“I thought we had a good plan coming in,” Iowa State coach Matt Campbell said. The Cyclone (3-3, 0-3) have scored just one touchdown in their last 20 possessions. He does such a good job of being calm and relaxed.” “For him, the big key was not to turn the ball over,” Klieman said. Martinez finished 12-of-19 passing and rushed 19 times. Touchdowns and points were going to be at a premium, with two good defenses.” “Their kid made a great play on Malik,” Wildcats coach Chris Klieman said. Iowa State's Anthony Johnson punched the ball out and Colby Reeder recovered in the end zone. But Knowles fumbled before crossing the goal line. In the second quarter, Martinez found Malik Knowles for a 68-yard gain. “Going into the route, I got knocked over,” Brooks said. The Wildcats scored when Martinez ducked under a potential sack, then heaved the ball to a leaping Brooks, who maintained his balance and raced downfield for an 81-yard touchdown. The Kansas State duo also accounted for two of the game's defining plays. The Qatari side were similarly comprehensive in beating their regular rivals Bahrain 45-24.Brooks finished with 119 yards on four receptions, and Malik Knowles made five catches for 108. The capital club’s bonus-point victory meant they keep pace with Doha at the top of the cross-border competition. I think we gave them too much respect, knowing they were a good, eight-man side, but we played to their strengths more than we did ours.”
“Hopefully we will be up with them at the end of it. “They are building and they have a backline now to go with the forwards. “I think they will be there at the end of the season,” Perry said. “We are not getting ahead of ourselves, but we do have aspirations to go on and challenge for this championship.”ĭaniel Perry, the Hurricanes captain, said Saracens are the side to beat in the Gulf Top Six. Last week was very tight and it could have gone either way. “This was a very nice victory because there was a gap. “I knew we could come into this competition and be competitive, but there is a long way to go. “I am not surprised,” said Thompson, the former UAE captain. However, the Scottish No 8 said he had been quietly optimistic they could reach the sort of standards they are starting to deliver regularly. “I wanted to come out here and get some game time under my belt, and we have been putting in some good performances.”īefore the season started Alistair Thompson, the Saracens player-coach, had tried to downplay the expectations on his side, who are playing only their second season alongside the Gulf’s elite clubs. “We are improving each week,” Reeder said. With three wins from three, they are making the early running for a place in the season-ending final. It was the centrepiece of another extraordinarily dominant display from the Gulf Top Six’s youngest club, who ran out 43-24 winners against the Dubai Hurricanes. The No 10 scored 23 points for the home side in a peerless performance against a side who finished runners-up in the UAE Premiership before Christmas. The Saracens contact book is now the most far reaching in the domestic game.įor example, thanks to their links with the club of the same name in London, they have arranged for a three-month loan of a new fly-half.Įlliott Reeder, 19, a former Saracens academy player in the UK, was playing just his third game for the Abu Dhabi version yesterday.Ĭlearly, he has wasted no time in getting up to speed. Saracens were taking their first tentative steps in competitive rugby back then and they needed all the help they could get.Įven with the new players in tow, though, they took a pasting from Abu Dhabi Harlequins’ second string on their domestic rugby debut.įew players remain from those days, and they do not have to pick up the scraps from other UAE clubs any longer.
ABU DHABI // Three-and-a-half years ago, some Dubai Hurricanes players went down to Abu Dhabi to help out, just to make sure the capital’s newly formed club could raise a team.
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