After several close games recently Gai Wu Falcons ended Valley Black’s unbeaten streak at 51 games with a 22-15 win over the three times defending champions.
The win puts the Falcons on top of the Women’s Premiership table on 16 points, one ahead of Valley, with two weeks remaining in the regular season.
In the other Premiership matches USRC Tigers beat HKFC Ice 44-12, CWB Phoenix returned to form with a 24-10 win over Kowloon while Tai Po Dragons beat City Sparkle 47-0.
Ahead of the clash with Valley, Gai Wu coach Sailo Lai Yiu-pang had commented that the lengthy lay-off for both teams could be a factor,and predicted that the result would come down to the team with the superior intensity.
It was his side that came through in the end, with a massive defensive effort keeping the Falcons in the match for the full 80 minutes and putting them in position to score two tries in the dying minutes, turning a 15-12 deficit into the eventual 22-15 win.
Lai was ecstatic with the result, which has been a longtime coming for the Falcons, who have finished as league runners-up and lost the Grand Championship finals to Valley for the last three seasons.
“It was amazing. Our defence was massive. We won this game because we defended well. We held out not just once but twice on our try line. Mentally, we were spot on and kept a high focus for the entire 80 minutes. We lost momentum once, but then we got it back and were able to maintain it for the full 80.”
Lai hailed the effort of the entire squad, saying, “We played as a team, which you can see from the scoring–two tries from the backs and two from the forwards. It was a true team effort.”
Valley went all-out in attack early on with No.8 Aroha Savage scoring in the opening minutes with fullback Zoe Smith converting to give the defending champions an early 7-0 lead.
Gai Wu mustered some impressive rear-guard defence to keep Valley from extending its lead by holding them up twice on the try-line, before they were able to mount their own forays into their opponents half.
When they did they made them count. Christy Cheng Ka-chi opened the scoring for Gai Wu in her first game of the season after returning from an injury suffered in the World Cup. Showing her sevens versatility, Cheng forced a gap in the Valley defence close to the line before charging over for the score.
Falcons’ second try came off another line-break with the ball wending its way to centre Greer Muir who outpaced two defenders in a 40-metre sprint for the line to give Gai Wu a 12-7 lead after the conversion heading into the half-time break.
Valley player-coach Bella Milo willed her side back into the affair with an early second-half try to level the scores at 12-all, before Smith gave Valley back the lead at 15-12 after a successful drop goal.
That lead looked to be secure when Gai Wu lock Wong Ka-yin was yellow carded after 70 minutes, but Falcons found another level to close out the game with two tries in the right corner from Hong Kong standouts Aggie Poon Pak-yan and No. 8 Chan Ka-yan to seal the win.
After the game, Lai cautioned his charges to maintain not just their perspective, but also their performance.
“We have to take it game by game. If we can maintain our level of play like this we have a good chance of winning the league, but it’s down to how we perform weekin, weekout. We can’t let down now,” said Lai.
“But this win certainly gives us a lot of confidence. If we can defend like we did today, we can beat Valley again. It is a huge boost for us to be able to play against world-class players like Bella (Milo) and Aroha (Savage) and come away with the win. It’s the first time I’ve seen the girls so happy,” Lai added. “It’s the best game they’ve ever played, and they deserved that win.”
Milo agreed with Lai’s estimate in the final analysis saying, “They played really well. The game was won at the breakdown, which is where they came out faster and we couldn’t slow them down, but it just means we’ve got to work a bit harder. We’ve got to go back to the drawing board.”
Milo was intent on refocusing her side after the end of a winning streak that had extended for three full seasons– and very nearly a fourth – and is unlikely to be equalled in the annals of Hong Kong women’s rugby.
“It’s not the end of world. The streak had to end eventually and in that sense it is good that it happened now and not in the Grand Championships. At the final whistle there was disappointment for sure, a few tears in there, but it was a good kick up the bum, and will make us hungrier for the next games,” Milo warned.
In National League 1, Revolution SRC overcame Tai Po Dragons 2 36-5, to take home the NL1 Challenge Shield for a third time. While in National League 2 saw Police Sirens scored a feisty 20-17 win over CWB Lammergeier to take possession of the NL 2 Challenge Shield and end the league leaders’ five-match run.
Additional reporting and images: hkru