Ex-South Africa sevens star aims to make impact alongside Dylan Hartley at Dubai Sharks

When Dylan Hartley moved from the UK last month to the UAE to coach Dubai Sharks, it might have seemed surreal.

A former England captain, capped 97 times in Test rugby, pitching up at a community club in the second tier of recreational rugby in the Middle East?

The sport in the UAE has a habit for such quirks, though. Wales great Mike Phillips, after all, only recently coached Jebel Ali Dragons, and turned out for their second-string sevens team.

Trevor Leota played at World Cups with Samoa and won the Heineken Cup with Wasps before rocking up and playing second-tier rugby in Dubai.

And Jane Leonard thought she had retired from a rugby career that had brought her England caps at Twickenham before being lured back to play at her local team after relocating to Ras Al Khaimah.

Even the Sharks themselves have very recent form for it. Back in February Christelene Steinhobel arrived looking to play social rugby in their women’s side.

Up until two years ago, she had been a contracted professional player for the South African sevens side.

“I played socially, joining the girls in the B-League, and it reignited the passion I had for sport when I was a youngster,” Steinhobel, 31, said of her arrival at the Sharks.

“The club picked up quite a few talented players after the Dubai Sevens, a couple of ferocious, strong-running forwards. We are in the B-League and the female section hasn’t been established for that long.

“There are lot of youngsters and women who started playing socially as they just wanted something to do. A couple of girls have only played for two years. We are quite a developing side.”

Former England captain Dylan Hartley is the new director of rugby at Dubai Sharks. Victor Besa / The National

It did not take long