Hong Kong Men's Premiership Race Still Wide Open With Four Rounds to Go
Catch
It’s getting tight at the top in the RugbyPass.com Men’s Premiership. With only four rounds to go, competition leaders Societe Generale Valley have three other sides making genuine claims for their league championship title.
They face Natixis HKFC at 4.30pm this Saturday at Football Club, while the other matches – also kicking off at 4.30pm – see Herbert Smith Freehills HKCC host Bloomberg HK Scottish at Aberdeen and Kowloon locks horns with Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers at King’s Park.
HKFC is one of the chasing pack – along with Kowloon and Scottish – and Phil Bailey’s side were buoyed during the week by the news they will be awarded the points for a match early in the season when HKCC pulled out due to a shortage of front-rowers.
The decision leaves them only four points behind Valley and Saturday’s game is the perfect time to further stake their claims.
“Kowloon has proved that [Valley are beatable], Kowloon has done a great job against them,” Bailey said.
“I think the competition is getting better and better and it is closer and closer.”
Despite this, Bailey has seen in his side’s two defeats to them so far this season just what Valley are capable of.
“Valley are very good at capitalising on any team’s mistakes. They play very good set-piece footy and they will pin you in a corner and they will keep you there all day, apply pressure and score points,” he said.
“We need to take our opportunities but also play smart footy and limit our mistakes. The big thing for us is errors and not compounding those errors.”
Valley welcome back winger Doug Fluker and second-rower Tom Broughton and are keen to bounce back from last week’s loss to Kowloon.
“[HKFC] are creeping up the table and have put some good performances in,” coach Andrew Kelly said.
“It’s a good opportunity for us to get back in to winning ways, a derby match against our rivals is just what we needed really, so hopefully the boys will be up for it.”
[rugbypass-ad-banner id=”1473723660″]
HKCC are edging their way back to full strength after a nightmare run of injuries prior to Christmas and last week welcomed back fly half Angus Cameron and prop Dylan Rogers for their game against HKFC.
The forward pack has been the area hardest hit and after having had a full complement of second-rowers to choose from last week, coach Kevin West is hopeful hooker Ben Roberts will play this Saturday against Scottish.
After another narrow loss against Football Club compounded what has been a tough season thus far, Kevin West is preparing his charges for a bruising encounter.
“We are expecting them [Scottish] to be flat out,” he said. “There is a league title getting close to being decided and they’re obviously in the running, which shows what a fantastic season they’ve had. They’re a team that mix a fair bit of aggression in defence and around the breakdown with a lot of width, so that is a challenge for any team.”
Scottish have had far fewer injury woes and will be full strength when hooker Lachlan Chubb and flanker Ewan Miller return to the side.
“They are two pretty key guys to upping our level of game and they add a bit of firepower and punch,” coach Craig Hammond said.
“Whether it’s this week or next week, they will add a bit of competition to what we’ve got which is good.”
Hammond is putting no weight on the fact HKCC currently sit in second-last place and insists there will be no complacency within his side.
“They rely a lot on their forward pack, they do really well in the set piece, they have got a very good scrum and a good line-out and they have got a lot of strike-power out wide,” he said.
“They are a strong team so it is about containing them and containing them up front so we have just got to make sure we can mix it with their forward pack. But we have also got to play, we have got to keep the tempo going and keep the ball in hand and strike.”
Kowloon sit nine points behind Valley and must continue winning to remain in the hunt for top spot, however they face a Tigers side who are in reasonable form despite being bottom.
Tigers pushed Scottish last week and defeated HKCC before the Christmas break, but will need to find another gear against a Kowloon side at the top of their game.
“[Kowloon] are a tough side and they have got some good go forward with Turoa Stephens, their number eight; he is a big boy,” Tigers coach Craig Stewart said.
“Probably one of the best players in the league at the moment is their 10 Jack Neville; he is very dangerous.”
Flanker Alex Woodburn and centre Tyler Spitz miss out this week with injury, while back Sam Purvis and forward Jack Capon come in as Stewart longs for the day when he has a full squad to pick from.
“We seem to lose a different key guy every week but that has just been the way it has crumbled for us this year,” Stewart said.
“It would be nice for us to get some consistency in the team we are able to put out but we still put out a quality team. We are still really positive and the boys are enjoying what we are doing.”
Comments on RugbyPass
I like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
8 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
8 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
8 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
8 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
41 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
1 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
3 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
3 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to comments