Cooper believes team earned respect.

Dubai: AaArabian Gulf Sevens skipper Steve Cooper believes his team of moonlighters has earned the respect of their peers within the rugby world.

The highlight of the Rugby World Cup Sevens for Cooper's all-amateur team of men with day jobs, was clearly the try against New Zealand.

The Gulf side lost that match 41-5 to the Kiwis, but Stuart Gibb's lone try was so inspirational it nearly set them up for a surprise victory over Italy, the Six Nations side winning 19-17 courtesy of a try that was scored only seconds before the final hooter.

Ahead of the tournament many would have expected Arabian Gulf, who qualified for the main draw as hosts, to be nothing but pushovers. However, Cooper feels a lot of people would have changed their minds after seeing the team stand up - and even dominate for certain periods - against the mighty All Blacks, who have been crowned champions in the past.

Arabian Gulf endured a 19-0 whitewash at the hands of Tonga in their opening game, and Cooper admits his side was overwhelmed by the task at hand.

"Obviously, initially, there's always a lot of nerves, but once you get that first game out of the way you just want to prove to everybody that you belong here; not necessarily everybody, but everybody who believes in you," said Cooper, who is employed as category manager with Nakheel Retailcorp.

"I think the Arabian Gulf teams of the past have lacked in self-belief, but we've worked very hard for this tournament and even as individuals this is something we'll be ticking off.

"We showed talent, determination and desire and at the end of the day, for us, there's nothing but pride there regardless of what the scoreboards said. The loss to Italy is something that will haunt me for a long time but you've got to take it on the chin and look ahead."

Cooper is keen to see the union build on its newfound self-esteem.

"We've worked hard on trying to help people know what the Arabian Gulf is all about and it will be a shame if we can't take this any further," Cooper, 29, added. "We don't know what the future holds, but I just want to let everybody who is considering playing in this shirt know that this was a team of fantastic guys, with their own challenges and pressures in life and together we made it work."

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