BAHRAIN Rugby Football Club’s (RFC) first XV yesterday slipped to a second successive home defeat in the Gulf Top Six as a string of injuries to key players during the second-half contributed to them going down 24-16 to arch rivals Doha.
It could have been all so different however and indeed it was for the guts of an hour as the home side, playing in front of an ever-boisterous and loyal home following, led the way for the best part of an hour.
They took the lead inside the first 10 minutes when Ollie Hunt, taking over the kicking duties from regular centre partner Adam Wallace – a notable absentee due to injury – slotted over a sweetly-struck penalty.
The visitors levelled soon after though as fly-half Don Blake knocked over a penalty of his own after a Bahraini infringement.
Things got worse for the hosts when hooker Arron Dalgarno was sin-binned for what seemed like a fairly innocuous challenge at the restart but Bahrain did well to hold out during that 10-minute period and when Dalgarno returned he made the best possible impact as he squeezed over the game’s opening try after a superb scrum turnover deep in Doha territory.
Target
Hunt was just off target with the conversion attempt and Blake added a second penalty just before the break to leave the scores delicately poised at 8-6 at half-time.
Bahrain continued to dominate in the opening exchanges of the second period and extend their advantage by a further three points when Hunt slotted his second penalty.
With Bahrain seemingly in the ascendency at that point and the home fans in full voice, it seemed like they would go on to take control of the match but the injury-count fractured their progress from there on and Doha took full advantage.
Number eight Tom Jankowski was withdrawn in the first-half with an ankle injury and with fly-half Oli Luke and talisman Rich Wilkinson also forced off, it meant a total reshuffle of the Bahrain ranks.
Doha hit the front for the first time when Blake weaved his way through the Bahrain defence to touch down under the posts and leave himself the easiest of conversions and then Steve Head powered over off the back of a driving mall.
Blake put the game more-or-less out of reach with an opportunist drop goal but Bahrain showed great fighting spirit to finish with a try for skipper Tom Haim in the corner.