The inaugural tournament ended in farce a year ago when an ambulance was unavailable for a game between then West Asia Cup champions Abu Dhabi Saracens and Sri Lankan champions Kandy.

This year there are only three teams competing as the Kazakhstan representatives dropped out. Jalajel, however, believes these are teething problems any fledgling competition experiences.

“We appreciate it’s early days and it is in the infancy stage. it’s a work in progress. It’s educational and it will get there,” said Jalajel, Asia Rugby’s West Asia development consultant.

“Clubs and unions are interested and now we have some interest in the east of Asia. The vision is one day we’ll have a winner from here and the east playing in a big tournament.

Kandy, Doha and teams who played last year loved it and thought it was brilliant. Kandy are back so hopefully it will become something to aspire to be in.

“If you win the West Asia Premiership or get to the final you get a chance to compete against the best in Asia, which you want to do as a player and as a team.

“Some of the feedback we had was that timing could be different, maybe it’s a bit too early, we’re happy to look at it, but it’s something we need to grow and become one of our high performance competitions.

“Hopefully next year it will be in a better position and we’ll have a fourth team join us. It’s a step in the right direction.”