Update from Dubai 7s: Training is Done - Time to Work

With competition starting on Thursday in the Dubai 7s International Boys division, we had to make the most out of our training sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday after shaking off any jetlag and rust. We really are a "Barbarians" side - as all the boys are sporting their various club socks and shorts which is cool. Me and Josh are proud to rep the Oshawa Vikings and our College team Durham College.

We had 2 sessions on Tuesday with the first being focused on attack and familiarizing ourselves with the sort of patterns we will run. The second session was all about team defense, where we talked about and went through what type of team we want to be when we are defending; and that is a team that puts pressure on the first receiver constantly trying to force a mistake.

Our one and only session on Wednesday was all about set piece. We went through kickoff and kick receive strategies as well as lineout and scrum options.

One of the player's parents is here shooting video and you can watch some of our training here on YouTube.

Coach Ryszard and Freddy have prepped us extremely well. It is always nice to get a different perspective of coaching from new people. It is great to have one Canadian and one US coach here with the boys.

The squad is made up of mostly back row fowards, first receivers, and back 3 backs. We will look to use our strength and creativity to dismantle our opponents defense. I am excited to get back onto a 7’s field in my familiar spot, being first receiver. We have a few guys who can kick which gives us many options for conversions and restarts.

Away from the rugby field, the city of Dubai is spectacular. The Burj Khalifa building is truly something you need to see with your own eyes to fully grasp how tall it is. It is one of the most beautiful buildings to look at at night when lit up. There is also an expo on right now which we may make time to try and check out.

It will be an early night for me as I have my final sleep before tournament play starts. We play Germany at 10:20am and North American Lions at 1:20pm local time. Our fields are just outside the main stadium where the real Internationals compete and if we make the finals - I think we would play there too.

The link to the schedule is here

Unfortunately the games will not be live-streamed but a parent will record them for us to share after we play.