Henry Paul Joins Dubai Hurricanes As Head Coach & Academy Director

The UAE, and Dubai in particular, are set to benefit from more international rugby experience as former dual-code international rugby player Henry Paul has signed on as the new head coach of the Dubai Hurricanes senior men’s team and as Academy Director.

UAE rugby seems to be undergoing some resurgence in the region, with their national U18 teams winning titles, and the Men’s XV team tearing through the Asia Rugby Divisions and recently qualified for the top tier of Men’s XV rugby by beating Pakistan in Lahore. In 2022 the Men’s Sevens teams also had some fantastic results in the Asia Rugby Sevens Series with their best-ever series.

Hery Paul joins the Dubai Hurricanes from Canada where he had been involved as the Head Coach of their 7s team (up to the Tokyo Olympics in 2020), and part of Canada’s national (15-a-side) set-up in the run-up to the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

As a player, he represented both New Zealand in Rugby League and England in Rugby Union and Sevens. His former clubs include Wigan, Bradford Bulls, Harlequins (Rugby League) & Bath, Gloucester and Leeds Carnegie (Rugby Union).

Image Credit: Dubai Hurricanes

This will be his second stint in Dubai as he previously led teams to the finals of Dubai 7s and UAE Premiership (with the Jebel Ali Dragons during the 2016/17 campaign where they reached the UAE Premiership final, losing out to the Abu Dhabi Harlequins), and has won the West Asia Premiership title.

The Dubai rugby club also announced that their new Director of Rugby for the upcoming season is Mike Wernham who previously played in the England U18s before Northampton Saints, where he played in the Premiership A-league. In addition, he represented England universities and is a World Rugby Level-3 Coach.

The Dubai Hurricanes have a number of players with national representation in rugby

• Four Men were selected in the UAE Asia Rugby Championship Division 1 title-winning side in Pakistan.
• Several U18s were selected for the UAE 7s team for the Asia Rugby U18 Championship 2023
• Players selected for the 2023 Rugby Americas North Men’s U19 and Women’s XVs Tournaments

Thanks to Yalla Rugby for letting us know of Henry Paul’s appointment.

Dubai is set to continue hosting the Sevens as part of the revamped HSBC SVNS and will be hosting the WXV 3 in 2023.

Out of interest Dylan Hartley was appointed as Dubai Sharks Director of Rugby in 2022, while the UAE Director of rugby and coach for several national teams is former dual-code international Apollo Perelini.

Asian Rugby News

• Complete 2023 WXV Guide.
• HSBC SVNS – 2023-2024.
• Asian Sevens Teams 2023-2024 Season Preparations.
• Thai Rugby Union Signs Paul Delport as Sevens Women’s Rugby Coach.