves Bahrain, Doha and Muscat to battle it out for the title, and a place in the Gulf Top Six next year. Gulf Top Six comprises of four UAE clubs and the top 2 Gulf Premiership clubs.
The winner and the runner-up of the Gulf Top Six competition play in the Arabian Rugby Football Union West Asia final to determine the champion.
Bahrain play Muscat at home next week before playing their away game against Muscat on October 25.
Doha’s have quite a breather before they travel to Muscat for their second match of the competition on Nov 1.
Earlier in the day, Doha’s 2nd XV kicked off their campaign against Al Khor with a resounding 52-5 victory.