Spoon attended the reputable Dubai Rugby tournament for the second year running in December 2006 taking a men’s veterans team, SpoonAAs, to play in the International Ten’s tournament and for the first time, a Wooden Spoon Ladies team, playing in the International Sevens event. Both teams were kitted-out by new sponsor Kukri and presented a very professional team both on and off the field.

Drawn in a difficult group with previous Dubai finalists, The British Army, and 2005 semi finalists, Total Lions from France, SpoonAAs were seeded three in the group which was completed by Kowloon Bedouins from Hong Kong.

After two training sessions, SpoonAAs were ready for the top group seeds and one of tournament favourites, The British Army. SpoonAAs took it to the opposition from the kick-off knowing it would be physical and moved it around swiftly and wide against a bigger and heavier pack, denying the Army‘s quick Fijian backs any possession.

New Zealander, Brad Hepi was put through by Fly Half, Dan Eddie to open the scoring and then Craig Emmerson sped over for the second try. The soldiers scored a consolation try in the second half but two clean conversions and two additional penalties gave SpoonAAs a comfortable, if surprising, 20-5 win.

The second game was against Total Lions, a good side themselves and previous victors over the SpoonAAs in 2005. Possibly buoyed by their first win, the SpoonAAs were perhaps a little over confident and despite dominating couldn’t get over for a try. A second half penalty for the Lions meant SpoonAAs went down 3-0.

The last group game gave the Vets team a huge task to ensure they scored as many points as possible to get through to the quarter final in front of either the Amy or Total Lions depending on the outcome of their final game. SpoonAAs worked extremely hard with the whole squad taking the  to the field as the players rolled on and off (rolling subs is allowed in Vets rugby and if optimised can have a great tactical advantage) to good effect with end-of-day tired legs and they managed a 49–0 victory.

The players then had to watch the final group game between the Army and Total Lions, knowing the wrong result could see them knocked out. Total Lions did SpoonAAs a huge favour, beating the Army side and allowing Spoon to go through to the quarter finals as group winners to play Moscow Lads.

The Friday quarter final showed how hard the group had been as the team cruised through winning 40-0 with tries from Captain, Stephen Ravenscroft, Mark Farrah (2), Jonathan Swarbrigg, Derek Eves and Jon Eagle. Eddie was Wilkinsonesque, kicking six conversions. This victory ensured a place in Saturday’s semi final against the 2006 winners and fierce rivals, the Marauders.

It was always going to be a difficult and tight game in a torrential downpour, yes it was really raining in Dubai! SpoonAAs dominated the early exchanges as they played their impressive style of moving the ball at every opportunity and entertaining the crowds. Farrah and Andrew Metcalf both went close but at half time neither side had points on the board.

The break finally came in the second half after a fierce tackle from Hepi. Swarbrigg was on the end of an exciting move to get the only score for a 5-0 victory.
The rains continued into the evening in advance of the final. The pitch and ground resembled a lake in places as the 30,000-soaked but noisy crowd took their places to watch the Bahrain Warblers versus SpoonAAs. The Warblers were made up of Australians and New Zealanders such as Junior Tonu and Freddie Tuigumala and were Dubai winners in 2003 and 2004.

Their bigger side suited the conditions and SpoonAAs found it difficult to handle the new game of ‘underwater rugby’ eventually loosing 10–0. A lap of honour with inflatable Spoons and a dive and slide by all the team in front of the main stand meant Spoon awareness, one of the trip’s objectives had been well and truly met.

The Wooden Spoon Ladies team was compiled with the blessing of the Rugby Football Union for Women (RFUW) and comprised players all with representative honours. The team was captained by former England player, Susie Appleby, who has 65 caps to her name. Also on the team were Samantha Dale and Izzy Howard, part of the present England Academy, and youngsters Laura Keates, Elizabeth Tilley and Megan Youdan, England U19 representatives who are predicted to achieve great things for the full England team in the future.

The mixture of youth and experience enabled the team to progress through the group stages beating Russia and the Arabian Gulf, but losing to the Irish Barbarians. The ladies qualified for the quarter finals as runner-up in their group being drawn against a London Saracens team that was a mixture of ex England Internationals and current international players from around the world.

Saracens beat the Spoon Ladies team 21-5 in a tough game. Saracens progressed to the semi finals along with the Irish Barbarians, USA and Scotland. The eventual winners, in adverse weather conditions, were an extremely strong USA team, beating Scotland 28-10 in the final.

Although a disappointing defeat at the quarter final stages, the youngsters gained invaluable experience from the event. Playing in this type of prestigious tournament provides priceless insight both playing and socially and a chance to compete against some of the world’s best on a world stage.

This was the first outing for a Wooden Spoon Ladies team and proved to be a great success. The girls fully embraced the concept of Spoon and ensured they promoted the charity to raise awareness. They supported the SpoonAAs team through to the final and there is no doubt that everyone in the stands watching rugby knew exactly who and what Wooden Spoon was!

From this success has born the idea of doing more tours with Ladies’ teams. There are several international players from the four home unions who have either just retired after the last World Cup or will be doing so after the 2007 Six Nations. Although they are no longer playing international rugby they are keen to continue to be involved and the squads compiled for the next three tournaments are of the highest standard. In addition, working with the governing bodies, Spoon is able to provide a vehicle for up and coming players as well.

This is a really exciting development in Spoon rugby and everyone involved is looking forward to reporting on future successes.

If anyone else would like to support one of the rugby teams and help Spoon raise money and raise awareness, please get in touch with John Dewhurst: 07860 602 667