Photographing the Asia Rugby Men's Championship 2025 — UAE vs. Hong Kong at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai, UAE

As I continue to dig into professional photography, I was fortunate to be given access by the UAE Rugby Federation to shoot the UAE Rugby National Team vs. Hong Kong China Rugby compete in the Asia Rugby Men's Championship at The Sevens Stadium, on the outskirts of Dubai.

This was my first time covering a rugby match, and again, the learning curve was steeper than I imagined at the Asia Rugby Men's Championship 2025 — UAE vs. Hong Kong. I had attended rugby matches at Colby College, in Maine, during my undergrad, but to be honest, the focus for the fans (and several of the players) was more about the amount of beer consumed than the action in the match.

That said, I had watched some ruby on TV from time to time, and remembered the basics of the game — which one of the players jokingly simplified for me, as I asked a few pedestrian questions — "Run forward, pass backwards," he said.

The Gear: Sony A1ii, 24-70 F2.8 and 300mm F2.8

On the day, I had a 24-70mm F2.8 for the wide shots and close action around the "in-goal areas," or "try zones" (Rugby's version of American football's "end zones"), which definitely came in handy, as my primary lens was the Sony 300mm F2.8, which while perfect for most of the action from mid-field, was too long for the rest. The 300mm was a joy to use, though, and though I can't afford one at the moment — priced at around $6000 USD — it's on my short list of gear to acquire, for sure. While many sports photographers prefer the 400mm F2.8 ($13,500 USD), that lens needs a monopod, where the 300mm doesn't. I found the lightweight 300mm was easily wielded hand-held, and was so light that it doesn't need a monopod, which was liberating to use. Coupled with the Sony A1 ii, which uses a 50 megapixel sensor, the images from the 300mm could be punched in on-the-fly to APSC-mode, giving a 400mm reach, or cropped from the full-frame image in post.

Shooting with the 300mm F2.8

The bigger challenge was simply understanding the flow of the game and where to position myself to capture the action, which I quickly figured out moves diagonally across the field as players run and pitch the ball backwards to the next runner on their way downfield. Essentially, you have to anticipate the toss and quickly track the ball to the next receiver, over and over, until they reach the corners — which again, the 300mm was perfect for, as long as you were standing in the right spot. I found myself shooting with one eye in the EVF and the other open as well, to both anticipate the direction of the action, and not run sideways into a linesman or a water cooler, which I almost did several times. You can see the full game on YouTube here.

In the end, I got plenty of useable photos, but will definitely have a better idea of how to cover rugby the next time. The players, fans, and organizations were all lovely people, and the atmosphere was relaxed and enjoyable. It's not always easy to just "go to a game" in Dubai, but this is a venue and sport that proved the exception, for sure. I'll be back.