Rugby fans in the UAE are counting down the hours to the kick-off of the World Cup in Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Supporters were gripped by rugby fever as they spoke to The National<\/em> about their country\u2019s chances of success at the tournament that begins on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In some cases, families were split down the middle when it came to loyalties for the tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One such couple was Dubai resident David Greenwood and his wife Deborah, who will both be travelling to Japan for the action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While David, 43, will be cheering on his beloved England, his wife Deborah, also 43, will be hoping that defending champions New Zealand win the trophy for the third tournament in a row.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are flying out on Friday morning together for the South Africa and New Zealand game on Saturday which is my birthday,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI am very optimistic about my own team\u2019s chances as we have a good squad but then my wife is very confident about her side too \u2014 as you would expect given she is a kiwi.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The competition gets under way on Friday when hosts Japan take on Russia in Tokyo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are 20 teams competing in the tournament, which is held every four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While Ireland are ranked as the number one side in the world, the favourites for the Webb Ellis trophy are New Zealand, followed closely by South Africa and England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Greenwoods will be taking in a total of four matches in Japan but their love for rugby comes as no surprise to anyone who knows them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis will be the third Rugby World Cup we\u2019ve went to,\u201d said Mr Greenwood, who works for a recruitment firm in Dubai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe went to the world cup in 2011, in New Zealand, for our honeymoon and then again in 2015, when it was in England in Wales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019ve already discussed attending the next one in 2023 when France will be hosts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stuck in the middle of the rugby mad couple is six-year-old daughter Molly \u2014 so where do her allegiances lie?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you ask her she is from both New Zealand and England but she prefers the team in the black jersey because it gets her favour with mummy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The hype around the World Cup is gathering pace with other fans in the UAE, who cannot wait until the action gets under way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recruitment manager Ian Jenkins, 31, believed that being in the UAE would actually be an advantage over watching the games in his home nation of England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBeing in Dubai, the kick off times are nearly perfect,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe great thing about rugby is the friendly rivalry between teams especially the home nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDiscussing the games with colleagues, friends and family is a big part of the enjoyment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Welsh rugby fan Ben Cockram, 35, who works for a legal recruitment firm, has mixed emotions about watching the World Cup in Dubai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019ll miss the atmosphere of being at home watching the games in a pub or with friends,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut is my third World Cup in Dubai and you can guarantee that if there is a Wales game on, you\u2019ll always find a group of noisy, emotional Welshman watching it somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr Cockram said e was looking forward to watching the games with his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt will be great to watch a couple of the games with my kids,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s their first rugby World Cup so they won\u2019t have a clue what\u2019s going on when I am screaming at the TV and crying during the anthem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dubliner Stephen Levins, 36, who lives and works in Dubai as a business consultant, has been a fan of the rugby world cup since he watched the 1995 tournament, held in South Africa, with his father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Irish are known for supporting their teams whenever they are competing and, if anything, living abroad brings you closer to them and raises the emotions and passion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As for his team\u2019s chances?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are officially the number one in the world right now but I think South Africa will be the team to beat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Liam Grant, 28, who is vice president of a Dubai-based recruitment firm, said he plans to watch the games over barbecue with friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt will be good to watch the games here in the UAE because I feel people become more patriotic being away from their home country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The National<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rugby fans in the UAE are counting down the hours to the kick-off of the World Cup in Japan. Supporters were gripped by rugby fever as they spoke to The National about their country\u2019s chances of success at the tournament that begins on Friday. In some cases, families were split down the middle when it came to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11694,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11693"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11695,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11693\/revisions\/11695"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}