The Arabian Gulf's sevens captain Stephen Cooper believes his side have made massive strides since losing all their matches at the Rome Sevens at the end of last season. However, the South African centre said they were still "really disappointed" to lose out in the final moments twice on the opening day of the Singer Sri Lanka Sevens in Kandy yesterday.
They began their pursuit of the coach Mike Lunjevich's pre-tournament target of "at least a semi-final place" by trouncing India 50-0. However, they later lost out to late scores against both Malaysia and Korea. "We have definitely improved - yo u can't even compare how we are playing now with how we played in Rome," said Cooper. "Even though the standard of opposition is better [in Sri Lanka] we have also raised our game a lot.
"All the hard work the Gulf side have put in has definitely paid off. We are playing a far more structured game now. "But we are all really disappointed. We all really wanted to do well here, but we came unstuck against last minute tries in both games." The Gulf face an early start against Thailand today. Victory in that would mean a likely Plate semi-final against Kazakhstan. Cooper's side are preparing for the most important season in the history of Gulf sevens.
They will take their traditional place against the game's top sides in the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens. As the host nation, they will also be pitted in illustrious company when they play at the IRB Sevens World Cup next March. @Email:pradley@thenational.ae