Sean Hurley hopes new Gulf players will shine.
Sean Hurley hopes new Gulf players will shine.

Arabian Gulf: giving their all to the end



DUBAI // The Arabian Gulf are going to extreme lengths to ensure they are competitive at next month's Dubai Rugby Sevens.

Earlier this week, the region's representative side conducted a promotional training session at -6°C inside Ski Dubai.

Their next assignment will be played in rather more clement conditions, with a maximum forecast temperature of a mild 26°C, but they are having to travel 16 hours to get there.

On Tuesday night, the students, business managers and sportswear salesmen who make up the Gulf squad will fly to Brisbane ahead of next weekend's Gold Coast Sevens.

Dress rehearsals do not come much harder than the competition on Australia's east coast.

Samoa, the world series champions who are in the Gulf's pool at the Dubai Sevens, are headlining an event which also involves emerging sides from New Zealand, Australia and the UK, as well as some Super rugby franchises.

"It is a very strong tournament, in many ways maybe even tougher than the IRB [International Rugby Board] competition at the Sevens," Sean Hurley, the Gulf captain, said.

"We have five or six players who will be getting their first taste of rugby at this level. We want to test them to see how they fare under pressure."

As always with the amateur Gulf side, the challenge on the field is unlikely to be any tougher than the logistical one they face ahead of any event.

Their 12-man squad for the tour is drawn from seven countries, four of which are outside the Gulf. Taif al Delamie, Jonny MacDonald and James Love will all jet into Dubai from various points of Britain and Ireland this week, before heading on to Australia.

The burden of organising the Gulf's roadmap to the Sevens, which will be their last before they are disbanded into separate national teams, has been a heavy one.

Hurley has had to juggle his rehabilitation from an ankle injury with arranging the logistics of the tour, as well as his day job as a business development manager.

The squad

Sean Hurley (captain, Dubai Dragons), Taif al Delamie (Lansdowne and Muscat), Jonny MacDonald (University of Cardiff and Abu Dhabi), James Love (Hartpury College and Bahrain), Chris Gregory, Duncan Murray, Khaled Helal, Brad Barker (Dubai Hurricanes), Rory Binder, Dan Bell, Shane Stapleton (Bahrain), Jason Voyce (Muscat)

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MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg

Barcelona v Liverpool, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE).

Second leg

Liverpool v Barcelona, Tuesday, May 7, 11pm

Games on BeIN Sports

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At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

Roll of honour 2019-2020

Dubai Rugby Sevens
Winners: Dubai Hurricanes
Runners up: Bahrain

West Asia Premiership
Winners: Bahrain
Runners up: UAE Premiership

UAE Premiership
}Winners: Dubai Exiles
Runners up: Dubai Hurricanes

UAE Division One
Winners: Abu Dhabi Saracens
Runners up: Dubai Hurricanes II

UAE Division Two
Winners: Barrelhouse
Runners up: RAK Rugby

Dubai Women's Tour teams

Agolico BMC
Andy Schleck Cycles-Immo Losch
Aromitalia Basso Bikes Vaiano
Cogeas Mettler Look
Doltcini-Van Eyck Sport
Hitec Products – Birk Sport 
Kazakhstan National Team
Kuwait Cycling Team
Macogep Tornatech Girondins de Bordeaux
Minsk Cycling Club 
Pannonia Regional Team (Fehérvár)
Team Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Team Ciclotel
UAE Women’s Team
Under 23 Kazakhstan Team
Wheel Divas Cycling Team

In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
  • Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000 
  • Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000 
  • Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000 
  • Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000 
  • HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000 
  • Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000 
  • Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000 
  • Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000 
  • Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000 
  • Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000 
  • Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000 
  • Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
  • Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
  • Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

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The White Lotus: Season three

Creator: Mike White

Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell

Rating: 4.5/5

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The Vines - In Miracle Land
Two stars