USRC Tigers 0-20 Gai Wu Falcons
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 16:30
Valley Black 20-0 HKFC Ice
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 16:30
Kowloon 15-20 City Sparkle
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 18:00
Tai Po Dragons 22-5 HK Scottish
@ Tai Hang Tung, Kick-off: 16:30
CWB Lammergeier 38-0 Gai Wu Hawks
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 16:30
HKFC Fire v Tai Po Dragons
@ HK Football Club, Kick-off: 18:00
Photo: courtesy of Gozar Images
Gai Wu Falcons 73-3 HKFC Ice
@ HK Football Club, Kick-off: 18:00
USRC Tigers 3-43 Valley Black
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 18:00
Kowloon 12-14 CWB Phoenix
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 19:30
USRC Tigers 12-17 Valley Red
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 16:30
HK Scottish v HKCC
@ Shek Kip Mei, Kick-off: 18:00
Gai Wu Fawkes 5-15 Tai Po Dragons
@ KG V, Kick-off: 18:00
Gai Wu Hawks 10-5 Tai Po Dragons
@ KG V, Kick-off: 16:30
CWB Lammergeier 17-14 Police Sirens
@ Police Boundary Street, Kick-off: 18:00
Photo: Gozar Images
It was another Valley Black onslaught at Happy Valley as the defending Grand Champions put USRC Tigers away early with three tries in the opening 20 minutes, before lapses in concentration saw them drift for the remainder of the half.
James Elliot, Valley’s coach, credited a tough Tigers pack and injuries to several key players – Hong Kong internationals Adrienne Garvey, Colleen Tjosvold and Stephanie Cuvelier were all missing from the backline – as partial reasons for the drift. “Tigers were really strong at the scrums and dominated us on a few occasions,” said Elliot.
“We also had a lot of unforced errors due to a lack of cohesion in the backs as there were quite a few replacements today, some of whom hadn’t trained together or even played yet this season. But we still have four weeks remaining to work on that cohesion before the Grand Championships” added Elliot.
Valley scored seven tries with flanker Olivia Coady and No.8 Amelie Seure both collecting braces, while Nadia Cuvelier, Zoe Smith and Caitlin Spencer added tries of their own. Smith added four conversions.
With four of those tries coming from the forwards, Elliot gave due credit to his back row trio of flankers Coady and Toto Cheng and No.8 Seure for holding up to the Tigers challenge.
“Amelie and Olivia combined really well and Toto was everywhere causing problems for the Tigers, she was a real livewire.”
Adrienne Davis, promoted from the club’s NL1, performed well as did Spencer, who scored Valley’s opening try on her first match for the club in five years after recently returning to Hong Kong.
Extra tackling practice is likely this week after two Valley players were sin-binned in the final ten minutes for high tackles, allowing Tigers to put their only points on the board in the 76th minute. Valley Black have now conceded just 21 points over eight games this season.
In the days other Premiership action current table toppers Gai Wu Falcons comfortably beat HKFC Ice 73-3, Valley have two games in hand on the league leaders. Kowloon were left frustrated after a narrow loss to Causeway Bay Phoenix in a match where it enjoyed the lion’s share of possession but saw the result slip from their hands through unforced errors.
Additional reporting and photos: HKrugby
Valley Black take on the USRC Tigers as first plays third in the Women’s Premiership Game of the Week at Happy Valley, kick-off is at 6pm. The Tigers have made big strides this season as they look to close the gap on the league’s front-runners but will have to be at the top of their game having lost the reverse fixture 32-3 earlier in the season.
Tigers Coach Liu Kwok-leung noted that his side could still be a bit rusty as their 61-10 win over Kowloon last weekend was their first competitive match since November – and despite the lengthy lay-off, the Tigers are struggling with injuries.
“We’ll probably bring some players up for the game against Valley, which will make getting the result that much harder, but it will give a chance for the younger players to get more experience,” said Liu.
“Valley is a tough game, but we’ll do our best. We’ve been preparing hard, and we know them much better now than when we met earlier this season. We’ve been working a lot on our defence, as if you can’t defend against Valley, you have no chance to attack,” added Liu.
Liu is also encouraged by the rapid development of some young players in the Tigers set-up: “We’ve got a few U18 girls coming through, which is really exciting. Hebe Talas will start this week on the wing. She’s a quality athlete and will be a major player for us in the future.”
Talas, and forward Maelle Picut who will start on the bench, were part of the U18s girls sevens side that won Hong Kong’s first Asian U18s Girls Sevens Championship last December, scoring a try in the final, a 12-5 win over Kazakhstan. “I’m really looking forward to see how these girls go,” said Liu
The Tigers’ U18s could find themselves facing their Hong Kong team-mates Kelsie Bouttle and Clare Coey who have both been getting Premiership match time with Valley this season.
“We can’t lose focus as we can’t afford any mistakes against Valley. They have a lot of national team players. We can learn a lot from playing them, but we don’t have any pressure. We can just tell the players to go out and enjoy it and that’s when we perform best,” said Liu who is satisfied with the Tigers’ position in the table: “We don’t feel any pressure to move up the table. We can continue to focus on our performance, as we’re confident we can keep ahead of the clubs below us. Our game isn’t yet at the level to consistently match Valley and Gai Wu so we need more experience, which is why this weekend is important.”
“Our target is the Grand Championships. We have set a goal to reach the final and beat whoever we face there,” Liu added.
With an undefeated run that is now in it’s third straight season, Liu can expect that opponent to be Valley, who also have their eyes on the same prize.
“We’re keeping an eye on the Grand Championships now and working on the expectation that we’ll play Gai Wu again, but this is rugby and anything could happen,” Valley Black coach Elliot said.
“Tigers are a good side. They know what they’re doing so it’s always a tough game. Our girls really want this win, but we’re also mindful that the schedule is going to get a lot tougher in the coming weeks. Our challenge now is to play some of our make-up games while managing player availability and fitness and, of course, not picking up too many injuries.”
“We need to get through this tough game on Saturday, and then we play Football Club next Thursday, which will be the first time we’ve met this season. We play them again the following week, giving us two matches against them in nine days, which can be tricky.”
Elliot has reshuffled his forward pack in the hunt for some new combinations for the remainder of the season and that could offer an opportunity for Tigers.
“It will be a baptism of fire for our forwards against the strong Tigers pack,” Elliot concluded.
In the other matches this weekend Gai Wu Falcons will face fourth-ranked HKFC Ice, while sixth-ranked Kowloon looks for its second win of the season against fifth-placed Causeway Bay Phoenix.
City Sparkle 0-94 Gai Wu Falcons
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 16:30
USRC Tigers 61-10 Kowloon
@ Shek Kip Mei, Kick-off: 16:30
CWB Phoenix 12-5 HKFC Ice
@ So Kon Po, Kick-off: 18:00
HKCC 5-10 Tai Po Dragons
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 16:30
Revolution SRC 19-12 Gai Wu Fawkes
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 18:00
USRC Tigers 48-0 HK Scottish
@ Shek Kip Mei, Kick-off: 18:00
Gai Wu Hawks 24-10 HKFC Fire
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 15:00
Tai Po Dragons 0-10 Police Sirens
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 18:00
Tin Shui Wai 36-0 Uni-Pirates
@ Tin Shui Wai, Kick-off: 18:00
City 25-5 Kowloon
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 19:30
Photo: HKRugby
Living up to their promise to avenge last week’s pasting from Gai Wu, SCAA Causeway Bay Phoenix earned a hard fought 12-5 win over fourth-placed HKFC Ice.
The game mattered for both sides and the commitment showed. Through much of the first half, Football Club – missing a number of key players through injury and travel – struggled to gain and keep possession. Good movement from an energised Causeway Bay backline paid off midway through when quick hands out of the ruck fed the ball through to right wing Hau Sin Man who showed sustained speed to score. A solid conversion from hooker Chin Po Po put the home team in control.
Late in the half, Football Club rallied somewhat but couldn’t convert the possession to points, and the 7-0 scoreline stood at the break.
Both sides restarted well but the energy and accuracy of the CWB kept the pressure on Football Club. With around three-quarters of the game played, another win from the ruck brought the result within reach. The ball was quickly distributed through the backs via a deft switch back to the blindside. Another strong run from Hau Sin Man finished the move and saw Phoenix’s into a 12-0 lead.
HKFC looked to respond and the final 15 minutes was easily their strongest period of the game. On the 70 minute mark Ice’s no.8 Mei Nam Chow broke through the line and looked set to score, but an infraction earned her side a penalty try instead, which wasn’t converted, 12-5.
Football Club continued to press, but Phoenix’s defence held firm and the hard-fought game ended with smiles on Causeway Bay faces.
Coach Ocean Chow had no doubt the victory was well earned. “We executed our plan on defence, and built on that. Our scrum was strong today, earning us several turnovers. We have been working on our tackling, and today made a lot of good tackles, keeping low. We played our own style: quick ball and quick out of the ruck without overcommitting.”
Chow credited the win to his players attitude, saying, “they are fit and believe in themselves. They really wanted to win this one, after our record of going close against Football Club.”
HKFC’s long-serving national team forward Royce Chan Leong Sze said, “Causeway Bay were catching us with fast breaks, putting on pressure [that led to points]. We simply didn’t have enough possession to win the game.”
The loss changes the complexion of the rest of the season for Football Club, as their third-place/fourth-place tussle with USRC Tigers, against the two strongest sides in the Premiership, runs the risk of being replaced by a battle to hold on to fourth against a resurgent CWB.
Chan observed, “It’s going to be challenging going into the last four games, up against the top teams, and with us having to cope with a number of injuries. This game gave us notice that we must toughen up and move on.”
The USRC Tigers solidified their hold on third place in the table, ahead of HKFC, pounding Kowloon 61-10.
Kowloon coach Jonathan Ho was nevertheless pleased with his side’s defensive line speed, which he said caused Tigers problems, and led to their two second-half tries.
In the other Women’s Premiership game, Gai Wu Falcons topped last week’s high-scoring win with a rampaging 94-0 victory over bottom club City Sparkle, scoring eight tries in the first half alone and fulfilling coach Lai Yiu Pang’s directive to his players to keep focused on making the most of every opportunity.
Full women’s rugby results here
Additional reporting and photo: HKRugby
