Report by:
Brian Hopkins
6 May 2023
Royal Army showcase Oman at the Middle East Touch Championships
The beginning of May 2023 brought about the annual MET Championships, held this year in Abu Dhabi at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium.
Oman has never been in a position to attend through teams within the Sultanate, and this year marked a great milestone by being able to be represented by the Royal Army of Oman.
The Dhahran Scorpions, Royal Oman Army and Al Ain teams participated in the social touch matches on Friday evening which included some coaching from our METOUCH coaches. This proved invaluable experience for the players who have just started rugby this season.
The facilities were first class and RAO were very fortunate to have the chance to play on pitches marked out to the Federation of International Touch dimensions. The Abu Dhabi Cricket & Sports Hub with the support of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council has proved to be an exceptional venue for Touch Competitions and the support provided to METOUCH was simply outstanding.
Many of the teams were very well prepared and this was reflected in the quality of the matches we enjoyed watching. There were also a number of talented touch players on display in each of the teams throughout the day including Australian, New Zealand, Ireland and UK touch representatives and a noticeable number of Middle East Touch players as well.
A big thank you to all the players, coaches, managers, support staff, spectators, referees, administration and ground staff for making the event a wonderful experience.
Finally a tremendous well done to the RAO team who managed to come 5th in their division and set an excellent example of how rugby has progressed within the Sultanate this season.
On to the next event Oman Rugby