DUBAI: UAE Falcons, national rugby league team of the emirates, play their first international fixture of the season against Pakistan on March 30 at Dubai Sports City. After a three-year hiatus, due to sponsorship issues, the team hopes to bounce back from sporting obscurity with renewed vigour on and off the pitch this weekend. Using the Pakistan match as a springboard back into public conscience, organisers hope the UAE league’s re-arrival can spur set-up of inaugural local four-club domestic competition. Such a prospect would result in international recognition and grant UAE rights to qualify for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup. “Pakistan has some very big boys,” said captain Rama Chand. “They are solid and very confrontational so you can expect collisions, which is what league rugby is all about.”
Published in The Express Tribune, March 28th, 2012.
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