Mike McFarlane: Abu Dhabi Quins want every title in the region

Matt Jones - Editor 20:29 17/06/2015
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  • William Umu will be central again to Quins' success.

    Mike McFarlane says there will be no dampening of expectations at Abu Dhabi Harlequins next season after being named the club’s new head coach.

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    McFarlane might be taking over from Heineken Cup-winner Jeremy Manning at Quins, but he sees no reason why the Zayed Sport City-based side cannot surpass the achievements under the Kiwi last season.

    After a stuttering start to the campaign, when they lost their opening two Sport360 UAE Premiership games to Dubai Hurricanes and Jebel Ali Dragons, Quins roared back, winning their next three to reach the Premiership final, where they exacted revenge on Canes with a 39-19 win.

    They also took the Gulf Men’s League title at the Dubai Sevens in December, although they failed in their bid to win back-to-back Gulf Top Six titles and with it a chance for West Asia Cup glory, instead finishing third behind Doha and Abu Dhabi Saracens.

    The influential Manning may have stepped down, but McFarlane says his team will not be using that as an excuse as he targets even greater success in 2015/16.

    “The aims, as always, are we want to win the Premiership, win the Sevens and win the Gulf Top Six. We’d never hide that,” said McFarlane..

    “We’re a top tier club and that’s where we should be. Being more clinical toward the end of the season I think we’re more than capable of achieving that.

    Despite his new role, the 29-year-old is a familiar face at Quins, having coached the forwards last season alongside Clendon Pene, while he also played for them for two seasons before a broken leg forced him to quit.

    With Pene and Manning’s assistant Scott Clark also stepping away from their roles, McFarlane is the only man left from last season’s coaching staff, but insists he did not feel like he had to stay on.

    “Not at all. With Jeremy leaving it would have been easier to step away as a coaching team at the same time, but it’s just an opportunity. I think it’s the right time for me to take over,” he said.

    With a baby due in September, McFarlane said he had been planning to walk away himself, but it was the team and his wife who convinced him to stay.

    “I spoke to Jeremy and was actually going to stop coaching but the lads asked me to stay on,” he said.

    “They actually got round me and got to my wife and persuaded her it would be a good idea.

    Although the club may be losing a man of Manning’s stature and experience – he won the Heineken Cup with Munster in 2006 – McFarlane said the structures put in place by the foursome last season will stand the team in good stead moving forward.

    He said: “With the coaching team we had and Jeremy’s expertise in-particular I think we developed the senior section remarkably.

    “The players developed their skills and once we started piecing it together we showed the force we can be.”

    Aside from the coaching reshuffle, there have already and will be more changes on the field, with charismatic and talented No8 Pene leaving the club as both a player and coach.

    Bullocking centre Iziq Foa’i, meanwhile, is also departing for pastures new, while Sedburgh duo Matt Hawley, last season’s top scorer, and flanker Charlie Farmer have both returned to the UK.

    “There’s a few holes appearing but with the transient society that Abu Dhabi is, it’s nothing new and the skill and ability of the players remain. There’s no excuses not to achieve our targets,” said Mcfarlane.

    “We’re waiting for a few arrivals, possibly from England. We’re waiting to finalise a few deals for particular players.”

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