RUGBY – Bahrain claimed fifth place overall yesterday in the men’s tournament of the Asia Rugby Emirates Sevens Trophy 2025, which came to a close in Muscat, Oman.
The kingdom’s representatives won both their games in the fifth-to-eighth classification bracket to secure the best position outside of the top four in the 13-team final ranking.
They opened the day with a 28-5 rout of Qatar and then sealed fifth position with a last-gasp 10-7 triumph against Jordan.
Bahrain competed in the Omani capital with a squad that included skipper Greg Heath, Martin Prinsloo, Daniel Dryden, Dylan Vermeulen, Cooper Comrie, Joel Lewis, Lindsey Gibson, Alastair Crombie, Deina Morete, David Evans, Cole Crawford, Amaan Raza, and Jack Phillips.
The team’s staff featured Rory Drummond, Ross Preedy, and Amy Bowzaylo.
Bahrain kicked off their classification campaign with their impressive win against their Qatari counterparts.
Raza put the Bahrainis on the scoreboard first when he drove in a try just two minutes into the contest.
Heath fired in the ensuing conversion for the early 7-0 lead.
Morete then contributed another try with Heath on target once more to help their team head into the break up 14-0.
Qatar got a try back to begin the second half, but Heath helped Bahrain close things out with another two tries and two conversions en route to the final whistle.
He finished as the match’s top scorer with 18 points, while Raza and Morete scored five apiece.
In their next outing against Jordan, the Bahrainis needed to dig deep to come away with their victory.
Evans put them up 5-0 with a try in the first two minutes, but Jordan answered and took a 7-5 lead at the interval.
Dryden then supplied the late-game heroics for Bahrain, getting the ball over the line with just 10 seconds to go in regular time.
Evans and Dryden finished with five points apiece with their two tries.
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan were crowned men’s tournament champions after winning big against India 27-0 in last night’s final.
Afghanistan finished third after beating Saudi Arabia 17-12, while Iran took seventh place after defeating Qatar for that position 31-0.
The Asia Rugby Emirates Sevens Trophy 2025 served as a pathway tournament to Asia Rugby’s premier competition, the Asia Rugby Emirates Sevens Series 2026.
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