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Super toe in the water for Dubai
Wayne Smith | March 11, 2008
Super toe in the water for Dubai | The Australian
DUBAI is set to host a pre-Super 14 tournament involving the Western Force next January, a toe-in-the-water exercise that could lead to a future Super rugby team being based there post-2010.
The Force along with the Sharks and Cheetahs of South Africa and the Auckland Blues, are set to be invited to the January tournament, an initiative of Springbok Legends, a South African charitable organisation.
Former Scotland and South African Test hooker John Allan, the chief executive of Springbok Legends, told The Australian that Dubai was perfectly placed to become the hub of world rugby.
"I'd be looking at it as a stepping stone to Europe," said Allan, who met with former Force CEO Peter O'Meara in Dubai late last year to formulate plans for the pre-season tournament.
"It's early days yet to be talking about basing a Super rugby team there. At the moment it's only an idea. But by staging this tournament next season, we have two years to assess Dubai as possible base before the new broadcast deal for Super rugby is negotiated."
According to Allan, who stressed his organisation was merely a conduit, a Dubai Super rugby team would primarily cater for Pacific island players, the best of whom currently are playing with European clubs.
Any number of cities have been mentioned as possible sites for new Super teams but Dubai is increasingly creeping into the equation, with the highly successful Dubai Sevens highlighting the potential of an oil-rich city in which 70 percent of the population comprises rugby-mad expats from South Africa, Britain, Australia and New Zealand.
Australian Rugby Union supremo John O'Neill has already speculated about the possibility of staging a Mandela Plate Test there against the Springboks.
The South Africans might even pre-empt that initiative by staging a Test against Ireland in Dubai in November on their way to their European tour. Given that the world champions will also play Tests against England, Scotland and Wales, the Boks could be given the chance to shoot for a Grand Slam.
"It's a work in progress and nothing more at the moment," SARU managing director Jonathan Stones said.
* The Wallabies' year-ending clash with the Barbarians at Wembley Stadium on December 6 has just been spiced up by the announcement that the Springboks' World Cup-winning coach Jake White will coach the Baa-Baas