Following an extremely successful start to their rugby careers in 2009, which included wins in the Gala Sevens, 2 Murrayfield Sevens successes and the Brewin Dolphin U15 Scottish Cup, a squad of girls from the Community School of Auchterarder travelled out at the end of March to Tour Dubai.

The Tour was for 9 days and included playing in a Tournament at the Sevens Ground (home of the Dubai Sevens) as well as matches at U15 and U18 level against Sharjah Wanderers (the strongest Girls squad in the Emirates) and a final match against a United Arab Emirates select 15 made up of players from all the clubs in Dubai and the surrounding area, as well as from Qatar). The opposition squad that was selected consisted mainly of players who were senior players (17 and 18 years old) and were due to move into the women’s game in the near future.

On top of this, the group were also pencilled in for visits to the following attractions – Burj Khalifa (the tallest building in the world), the Burj Al Arab (the most luxurious hotel in the world), a Desert Safari, a trip to Wild Wadi Water Park, the Palm Jumeirah, a Marina Cruise, Dubai Mall (famous for the dancing fountains) and a City Tour.

In addition to this, they had also been asked to support a Government initiative, by running a rugby development stand at the inaugural Diabetic Olympics at Safa Park in Dubai. This initiative was created by Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, wife of the Ruler of Dubai and as such it was a privilege for the girls to be asked to support this event.

Through vigorous fund-raising, including a 24 hour sponsored run, numerous Saturdays of bag packing and a very successful Dinner Dance, as well as support from the UAE Government (with transport), and some strong negotiating with contacts in the UAE, the girls were able to take part on the tour at a greatly reduced rate and as a result have what could only be billed as a “Once off trip”.

In the first tournament, in support of the final Womens’ Competiton of the season, the Auchterarder girls were up against 12 teams from around the Gulf (including Kuwait and Qatar, as well as a number of teams from the clubs in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Sharjah and Dubai. The main team finished the tournament as Runners-up, losing narrowly to The English College (winners for the last 3 years). The second Auchterarder team won the Bowl Competition. Due to the numbers and wide ranging ability levels of the teams, this tournament was run as a touch tournament. These results were great achievements as not only had the girls never played in a touch rugby tournament and had only trained once, the night before, they were also playing in 40 degrees and from 12–8pm.

In the next fixture against Sharjah Wanderers, both the U15 and U18 teams were in action, playing 12-a-side. Although these were tremendously hard fought games, both teams came away with narrow victories against very strong opposition, but not without a few injuries.

Leading in to the final big match against a UAE select squad taken from 30 players from all around the region, the tour nurse was kept busy patching up the many small injuries that threatened to reduce the team drastically. However, on the night the players dug deep, and found the inner strength and passion to front up to what was a very strong squad of players and were able to seal a narrow victory by 17 points to 12.

Throughout the tour, the players were a credit to themselves, the Community School of Auchterarder, the Scottish Rugby Union and indeed to Scotland – suffice to say that at one stage the opposition even suggested that it was unfair that they were playing the Scottish U18 team, until it was pointed out by one on the players that they were indeed only a small Community School in Perthshire in Central Scotland!

As a result of this Tour, The UAE Rugby Association have created a Representative side for the UAE at U18 level and it is hoped that this squad will be touring the Scotland and England next year. Not only has the tour been a tremendous success, but it has given the players a taste of rugby played at a high level and an experience of a lifetime.

The squad are grateful to the following local companies for their support:

Ochil Timber     (Playing Strip)
Cocoa Mountain  (Tour Bags)
Thistle Hotels   (Polo Shirts)
SSE    (Tour Hoodies)
JM Plumbing   (Tour Water Bottles)
Dochertys Coaches  (Transfers)

Saltire teamwear for producing the above items on behalf of the sponsors.