Match Report
Doha I vs Dubai Hurricanes
12 March 2010
The first half was barely three minutes old when Doha scored their first of six tries in the game. Some excellent rucking, quick feed the ball, slick handling and a break and offload from Dozi Dinobi saw Colm Coyle go over for the try which was converted by Marty Veale. Three minutes later Lindsay Fitzgerald broke clear passing to Veale who went over for Doha’s second try which he duly converted himself. The try rush continued following a Doha counter-attack and good interplay between Coomer, Hibbs and Coakley who dived over the line, the try went unconverted. The next 15 minutes saw a lull in the scoring and some ill-discipline in the Doha ranks led to Hurricanes being awarded a penalty which resulted in their first try and conversion of the match. But the balance was soon restored in the 31st minute following more great interplay in the loose between Hibbs, Fitzgerald and Coyle with the latter scoring his second try which was converted by Veale.
Half Time Score: 26 - 7 to Doha.
The second half got off to a slow start and it wasn’t until the 51st minute before Fitzgerald made a great break from a Hibbs pass finding a gap in the Hurricanes defense to score a well deserved try, unfortunately Veale’s conversion attempt hit the post. Coach Palmer started to ring the changes with Prior, Balsom, Wright and Fraser all coming on to replace Madec, Piek, Kelly and Lawrence respectively. The Hurricanes refused to lie down and were always a threat especially through their centre ‘Red’ and in the 68th minute their persistence paid off scoring a try which went unconverted. Darshan came on to replace Croker, and in the 74th minute a superbly worked try saw Doha skipper Richard Liddington rumble over from 3m out to score Doha’s sixth try which Veale converted (he may claim it was a little further). The Hurricanes scored a consolation try after Doha had Dinobi sin-binned for a harshly awarded yellow card.
Full Time Score: 38 - 19 to Doha.