Dubai Hurricanes are into the Premiership final after beating Exiles 46-10 in the second city derby at 7he Sevens last night.
Ross Mills’ men put Exiles to the sword and, in doing so, also banished their fierce rivals from the post-Christmas elite Gulf Top Six competition.
And it will be Abu Dhabi Harlequins who Canes will meet in the Sport360° UAE Premiership final.
The capital city kings owe their cross-city rivals Saracens a massive favour after the Al Ghazal men stunned champions Jebel Ali Dragons 22-6.
That means Quins will face Canes in the Premiership finale despite losing their first two games of the season.
The home side twice scored first half tries from Exiles errors. The first was scored by Todd Freemantle, after Jan Venter Jr was sin-binned. Minutes later Andy Powell put Freemantle over.
Powell was the magician behind everything good the men in yellow conjured. He pulled another rabbit out of the hat after another Exiles mistake.
The New Zealander made 50 metres after taking a quick tap, evading several tackles before arching wide and drawing the last defender to send scrum-half Mike Rust away.
Dave Knight scored a third try before the interval but Canes were punished for overplaying before the whistle.
John Fawls cut a superb line and skipped under the posts to give the home side something to think about at the break.
Any thoughts of an Exiles comeback were premature though.
Daryl Johnson showed electric pace to go over for Canes’ fourth to seal a bonus point before the second half became the Andy Powell show. He set up Andy Longley and Freemantle for Canes’ fifth and seventh tries, scoring the sixth himself.
The magic man potted a personal tally of 16 points.
The win, coupled with the capitulation of Mills’ former side Dragons, mean Canes top the Premiership and will have home advantage in the final.
“It’s very sweet,” said Mills. “I was very impressed with Exiles, their running rugby kept us on guard all the time and I like it when a team tries to play the way that they played.
“We had two teams tonight who were trying to do exactly the same thing and fortunately for us we came out on top.”
He added: “We’re getting better every week, which is nice to see.”
Exiles coach Jan Venter couldn’t hide his disappointment.
“Our defence has been our strong point all season but tonight it fell apart. It’s the (Gulf ) Conference for us next year and we’ll try put a good side together and to do something at Dubai Sevens.”
The South African put a brave face on.
“I see this as confidence building for next season. Two seasons ago when I started this team, I had eight rugby players.”
