Many owners, directors of rugby and coaches in the Aviva Premiership question, with some justification, the merits of producing players for the England side.
Clubs spend thousands of pounds and countless hours developing youngsters capable of playing for their country yet are penalised for doing so because the players miss domestic games during international fixtures.
Richard Cockerill, the Leicester Tigers coach, said he would not recommend individual Leicester players to the England management, while Bruce Craig, the wealthy owner of Bath, said last month: "We're paying for the assets, who are the players, and we're massively constrained in how we can use them."
Clubs in the Gulf can also legitimately question the structure of their season.
Some of the Harlequins players, according to Chris Davies, the director of rugby, have not played a game for eight weeks due to the Dubai Sevens and the Four Nations tournament. They will have to wait even longer for some action after the Hurricanes cancelled today's Gulf Top Six match because of a lack of props.
The extended lay-off will firstly allow Davies to unpack his suitcase, as he only stepped off a flight from the UK on Thursday and, secondly, afford the likes of Murray Strang and Ed Talbot to fully recover from injury.
It also provides Davies, who brushed up on his skills by watching the Llanelli Scarlets academy squad during his break, with further time to heal the psychological wounds sustained on international duty in the Four Nations.
UAE lost all three games to Brazil, Hong Kong and Kenya, and conceded more than 50 points in each game. While Davies was thrilled the club had more than half a dozen players in the national side, he said it was "psychologically tough" for the likes of Renier Els, Jamie Clarke, Ali Thompson and Chris Jones-Griffiths to be on the receiving end of such heavy defeats.
"Their spirits are remarkably high," Davies said. "The guys are chomping at the bit to get back involved and show what they are made of. Good players learn from losses and the debrief was really positive. The guys will roll up their sleeves and live to fight another day."
kaffleck@thenational.ae
Florence and the Machine – High as Hope
Three stars
England squad
Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Dominic Bess, James Bracey, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Ben Foakes, Lewis Gregory, Keaton Jennings, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Saqib Mahmood, Craig Overton, Jamie Overton, Matthew Parkinson, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Amar Virdi, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
All or Nothing
Amazon Prime
Four stars
Yahya Al Ghassani's bio
Date of birth: April 18, 1998
Playing position: Winger
Clubs: 2015-2017 – Al Ahli Dubai; March-June 2018 – Paris FC; August – Al Wahda
Sour%20Grapes
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EAuthor%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EZakaria%20Tamer%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESyracuse%20University%20Press%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPages%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E176%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Types of bank fraud
1) Phishing
Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
2) Smishing
The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
3) Vishing
The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
4) SIM swap
Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
5) Identity theft
Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
6) Prize scams
Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
Turkish Ladies
Various artists, Sony Music Turkey
