ABU DHABI // For the few hundred Wasps fans who had made the trip from London, it will have felt like he had never been away.
Trevor Leota became a cult hero in eight years with the Adams Park club, and won the Heineken Cup with them in 2004.
After meandering his way through the twilight of his career via France, South Africa, New Zealand and Wales, the free-spirited former Samoa hooker has ended up in Dubai.
Now aged 35, he has his own team, which he set up last summer and promptly named Wasps in homage to his former club.
His new side were invited to play a curtain-raiser before the current Wasps vintage played the main event at Emirates Palace last night, and he made a point of sending a forget-me-not to his former fans.
Leota famously loves a collision, and was banned from tackling practice for much of his professional career.
Patrick Hegarty, the Abu Dhabi Harlequins fly-half, was the poor soul who bore the brunt of his bid to create a lasting impression.
Midway through the first half, the Quins player jinked his way through a gap in the Wasps defence, then was confronted by a human wrecking ball.
Leota hit Hegarty with such force, he was sent sideways and even knocked the referee over in the process.
"I had to put on a bit of a show for them but I am getting old these days and it is starting to catch up with me," Leota said.
"It was good to see so many Wasps fans out here. It was a great occasion for my boys, who had never played in front of people before.
"We play second division and they put out their first XV. I was so proud of the boys, and one of the local players [Abdullah Ahmed] scored a try, which was great."
The Abu Dhabi side are one of the leading clubs in the Gulf and, despite Leota's presence, they had too much quality for their opposition.
Quins held a 7-0 half-time lead after Tim Harwin, their centre, made the most of a muddled clearance to score in the corner.
As the Dubai side started to tire in the second phase, Quins found plenty of space to exploit, and David Stolzenburg, the longe-serving winger, profited by diving over in the corner.
After Ahmed, one of Wasps' sizable contingent of Emirati players, went over in the corner, Chris Jones-Griffiths settled the encounter in the "home" side's favour.
"When they have the ball five yards out from the line you know Trevor is going to be looking for it, so it is easy to key in," Alistair Thompson, the Quins coach, said.
"Every time we managed to get double-tackles there so we managed to stop him. Whenever you play against a team like Wasps you know it is going to be physical.
"We just needed to keep possession at ruck time, and we managed to do that."
pradley@thenational.ae
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Results
2.30pm: Expo 2020 Dubai – Conditions (PA) Dh80,000 (Dirt) 1,600m; Winner: Barakka, Ray Dawson (jockey), Ahmad bin Harmash (trainer)
3.05pm: Now Or Never – Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (Turf) 1,600m; Winner: One Idea, Andrea Atzeni, Doug Watson
3.40pm: This Is Our Time – Handicap (TB) Dh82,500 (D) 1,600m; Winner: Perfect Balance, Tadhg O’Shea, Bhupat Seemar
4.15pm: Visit Expo 2020 – Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Kaheall, Richard Mullen, Salem bin Ghadayer
4.50pm: The World In One Place – Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (T) 1.900m; Winner: Castlebar, Adrie de Vries, Helal Al Alawi
5.25pm: Vision – Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (D) 1,200m; Winner: Shanty Star, Richard Mullen, Rashed Bouresly
6pm: Al Wasl Plaza – Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (T) 1,200m; Winner: Jadwal, Dane O’Neill, Doug Watson
Salah in numbers
€39 million: Liverpool agreed a fee, including add-ons, in the region of €39m (nearly Dh176m) to sign Salah from Roma last year. The exchange rate at the time meant that cost the Reds £34.3m - a bargain given his performances since.
13: The 25-year-old player was not a complete stranger to the Premier League when he arrived at Liverpool this summer. However, during his previous stint at Chelsea, he made just 13 Premier League appearances, seven of which were off the bench, and scored only twice.
57: It was in the 57th minute of his Liverpool bow when Salah opened his account for the Reds in the 3-3 draw with Watford back in August. The Egyptian prodded the ball over the line from close range after latching onto Roberto Firmino's attempted lob.
7: Salah's best scoring streak of the season occurred between an FA Cup tie against West Brom on January 27 and a Premier League win over Newcastle on March 3. He scored for seven games running in all competitions and struck twice against Tottenham.
3: This season Salah became the first player in Premier League history to win the player of the month award three times during a term. He was voted as the division's best player in November, February and March.
40: Salah joined Roger Hunt and Ian Rush as the only players in Liverpool's history to have scored 40 times in a single season when he headed home against Bournemouth at Anfield earlier this month.
30: The goal against Bournemouth ensured the Egyptian achieved another milestone in becoming the first African player to score 30 times across one Premier League campaign.
8: As well as his fine form in England, Salah has also scored eight times in the tournament phase of this season's Champions League. Only Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, with 15 to his credit, has found the net more often in the group stages and knockout rounds of Europe's premier club competition.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
if you go
The flights
Air France offer flights from Dubai and Abu Dhabi to Cayenne, connecting in Paris from Dh7,300.
The tour
Cox & Kings (coxandkings.com) has a 14-night Hidden Guianas tour of Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. It includes accommodation, domestic flights, transfers, a local tour manager and guided sightseeing. Contact for price.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
