Tag: Tin Shui Wai Pandas

Women’s 20-21 Rugby Season Preview

The Women’s 2020-21 rugby season kicked-off with the inaugural Valley Fast Fifteens pre-season tournament at King’s Park last weekend. The first round of Premiership matches takes place on the 7 November, with the other leagues starting later in the month.

A planned transformation of the women’s rugby structure for the new season comprising of four leagues each comprising six teams – Premiership, Championship and National League 1 and 2 – was hampered by the Wuhan virus pandemic and unplayed matches.

The completion of last season’s Premiership, with Valley Black sweeping League and Grand Championship honours, enabled a re-structuring at the pinnacle of the local women’s game ahead of the Women’s World Cup 2021 in New Zealand.

Hong Kong is supposed to contest the Asia Rugby Championship with Japan and Kazakhstan to determine which sides advance to next August’s tournament. The winner qualifies directly while the runners-up enter a four-team play-off. With details still vague, and the prospect of friendlies ahead of a potential competition dimming, players are keenly focusing on the Premiership, as is national coach Jo Hull.

“All of our national players are engaged in the Premiership, both sevens and fifteens, and for the next six months, their whole focus is on Rugby World Cup qualification. Players know they need to perform for their clubs to earn consideration for the squad,” said Hull

“The Premiership will be used for selection, but with six teams – the best six we believe, the idea is to have much higher intensity games than the club game has previously offered, that has been shown around the world as the only way to prepare for international rugby.

“We are delivering that this season and I think the players will really be challenged. There are seven games on the bounce leading up to Christmas and that will be a very good test for the clubs and players. They haven’t had that in a while and they will have to deal with that intensity,” Hull added.

The new Premiership features Valley; USRC Tigers; Gai Wu Falcons; HKFC Ice; SCAA Causeway Bay Phoenix and Kowloon.

Double holders Valley Black begin the season as favourites, but with many off-season departure or retirements – Colleen Tjosvold, Stephanie Cuvelier, Suzanne Sittko, ex Black Fern Olivia Coady, workhorse flanker Toto Cheng and captain Caitlin Spencer – will Valley player-coach Bella Milo be able to integrate their replacements and retain the team’s high standards?

Milo commented “We lost a few players and I thought it might be a challenge to fill the gap, but some of the young players stepped up over the lockdown and came back in great shape, and we’ve been fortunate to get new players through word of mouth and social media. Our preparation has been okay, given the circumstances.

“We want to put ourselves in position to finish on top again. It’s easy to win a single Premiership but defending it will show our character and our culture,” added Milo.

Over the last couple of seasons USRC Tigers have pushed the traditionally dominant duo of Valley and Gai Wu hard and in 2019 clipped the Falcons wings and edging them into a third-place finish before running out of steam as injuries mounted late in the campaign. Veteran international Lindsay Varty hailed Tiger’s coach Fan Shun-Kei’s off-season programme that included online training sessions during lockdowns. Hopes are high among the players to push on from last season’s form with a second raft of young players becoming age-eligible for senior rugby. The Tigers have also added experience with Hong Kong winger Chong Ka-yan and hooker Iris Yeung joining the squad.

“We have a great team with a lot of depth and excitement with the new players. We are expecting the usual Tigers’ team spirit, work rate and a little x-factor too. We have our sights on winning the league and Grand Championships, but our focus right now is on our first game and not thinking too far ahead,” said Varty.

Perennial contender Gai Wu suffered a down season by its lofty standards with a third-placed finish after a 7-5-1 season, and a similar placing in the grand championship play-off. Falcons can take heart from the performance of its National League 1 side, which finished second last season, as they develop from within.

“We are building nicely towards the first match with a number of players pushing up to the first team. It will be exciting to see how they go as they challenge some of the senior players, it’s also the first time in a long time that we have had our sevens players for preseason and available for the season. We want to win, and create depth and competition within the club, so players aspire to improve and perform to the best of their ability,” said the club’s Pun Wai-yan.

HKFC achieved its larger objectives of avoiding relegation and being competitive in the top four last season, but coach Peter Ayres is now setting the benchmark higher: “We have to upset the top three; we were seconds away from beating Gui Wu last year, and can’t let those opportunities slip by. With the short preseason, it will come down to how fast we can set our standard and start performing as a team. It will be interesting to see how other teams line up with this shorter preseason.”

Kowloon hit their straps last season under first-year coach Terry Sibanda, who oversaw the introduction of over 19 young players last season at the club. He is after more of the same this season, saying, “We were not very active in the transfer market this year, we looked at possibilities, but our emphasis was on squad retention from last year and continuing to build on that.

“We have a boost from returning players who missed last season due to injury, with Yip Cho Kwan, Tsang Sin Yan and Shanna Forrest all out to make an impact, and a few more exciting young players to integrate into the squad. We have set the bar higher than last season in terms of performance and attitude.

The objective is simple: be competitive in every game. I expect the first few games will be tough. It will give us a chance to measure ourselves and see what level we are at in terms of our preparation, skill and team play.”

Prince Wong, coach of SCAA Causeway Bay talked about a challenging pre-season period for the league’s coaches saying, “Under the return to rugby guidelines, we have had limited contact. The players’ fitness level is high, but with the shorter pre-season, our preparations are really tight and getting back to full contact rugby quickly. The first few games will be extremely hard as we re-adapt to the highest level of women’s rugby.”

With access to games initially limited by coronavirus protocols, two Women’s Premiership games will be streamed weekly throughout the opening month of the Premiership season in November. Matches will be streamed via the HKRU’s Facebook page.

Additional reporting: HK Rugby
Images: Valley RFU

It’s Back!!! – Women’s Rugby Fixtures: 7 November, 2020

It’s Back!!!
Women’s Rugby returns!

All the action is free, come down and show your support!

Women’s Premiership Champions 2019-20: Valley Black

Congratulations!!

Women’s Rugby Fixtures – 7 December, 2019

Hong Kong 18-0 The Netherlands @ Amsterdam – 30 November, 2019

Hong Kong won its first-ever European tour test series, sweeping the Netherlands with an 18-0 second test victory in Amsterdam. That followed last Tuesday’s 14-12 victory, which was the first for Hong Kong over any European opponent in a fifteen-a-side test.

Hong Kong had a fiery start, pressing the Netherlands from kick-off and dominating the first exchanges. With confidence high, fly half Lara Schats declined a makeable penalty to kick for the corner as the visitors backed themselves from the lineout.

Hong Kong’s set-piece functioned well all game with technique trumping the Dutch height advantage. The ball was claimed neatly at the back of the line out and the forwards unleashed six phases bashing the try-line before So found the gap to burrow over after five minutes. The conversion was missed but Hong Kong had again taken an early psychological edge.

They pressed their advantage again minutes later with prop Tammy Lau Nga-wun scoring after a series of short runs from the forwards. It was Lau’s second try of the series, Hong Kong 10-0.

The Netherlands responded physically and Hong Kong’s defence held firm against an athletic Dutch backline that threatened with several long-range attacks only to be foiled by a thundering last gasp tackle. Hong Kong were strong in the breakdown, generating regular turnover ball to launch their own attacks.

Despite plenty of opportunities at both ends of the pitch, tenacious defending from both sides saw the score remained 10-all until late in the fourth quarter. An injured Schats gave way to Aileen Ryan at ten and her fresh legs added energy to the attack. Ryan’s long run through the heart of the Netherland defence was ended close to the line. 

But there was plenty of forward support following up with No.8 Suzanne Sittko driving over for her first try for her country on her second cap, pushing the score to 15-0.

Ryan added a late penalty to push the margin to 18, as Hong Kong kept the Dutch scoreless to capture a memorable series win.

Lead coach Fan Shun-kei was delighted with the efforts of the squad, saying, “This second win was so important to us. We just beat them in the first test, so it was a good challenge for the squad, especially with them bringing in more of their experienced players for this game.

“Our concern coming in was our physicality and the size difference between us and the teams in Europe. They are bigger than us, and that is just a fact that we have to live with.” Fan continued “Our game plan really worked, slowing them down at the ruck and attacking them low. They are tall and big, and we knew they would struggle with us attacking them low.”

With the series in the bag, the true results will only be seen next spring in the Asian qualifier for the Rugby World Cup and Fan believes this tour has them off to a good start.

“The girls proved something to themselves on tour, that even though we give up size, we can still play big.

‘This experience is an important moment in our build-up to qualify for the Rugby World Cup, which is what we are focused on now. This win will give us a lot of confidence going into the qualifiers with Japan and Kazakhstan.”

Fan expects the squad to push on to the next level now, warning them that there is still much work to do before facing Asia’s best in March.

“We need the same physicality we had today, more even, but we need to be much more skilful. The Asian sides are much faster and we will need to play differently against them,” said Fan.

Hong Kong Tour Squad v The Netherlands

Dr Karen So Hoi-ting (Captain), Lau Nga-wun, Vincci Leung Wing-yi, Winnie Siu Wing-ni, Iris Lam Tim-yeung, Riva Brill, Chan Hiu-tung, Cheung Shuk-hang, Hana Lane*, Lee Ka-shun, Maelle Picut*, Suzanne Sittko*, Roshini Turner* Au King-to*, Chloe Chan*, Fung Hoi-ching*, Tsang Ching-man, Chow Mei-nam, Jessica Eden, Jessica Ho Wai-on, Sarah Lucas, Lara Schats*, Vivian Poon Hoi-yan*, Amy Pyle, Aileen Ryan, Zoe Smith, Hebe Talas*, Bena Yu Bo-yan.* Hong Kong Debut.

Additional reporting and images: HKRU, USRC Tigers

Historic Hong Kong Victory, 14-12 Against Netherlands

Hong Kong’s women’s 15s held their nerve to score a historic 14-12 win over the Netherlands on 26 November in Amsterdam to record their first-ever test victory over a European team.

Against the 13th ranked team in the world Hong Kong (ranked 21st) lead 7-0 at half time courtesy of a try from prop Tammy Lau Nga-wun, with fly-half Aileen Ryan adding the conversion. The visitors stretched their lead to 14-nil early in the second half with tighthead prop Lee Ka-shun scoring and debutant Lara Schats converting.

The Netherlands stormed back with two tries, the unconverted second with ten minutes remaining saw Hong Kong retain a two-point lead into the final stretch. Hong Kong soaked up intense Dutch pressure but held firm. A missed penalty attempt by the visitors as time expired wasn’t costly on a marvellous night for women’s rugby in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong coach, Jo Hull, hailed it as a pivotal win for a young team featuring ten debutants.

“It was a meaningful win for us, but we are keeping our feet on the ground. They had some new players, and I expect them to revert to their experience now. We are expecting to play a different Netherlands team on Saturday.

Hull continued “It was a great win; a real nail biter, but slightly frustrating at the same time. We lacked execution in the first half. We had possession but could not convert opportunities and made too many individual errors.”

“At half time we talked a lot about executing, and playing our game. Our set-piece and lineout were working well, so we could play more of a kicking game and we controlled the game well in the second half,” said Hull, who wants her team to demand even more of themselves on Saturday.

“Our only focus now is on finishing the job. How we improve from Tuesday to Saturday is the biggest test of the tour,” Hull added.

For Hull the difference in the first test came from Hong Kong’s ability to dictate the games’ tempo and timely contributions from the reserves.

“We had good impact off the bench; Maelle Picut who came on at No.8 and Jasmine Fung came on at centre and added significant impact and energy. We played with the momentum and tempo we wanted to, and did well at slowing them down.”

“Our focus is on our recovery and our execution. Being sure we are physically and mentally ready to play and getting our best combinations out on the pitch.

“One of the most pleasing things we saw in the first game was the things we have been working on in training being executed on the pitch. That is a huge confidence boost for the girls,” Hull added.

Hull expects what was already a significant physical challenge to intensify. “They are much bigger than us, so I was pleased with how we played at the breakdown and in contact, particularly after we were disappointed with our performance in those areas in our training camp with Scotland.

“We held our own on tonight, but I anticipate a more physical game ahead. We used our speed and tempo game well against them and will need to do it again.”

Hull also noted the positive performance of some of the newer players like Roshini Turner, who made her Hong Kong debut in the second row with veteran Tsang Ching-man, and another emerging star in Amy Pyle who did not shy from the contact game.

“Roshini played really well in the lineouts, both of the rows did, they paired well and it was a good debut for her. Amy also had a very strong game, and was really physical in defence.”

A couple of young heads also showed excellent composure for Hull in fly half Ryan and centre Lara Schats.

“They performed well. Despite being young, they are reliable kicking options for us and helped control the game. It was a real challenge for them to step up into what is a big job and in big positions. We were pleased with all of the new players.

“They now understand what is required at international level. It was an eye opener for them and the focus will be on how well we adjust from tonight to Saturday.”

Hull will be keen to close out the sweep but objectives have largely been met as the team grows in confidence.

“Our goal is to play more outside of Asia. We are now seeing the results. This win was a huge marker for us, to beat a team from outside our comfort zone, particularly a team as challenging as the Netherlands with their physical size and athleticism.

“It is an experience that will impact our Rugby World Cup journey and the players are absorbing every bit of it to help them down the line,” said Hull.

Hong Kong Tour Squad v The Netherlands

Dr Karen So Hoi-ting (Captain), Lau Nga-wun, Vincci Leung Wing-yi, Winnie Siu Wing-ni, Iris Lam Tim-yeung, Riva Brill, Chan Hiu-tung, Cheung Shuk-hang, Hana Lane*, Lee Ka-shun, Maelle Picut*, Suzanne Sittko*, Roshini Turner* Au King-to*, Chloe Chan*, Fung Hoi-ching*, Tsang Ching-man, Chow Mei-nam, Jessica Eden, Jessica Ho Wai-on, Sarah Lucas, Lara Schats*, Vivian Poon Hoi-yan*, Amy Pyle, Aileen Ryan, Zoe Smith, Hebe Talas*, Bena Yu Bo-yan.* Hong Kong Debut.

Additional reporting and images: HKRU

Women’s Rugby Fixtures – 16 November, 2019 -Cancelled

All  fixtures for the 16 November 2019 have been cancelled and will be reschuled for a later date.

Women’s Rugby Fixtures – 9 November, 2019