DUBAI: The Dubai 7s club tournament was lit up yesterday by a streak of Saudi lightning. Fawaz Al-Aghee, a modest six month veteran of rugby, flashed in five tries in two of the club’s three matches, to help Jeddah Rugby Club secure a place in the quarterfinals of the Shield to be played today.

“After a shaky start, we found our confidence,” said Dave Kinckade Jeddah’s team captain. They needed to, after losing their first match 42 points to nil against the Al Ain Amblers.

However, they more than redeemed themselves by beating Al Alhi Knights by 22-10, containing their nimble wingers with some straight hard running and judiciously using Al Aghee’s blistering pace to penetrate the defense.

The match produced what must be the most spectacular try of the club first rounds so far when an Al Alhi winger ran the full length of the pitch leaving Jeddah in disarray.

Al-Aghee chased from the opposite side of the field diagonally covering a full hundred yards to intercept, bring down the winger two metersº from the Jeddah line and retrieve the ball. He then accelerated past the temporarily off guard Al Alhi players down the full length of the pitch, leaving the oppositon gaping and scored a magnificent solo try beneath their posts.

“That was a stunning exhibition of pace and commitment,” said Kinckade commenting on the try.

Tails high, Jeddah took on their Saudi rivals in the third encounter of the day when they met Riyadh Falcons.

There were scores to be settled, because in a recent seven-a-side tournament in Riyadh, Jeddah lost to the Falcons who have a high proportion of Saudi players and a high reputation.

Jeddah put the seal on their day by defeating the Falcons 26-0, with a confident and battling display that puts them just two games from the final today.

The day was not without incident. Just minutes before the first match at 7.50 am, they were threatened with exclusion from the game because registration paperwork had gone astray and the team hotel refused to send passports to the ground to allow confirmation that the players lived in the GCC. What should have been warm up time before the first match turned into a frantic scrabbling for papers and negotiations with officials. They were finally allowed on the field with seconds to spare before their elimination.

Prince Sultan bin Faisal Al Saud, a “useful prop forward” as one team member described him and the team’s newest player and sponsor aggravated an old ligament injury during a pre-match warm up which prevented him from taking part. Disappointed, Prince Sultan was able to share the team’s satisfaction at the prospect of a realistic chance of lifting the shield.

The resurgence of rugby in the Kingdom received a boost recently with official recognition of the Riyadh and Jeddah clubs as entities.

The players see this as a positive first step towards rugby being taught in some Saudi schools as part of the national curriculum, a precondition required by the International Rugby Board for the entry of a national team in the world-wide seven-a-side tournament. It is already a registered sport at two International schools in Jeddah among others.

“Judging by the physical ability of the Saudi members in the Jeddah and Riyadh clubs, I see no reason why the Kingdom should not eventually produce a competitive national squad,” said Kinckade.