Toa Dubai's new crop of youngsters ran circles around a disjointed Amblers' outfit at the SEVENS on Friday 5^th February. Nippy halfback Danny Tusitala and centre Johnny were red-hot as they probed the gaps and put supporting runners into space. They cut the Amblers defensive screen into bits and played with aplomb.

Upfront, birthday boy Trevor Leota marshalled his pack and they gave their runners a solid platform to launch waves of penetrative backline play. Tusitala would snipe from around the fringes to set up play or pass snappily then double around to create the overlap. Johnny was scintillating in his dashes through the middle; he'd swivel his hips, sidestep in a flash and just zoom past the flatfooted defence.

The Amblers started on a positive note, Marwan Daoud fielded the kickoff and charged into the phalanx of onrushing forwards to set up a ruck. The Amblers advanced towards the Toa twenty-two but Toa's brickwall defence kept them at bay. Tony Kalauni almost capitalised on a ball which squirted out from an attacking scrum but referee Roux sighted a slight knock-on; minutes later Alipate Talemaibau crashed his way towards the tryline past three tacklers but lost the ball when he went to ground.

The tide turned when Toa counter-rucked and kicked downfield; Joeli Buresova did not account for the Toa chasers and tried a quick thrown-in, the chasers snapped up the ball, which was flung back in strong desert breeze, and made whoopee, 5-0. Against the run of play deep in midfield, Johnny struck when he continued the attack and angled his run to perfection leaving the Amblers' startled defence in his wake, 10-0. The drift across to shut down space and to force the runners out was fractionally late.  

The Amblers self-destructed and tried to run the ball within their twenty-two; a slow release at the tackle ball area saw them being penalised, 13-0. It was going to be an afternoon of catch-up rugby for the league leaders; Jason Pelser finally got the Amblers on the score board after collecting a kind bounce from a soaring up and under; Buresova added the extras, 13-7. Scott McCready crossed next to get them one point ahead, 14-13; Buresova cleverly judged the swirling wind and curled the conversion over.

Toa's counterattacking prowess showed when they managed to score a few minutes from the interval, 20-14.

The Amblers lost stalwart Bob Armstrong at halftime; the big man hobbled off and was replaced by Maniue Vilsoni. Toa brought on fresher legs in Geoff Tolo and Mesake. The duo added more firepower into the Toa pack and they hustled and bustled the Amblers. Toa added to their first half tally to press the lead further ahead, 25-14. The Amblers replied with a try to Hareb Al Azri; he sprinted on the left flank and speculated a pop pass to Vilsoni who collected it together with a tackler holding on. A hurried go-to-ground-place-it-back manoeuvre made so close to the sideline enabled Al Azri to retrieve and cross the line, 21-25.

In the last quarter Toa added another four tries to make it 45-21. They counter-rucked, pilfered possession, worked in tandem to cross the gain line, quick-tapped and ran the penalties and forced the Amblers to play to their tempo.

Finally, against the run of play deep in Amblers' territory Buresova intercepted and sprinted for the line; the Toa chasers cut his run and forced him to score wide of the uprights, 45-26.

Referee Roux was overheard saying to his two assistants, "this is the toughest game I've officiated." It was a cracker of a match for its physicality and intensity. There were big hits galore and Vilsoni left the field woozy from a king hit. Toa Dubai can mix it both in the tight and loose and their backline players have: peripheral vision, silky skills and sheer pace. They're a young team gelling together nicely and their forward pack has the mongrel spirit to contest against the heavier packs.

The Amblers will need to regroup and go back to basics if it wants to win the Arabian Gulf Emirates  league; the scrum was not consistently steady, the lineout from the throw-catch-and-retrieve sequence needs more precision and the backline alignment needs a tinkering. The unforced errors were aplenty and there is a drop-the-ball virus which must be debugged!  

While Toa paraded its youngsters, the Amblers brought on school boy Ian Murphy who gave a very credible performance. He'll be pressing for a spot in the twenty-two men list even when the full squad is assembled in the next two weeks. In the absence of: Wayne Whiney, Brett Girven, Nick Poisat, Brian Nubert, Lario Raitilevu and William Matautia, evergreen Jeff Robb has stepped up to lead the charge upfront. He's done a sterling job on two consecutive Fridays. In the frontrow, Marwan Daoud, Andre Fourie and Lui Nasova have persevered to keep it compact and low to cushion the opposition shove. Jo Nagy and Tony Kalauni are the other senior hands lending a hand to hold the fort. Talemaibau's busy job roster denies him quality training time with the team.

Tom Loney, Jason Pelser and Scott McCready have tried their best to get the backline bubbling with confidence. Loney and McCready have played out of their favourite positions to help cover the player shortage and the need to reshuffle. There is a slight misbeat in the backline rhythm; coach Tui Waruhia will certainly welcome back: Dan Mahony, Simon Williams, Lauilefue Elisara, Tui Raeli, Jeremaia Kilicanasau and James Carter for the business end of the season.      

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