RUGBY – Bahrain missed out on a berth in the Cup quarter-finals last night in the men’s tournament of the Asia Rugby Emirates Sevens Trophy 2025, currently being played in Muscat, Oman.
The kingdom’s representatives won both their Group A games in the 13-team preliminary round to earn a place in the quarter-finals.
But there, they narrowly lost to Afghanistan, knocking them out of further title contention.
The Bahrainis will now play for fifth place overall. They take on Qatar today in their first match of the fifth-to-eighth classification bracket, which also includes Iran and Jordan.
Bahrain’s players in the Omani capital include skipper Greg Heath, Martin Prinsloo, Daniel Dryden, Dylan Vermeulen, Cooper Comrie, Joel Lewis, Lindsey Gibson, Alastair Crombie, Deina Morete, David Evans, Cole Crawford, Amaan Raza, and Jack Phillips.
The team’s staff includes Rory Drummond, Ross Preedy, and Amy Bowzaylo.
In their opening fixture of the preliminaries yesterday, Bahrain were dominant in a 45-0 rout of Iraq.
They powered to a commanding 33-0 lead at the break, and never looked back, cruising to the finish.
Heath top scored for the victors with 13 points, including one try and four conversions, while Phillips contributed 12 with two tries and a conversion.
Crawford chipped in with two tries for 10 points, while Raza and Prinsloo had a try apiece to finish with five points each.
Bahrain then followed up that win with a stunning, come-from-behind 21-19 triumph against Iran.
The Bahrainis faced a 0-12 hole at half-time but roared back after re-start.
They took a 14-12 lead on a try and conversion by Heath, and after the Iranians went back in front 19-14, Raza drove in the decisive try while Heath successfully sent in the ensuing conversion to peg the final score.
Heath finished with 11 points in the win, which included one try and three conversions, while Raza and Crawford both contributed a try for five points each for Bahrain, who topped the Group A table.
In last night’s quarters, Bahrain fell to a slim 5-7 loss to their Afghan opponents in a tightly contested affair.
Afghanistan took a 7-0 lead early in the opening period but Evans replied with a try to reduce the gap to 5-7 at the interval.
But neither team added to the score line over the closing seven minutes, ending Bahrain’s title bid.
The Asia Rugby Emirates Sevens Trophy 2025 continues today with the concluding matches in both the men’s and women’s tournaments.
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