HKCC claim first win of the season
The Old Mutual International Men’s Premiership clubs picked up where they left off with another weekend of exciting close-run affairs.
Herbert Smith Freehills HKCC claimed the Broony Quaich off of Natixis HKFC with an important 27-19 away win at Sports Road, while Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers edged Kowloon, 13-10. SocieteGenerale Valley sprung the biggest margin this week with a 22-7 win over Bloomberg HK Scottish.
The Cricketers turned the league table on its head, claiming their first win of the season and handing Football Club its first loss, with what could prove a momentum-shifting win for the side under new coach Brett Wilkinson.
HKCC came charging out of the blocks with the forward pack putting the hosts under severe pressure from the start with an early wave of attacks putting prop Fai Mika across for a try in the tenth minute, with scrumhalf Jack Metters slotting the extras.
The two sides exchanged penalties for the rest of the half with HKFC fullback Glyn Hughes, one of the premier goal kickers in a league full of strong boots, putting his side’s first points on the board with a penalty in the 17th minute. Metters replied three minutes later to regain the lead 10-3.
Hughes narrowly missed on a 52-metre attempt,but was successful with his second penaltyat the 30-minute marker, capping a great break from Ben Axten-Burrett and some precision passing from the backline which set up the chip shot and closed the gap to 10-6.
The HKCC onslaught continued though repeatedly forcing HKFC into errors in their own half and giving Mettersa chance to push the buffer back to seven points at 13-6. Hughes closed the lead to 13-9 with his third penalty of the afternoon shortly afterbut Mettersadded a third strike to give HKCC a 16-9 point lead at the half.
Firing on all cylinders early in the second half, HKCC forced another penalty with Metters’ conversion pushing their lead to 10 points after 44 minutes.
Flanker Matt Lamming further boosted the rampaging Cricketers after intercepting a pass on his own 22-metre line to charge 50 metresupfield before cut down by a trysaving tackle from Nathan De Thierry.
The onrushing support kept HKFC on its heels and four phases later Seb Brien, the hero of the recent Rugby World Cup Sevens qualification campaign, smashed over De Thierry to score.
De Thierry helped lead a Football Club fight back in the final 20minutes with a great solo try in the 59th minute, finishing off a half-break from scrumhalf Henry Poon before stepping several HKCC defenders to cross the whitewash. He closed the gap further five minute later with his penalty bringing the home side to within a converted try trailing 24-19.
A renewed effort saw Football Club threatening HKCC’s line on several occasions but the Cricketers were able to extricate themselves from trouble on every occasion and even managed a final charge in the 77th minute that saw De Thierry handed a yellow card for a shoulder charge.
Metters’ conversion of the ensuring penalty gave HKCC an emotional 27-19 win and capped a performance that showed that the men from Wong Ngai Chung Gap could be gathering momentum for the remainder of the season.
In other Old Mutual Premiership action, USRC Tigers closed out a tight match over Kowloon at Kings Park after trailing 7-5 at halftime with Jamie Tsang scoring for Kowloon and fullback Michael Hanning notching the conversion.
Tigersfirst half points came from a late try through flanker Alex Woodburn,shifting momentum towards his side going into the break. USRCpicked up where they left off with another strike to start the second half as fullback Casey Stone crossing over for the try to take the 10-7 lead. Hanning drew Kowloon level with 15 minutes remaining but Tigers flyhalfRobbie Keith put them away with his first penalty in the 30th minute to claim the 13-10 win.
Valley enjoyed a convincing 22-7 win over Scottish after leading 15-0 at halftime and only allowing Scottish a consolation score in the 72nd minute.
The win puts Valley in pole position on the Premiership table with 14 points to Football Club’s 13, while Tigers have a one point edge over Scottish in third on 11 points. HKCC’s first scalp of the season lift them to joint-bottom with Kowloon on seven points.
University Wizards defend Old Mutual International Championship Cup
University Wizards successfully defended the Old Mutual International Championship Challenge Cup with a 41-33 victory over ECO Gai Wu Rebels. That matches the trophy’s opening two-week residence at SCAA First Pacific CWB Tempest. With all ofthe teams now used to the extra honour available weekly to the holders of the new trophy, RB-SRK Tin Shui Wai will have their eyes on the prize when they take on the Wizards in round five.
Comments on RugbyPass
The game was already over leave the bloke alone ….from a Welsh fan 😀👍
2 Go to commentsShamefully the Toulouse players acted like footballers, falling down feigning injury at the slightest knock. About time refs penalised this play acting.
6 Go to commentsAnother non Scot for the anti Scot Townsend. Soon there will be no Scottish born and bred players in the National team.
1 Go to commentsGreat comeback to the playing field by Richie Mo’unga after the loss of his father. A great performance by Richie . I know him well and he is a great guy. On and off the field one of the greatest for the Crusaders. Scott Robertson would have loved him in his All Black’s side. A very missed player and person.
1 Go to commentsYeah nah he comes across as a funny bloke, but that stopped abruptly after the Nutcracker Prince debacle✋
2 Go to commentsAt this point I can’t watch him without thinking he’s a dirty slimebag. He should have been banned for the same amount of time that Quinn was out. It took Tupaea near on a fricking year to get fit enough to play again and his leg will never be the same. The other crap thing is that he was at ABs level and now he has to claw his way back there when he could have had several games under his belt.
4 Go to commentsThe Black Ferns 7’s have been without Captain Sarah Hirini now since Dec 23 in Dubai where she suffered a bad ACL injury - hopefully she is on the road to recovery for Madrid and Paris. Now also have Tyler King and Shiray kaka on the Injured List but the Team still found a way to win in Singapore and claim the overall Title.
1 Go to commentsUtter grub, hope he gets his leg broken. Shocking he is still playing after intentionally breaking quinn tupaeas knee
4 Go to commentsGreat to see NZ 7s teams finally coming into form and playing at the level that is expected of them.
2 Go to commentsChief Cheapshot on the market again.
4 Go to commentsCrusaders went all in to buy Hotham and Kemara staight from Hamilton Boys. Then they picked up Reihana and Hohepa; all have been dropped for superstar Havili, who is a very good fullback, that’s it. Ennor and Goodhue were schoolboy stars too but went backwards at the Crusaders. Maybe they have finally decided to give another poach Levi Aumua the ball?
13 Go to commentsJoe S has some talent to pick from. The Reds loosies look the best in Super? Aus might just give Razor a headache this year. Int. experience v Cantab greenhorn:) Should be fun.
13 Go to commentsEnd to end play, “THE FANS” this game was entertainment of the best. The conditions added to the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsSorry to say, but sadly the sadas were just ordinary and havilli at 10 as an abs selection just won’t cut it. He’s better suited in the centre’s and is a victim of past charge down kicks, he’s too slow under pressure. There’s better talent further north and I don’t mean dmac however I believe razor will sort him out. A feature of his presents on the park is the fact that the guys will follow him.
13 Go to commentsMarler was brilliant throughout both in the scrum and open play. His slap made virtually no contact with Ramos who milked it for a penalty when he could have been a decent sportsman and laughed it off, it was non-violent and shouldn't have been penalised. Smith failed repeatedly to kick when necessary and put up a couple of bombs into the TLS 22 that just handed back possession at key moments to the other side.
3 Go to commentsCros was outstanding and rightly awarded France TVs player of the match award. Mallia was brilliant as usual (the y is below the 6 on a UK keyboard and he deserves better than that). Level also seems to have been scored harshly as he walked the ball into touch under pressure from a Lynagh kick from well outside his own half which should never have led to a 50-22. Agree with BullShark that Dupont, while class at times, seemed to go missing for patches in the second half with props, hookers and wings frequently filling in at 9 as he couldn't get off the deck and up to the next ruck on time. A 7 by his standards at best, his kicking was also too long, too often. Kinghorn's overall contribution was worth well more than a five.
6 Go to commentsThe Harlequins team must be in minus figures. Did the reporter actually watch the game?
6 Go to commentsHow on earth did Walker escape a red card? Not dangerous? Dupont has his face in a mask earlier this season. Shocking decision. What is the point of TMOs? We had the Fassi ‘non-penalty try’ yesterday and now this.
2 Go to commentsCould have been a different result but yet again French tv able to affect the result by not showing the very clear high shot on harlequin centre if this would have been on a French player would have been on screen at least five times
3 Go to commentsAmazing. The losing team’s ratings are higher than the winning team’s. Mallia definitely didn’t deserve a y. What game were you watching? Should have got a w or an x. ADP hardly featured in that second half. At one point I wondered when he’d been subbed. Seems to me as if he gets an automatic 9 just for getting onto the team sheet.
6 Go to comments