‘We want to prove we can do this’: First all-Saudi women’s rugby team are awed by Dubai Sevens debut

With four losses and no points scored in her side’s Dubai Sevens debut, it would be easy to assume Ameera Marghalani might be put off the idea of playing rugby again. Instead, after leaving the pitch following a 29-0 loss to AUC Rugby that was their narrowest defeat in the competition, the Saudi Tuwaiq captain was absolutely beaming. “Are you kidding me? This is amazing,” Marghalani said, when asked if she hopes Tuwaiq’s debut at the Sevens is going to be the first of many. “This is a festival where you get to play the sport that you love, to meet new people. We are very lucky to be here, and I hope we are going to be here even more and be in other competitions internationally. This is what we love to do.” Rugby makes a big play of being a sport for everyone. Nowhere is that more evident than at the Dubai Sevens. Late on Sunday, as the massed ranks around Pitch 1 were being whipped into a frenzy ahead of the final match between Fiji and Spain , the crowd was its usual riot of colour. Near the tunnel, there was a man in a luminous singlet and skimpy shorts, and another in a sumo outfit. Nearby them were two Saudi women wearing all black sports hijabs. They were part of the Tuwaiq side whose last match at their first Dubai Sevens had actually been a day earlier. But they were all there for the whole of Sunday, too, primarily to support their compatriots in the Saudi Warriors men’s team, but also to glean some tips for their own game. The first all-Saudi women’s rugby team are just at the start of the learning curve. But it is fair to say Marghalani and her team have been bitten by the rugby bug. “We are so grateful for this opportunity,” Marghalani said. “We do encourage each other a lot. We have worked a lot to be here. We do know it’s a tough journey. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but solidarity is what’s important. “It is OK to lose. That is how you climb the building. We are just really happy to be here, and we would definitely do it again anytime, because it is so exciting.” Marghalani lists rugby’s values – “respect, solidarity, integrity” – as the reason she fell for the sport, after she was first introduced to it at school. She knows there are challenges ahead for their mission to spread the game among Saudi women, but she says they are not insurmountable. “As a women’s team, we are showing that Saudi Arabia has a lot of opportunities for women,” she said. “Of course, in Saudi, there is not as much sport as this for women. But this is just the beginning. Trust me, I know that for a fact. It is the same as in a match, where you need to slowly climb up in order to score a try. “In the sports community, we have a lot of support from everyone. Us just being here is already a big deal, and it is such an amazing opportunity. “We like to prove that women in Saudi, we can do it. Whatever sport it is, whatever challenge it is, we all have it in us. We are going to show that to everyone.” The Saudi Arabia Rugby Federation are well aware they are only just beginning. They don’t need to be told. At one point early in the game against AUC Rugby, Serge Betsen , the all-time great former France flanker, was walking past the Tuwaiq bench. He was part of the starry 100 World Legends tour party who were playing in the International Vets tournament at the Sevens, and they were warming up on the same field. He stopped to look at the play that was happening, then whispered some – no-doubt well-intentioned – advice to Meriem Mekni, the Tuwaiq coach. She replied with a curt “thank you”, and he was sent on his way. “We know the potential of our girls, and we know what to tell them and when to tell them,” Mekni said. “We know what we have, and what we are working on.” Mekni is a former international player for Tunisia, who is tasked with teaching the rudiments of a complex game to players with little pedigree in sport, let alone rugby. “It is difficult, but it is not impossible,” she said. “We are treating them as babies. We are holding their hands, and taking them through it step by step. Not just with rugby skills, but strength and conditioning. We are working on all aspects.” SARF knew where to look when they went about setting up their big grassroots rugby project. Three years ago, they appointed Sami Smara to the role of technical director. Smara, another Tunisian ex-player, has plenty of experience of start-ups targeted at spreading the game among Arab nationals. He previously held a similar role at UAE Rugby , and his handiwork was fully evident at the Sevens this weekend. If the Saudi players needed reason to believe it can be done, they did not have to look far. The fixture that preceded theirs against AUC Rugby involved Al Maha. They are a team of trailblazing Emirati females, who are now well-versed in the game, despite starting from equally humble beginnings. When they debuted in the Gulf Under 19 tournament at the Dubai Sevens six years ago , Maha also lost all their matches. Now, they are highly competitive, winning two of their four matches in the Gulf Women’s League tournament this weekend, against expatriate sides from Muscat and Abu Dhabi. Smara is using a similar template to what he did previously in the UAE, specifically by targeting schools. Rugby is now an elective sport in Saudi public schools, and he wants it to become a full part of the PE curriculum. The fact Saudi girls now have a choice to play rugby is significant, according to Sarah Abd Elbaki, the Tuwaiq manager and co-coach. “It means a lot,” said Elbaki, who has been with the team for a year after being brought in from Syria. “Four years ago, girls didn’t have sport in their PE lessons. It is a big jump for women in Saudi to be part of rugby, which is a contact sport. “I never thought that girls in Saudi would love the sport this much. But when I got there, I saw they had the hunger to find a sport which they belong to. “It is a massive jump for all women in Saudi. We want to create a generation where rugby becomes the culture.” Elbaki, who is a qualified coach and referee, as well as the former captain of the Syria national team , says she was surprised by the enthusiasm the new Saudi players showed for tackling. “They really love contact, and there are many families who are really supportive,” Elbaki said. “We have a mum here who is supporting her daughter.” Marghalani loves the fact that rugby allows its participants to battle their opponents on the field, then go out to dinner with them that same evening. And she says the contact element of the game should not be prohibitive for bringing new players to the sport. “A lot of people think rugby is some sort of vicious sport,” Marghalani said. “For us, we think rugby is for smart people. If you enjoy contact, good for you, but inside the game, it is really about how you are thinking. “There are little gaps where people who don’t play rugby, they won’t get it. If you do, you realise it is about thinking, it is about communicating on the field. “In training, we always talk about communicating, and looking for the gaps. It is not all about hitting each other. Sometimes you have to play smart as well.”

‘We want to prove we can do this’: First all-Saudi women’s rugby team are awed by Dubai Sevens debut

Tuwaiq side have high hopes for future of the sport in their country despite tough start to life at Middle East’s biggest rugby festival