Rugby: Keenan discovers new impetus in Arabian Gulf

FORMER Boroughmuir and Heriot's rugby winger Charlie Keenan has landed his first major coaching post, assisting the Arabian Gulf team which will shortly host the annual Asian Games.

The 31-year-old Scotland sevens internationalist moved out to Dubai at the start of the season with coaching opportunities arising while he continues to make an impact on the abbreviated versions of the game.

The latest achievement for Edinburgher Keenan is a player-of-the-tournament prize in a select side also featuring All Black legend Frank Bunce which won the Manila ten-a-side tournament in the Philippines at the weekend.

Says Keenan: "There is lots of rugby potential in Dubai, even allowing for the current recession which is causing some ex-pats to return home. A few young local players would be more than capable of standing out starting for Scottish division one clubs and what they really need is a bit of belief.

"Hopefully I can help instil that as I find my way into coaching alongside kiwi Ian Birtwhistle at 15-a-side level while having overall charge of the sevens team."

Keenan's sevens charges are already showing signs of an upswing having held New Zealand to 5-5 in a recent world cup tie in Dubai as well as going down narrowly to Six Nations side Italy.

Keenan adds: "Unfortunately, we have left it too late to quality for the Emirates Airlines Edinburgh sevens in late May and attempting to qualify for future world cups in 15-a-sides is going to get harder. IRB bosses have agreed to a plan which splits up the composite Gulf states so that the likes of Oman and Bahrain will soon be competing on their own.

"But there are some committed players in our half dozen clubs and, in any case, the focus for the moment is on the Asian Games.

"We have been drawn in a pool with Chinese Taipei and Thailand and it's part of my job to help the Arabian Gulf climb a level to the higher group."

In carving out a new life Keenan, who is also responsible for his side's physical conditioning, has been able to put the scene back home in perspective.

He says: "I hope to hear of improvements soon in the structure of the Scottish club scene because in my experience it needs extra investment from the SRU. It was mainly a desire to play in a warmer climate – temperatures here are currently around 36C but with regular water breaks you get used to that heat – which brought me out to Dubai, but there were other factors as well.

"After kicking off the season for Boroughmuir at home to Edinburgh Accies we visited Currie and I realised again that the crowds weren't what they used to be.

"I'm old enough to remember playing for Heriot's against Watsonians in front of 2000-plus crowds and that is what the authorities have to get club rugby back to through promotional work."

Added the man who is among an elite group to have gained Premiership winners' medals with two clubs: "Of course I enjoyed playing alongside friends but there's more to club rugby than that. Every club player wants to better himself and the bigger the crowd the more pressure you feel under to up your game.

"The emphasis seems to be on dampening down individualism when the opposite approach is needed to create the characters that supporters want to go along and see."