Fixtures and Results for Al Khobar Quins Rugby Club
Quins Home to HMS Campbletown, 28/01/08
A full match report has not yet been written but briefly - This was a tight game played in great spirit and was about as flowing as any referee could have made it, with some great patches of multi phased play. The game switched from 10-a-side to full 15s at the last minute and the Quins had to reshuffle quickly. The Quins adapted more quickly than most expected and did well to control the game in the pack with some excellent lineout work both on our own, and on their ball. The scrums were shaky and Andy Thomas had a busy night with good quality opposition and an ever wheeling scrum.
In the first 20 minute session there was just a single unconverted try scored by the Navy as a result of a rare backs move resulting in a strong run in to the corner. The Quins defended well and put together the phases but made mistakes around the breakdown that resulted in a lot of turnover ball. The second session saw a good drive from the Quins finally resulting in quick clean ball that was shipped out to Tom Stoppard in the centres for their only try - Andy Thomas adding the 2 points.
Injuries to Mike Loane resulted in several re-shuffles in the backs but the defense stayed solid and there were flashes of brilliance from Zee and Mark Boschini that showed the Navy just what pace we had if we were allowed to get clean ball. The Navy were clever enough to close down to 10 man rugby and use their scrum whenever they had the chance. It was a back row move from one of these scrums that saw their second try come in the third session which again went unconverted.
Khobar Quins had a great night and it was good to see so many players turn up for what turned out to be a very hard fought and tight contest. They look forward now to the Midnight Vets 10s to be held in Bahrain in March.