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Host nation Arabian Gulf is in confident mood ahead of the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Dubai on Thursday, and are convinced they can make a genuine impact over the three days.

Despite squaring off against Italy, Tonga, and New Zealand in the group stages, Arabian Gulf skipper, Stephen Cooper is staying positive.

“The majority of the squad have faced New Zealand before and we have seen them in action so we know what to expect from them. Tonga was the unknown team for us, but we played them recently on our tour to Wellington and we drew against them in our final match.”

“We know it is going to be an incredibly physical competition, but we’re hoping that having the home advantage will work in our favour, the stadium can be quite an imposing place when the crowd get behind you. But being the World Cup every team will be out there giving 110%.

Head Coach Mike Lunjevich has had the luxury of undoubtedly picking the strongest squad in his tenure.

Cutting the squad to 12 players was very difficult as several of the guys not selected pushed really hard. Competition for spots is what all teams need and now these 12 have to deliver what the coaching and management team know they are capable of. We are all very excited and itching to get started.”

The game has already made great strides in the Gulf, with player numbers swelling in all forms of the game with great potential for the future due to an ongoing and intensive youth development programmes

"It will be huge for rugby around the region. It’s traditionally been an expat sport here but it’s just starting to creep into the Arab nationalities now,” said the New Zealand born Lunjevica.

"If we do really, really well there’ll be a lot of media coverage and that’s going to be huge for the sport here."

The Arabian Gulf squad is made up largely of expats working in the region and are often forced to juggle full-time work with training commitments.

"Everyone has taken a huge sacrifice over the last year. Training five times a week, doing a gym session at six in the morning then going for their full day’s work and then back to training in the evening - so no one’s married any more!" he added. Squad member Taif Al Delami knows all the sacrifices will be worth it if they can string together a few a good performances on the pitch.

"We just want to put some pride in the jersey and build on our performance from the Dubai Sevens. We’re definitely looking for a win from our pool games and taking it from there.

"We’re not here just to turn up, we’re here to win games. And we’ve been training for that."

Arabian Gulf World Cup Squad: Steve Cooper, Chris Gregory, Joshua Sherrin, Sean Hurley, Jonny MacDonald, Corey Oliver, Marcus Smith, Stuart Gibb, Dan Patching, David Clark, Fancois Coetzer, Taif Al Delamie