JEDDAH: The first of the women’s rugby sevens teams competing in for the inaugural World Cup landed in Dubai last Wednesday. After a non-stop flight from Toronto head coach Natascha Wesch was relishing the prospect of making history in Dubai.

“We’re obviously very excited. We’ve been preparing for a long time so to finally be here is wonderful,” she said. “We still have a week of training camp to do and refine a few last things but we’re really excited at the immensity of the whole thing and the history-making part of it.”

Ranked as No. 3 contender in the tournament, the Canadians fully appreciate that there can be no let-up in training until the matches.

“We know we only have a few little things to fix and then I think we can do very well. Obviously we’re here to prove that we deserve to be ranked third going in and I think we can do even better than that. We just have to make sure all our ducks are in a row and do everything right,” she added.

The Canadians will face up to Brazil, Spain and Thailand in their pool matches but it is some of the more established sides they have to beat on the way to the final that focuses their attention. “England for sure, the United States, New Zealand, Australia, France,” Wesch said when asked to choose the most difficult challenges. “There’s going to be some tough competition.”

The team’s experience in Dubai last November at the Dubai Sevens tournament helped in the long-term preparation. Wesh said that having gone through jet lag and played in the Dubai climate was good for the team. “It was our dry run for this,” she said, noting that in November they nearly overturned England, favorites for the World Cup, and lost out by just a single try.

The first day of the tournament March 5 sees some of the Sevens stars of the future at work. The top young rugby players in the region will get their tilt at glory when they take part in the AGRFU’s Youth Tournament that will act as a curtain-raiser for the main event.

Nine Under 18 teams from across the GCC will line up for what promises to be a great sporting spectacle as the emerging rugby sevens talent do battle on the pitches where later the international stars will contest the world title.

The youth tournament is part of the Arabian Gulf Rugby Football Union’s (AGRFU) long-term plan of developing rugby in the region. “We are thrilled that the AGRFU has been afforded the honour of hosting the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009. It is important that this is not just a one-off event but rather an event that leaves a legacy of rugby behind,” explained the AGRFU’s Development Manager, Bruce Morton. “What better way to inspire young players than to let them rub shoulders with the likes of Ben Gollings and DJ Forbes?” he asked.

Morton said that there was some real talent among these young teams and speculated that in the not too distant future they would be representing the AGRFU be out there representing the region at the next Rugby World Cup Sevens.

The teams taking part are: English College, Abu Dhabi, Dubai College, Dubai Exiles, Doha, Bahrain, The British School-Al Khubairat, Hurricanes and Dubai Knights.

“In the past, rugby in the region was played mostly by Western ex-pats but we are seeing more and more local Arab players becoming interested in the sport and that is particularly exciting.”

The AGRFU Youth Tournament will start at 2:30 p.m. on March 5 with the first of the Rugby World Cup Sevens matches kicking off at 5 p.m. and the spectacular ‘only-Dubai-could-do-this’ opening ceremony taking place at 7 p.m. that evening.