Hong Kong Rugby Round-Up: Surging Scottish Climb to the Top of the Table
Our match reports from the weekend’s Hong Kong club rugby, where Scottish continued their impressive run of form, and the reigning champions Societe Generale Valley fell to Kowloon.
Bloomberg Hong Kong Scottish beat Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers 16-0 today at Shek Kip Mei to claim a share of first place in the RugbyPass.Com Premiership Game of the Week. Societe Generale Valley dropped just their second match of the season, losing to Kowloon 20-13 at King’s Park. The match between Natixis HKFC and Herbert Smith Freehills HKCC was postponed.
Sharing the summit with Valley is just reward for Scottish’s tremendous run of form, although coach Craig Hammond is well and truly keeping a lid on things.
“We are game by game and we have got a couple of big games coming up, but we are winning so I am pretty happy,” he said.
The match got underway in shocking conditions, with lashing rain and penetrating wind making ball handling next to impossible. The first 20 minutes were a real grind, with a Gregor McNeish penalty giving the home side a 3-0 advantage.
The rain slackened a touch as half-time approached but errors aplenty ensured the game retained its stop-start nature, with Conor Hartley making his presence felt for the hosts.
Scottish flanker Ewan Miller was lively and threatened the try line twice in quick succession with two line-breaking but ultimately unsuccessful runs.
Cado Lee Ka-to and Craig Lodge worked their way into the play for Tigers as the game progressed, but the visitors found it hard to generate any genuine scoring opportunities.
Scottish finally found a way to the line with only minutes remaining in the half, with captain Kane Boucaut touching down. McNeish added the extras to send his side into the break with a handy 10-0 lead.
It was again Scottish who dominated possession during the opening stages of the second half, at one point forcing Tigers to defend resolutely on their line for multiple phases.
The only addition to the score was another McNeish penalty, while a lively period of play saw Sam Purvis go within inches of scoring for Tigers, before Scottish threatened on the counterattack.
The injection of scrum half Jason Jeyam had a real impact for Tigers, with the rising star giving his side some genuine direction.
They came close to scoring on a number of occasions but were unable to find the line as Scottish rounded out proceedings via two more McNeish penalties.
“They are a quality side and they have got some pretty good strike power,” Hammond said.
“I thought defensively – not letting them over the line, we worked hard and the boys dug pretty deep.”
The three Chiefs development players that stepped out – Josh Dowsing and Lars Morrice for Scottish and Joseph Ikenasio for Tigers – all acquitted themselves well, while Tigers boss Craig Stewart saw some positives despite his side’s scoreless effort.
“They are a good side,” Stewart said. “Tactically they were a lot smarter than us. We had the wind in the first half and for one reason or another we didn’t use it. I think there are lots of positives we can take out of the second 40, but the second 40 is 40 minutes too late.”
Kowloon handed Valley their second loss of the season, 20-13, at King’s Park, in a match that they never trailed. Kowloon conceded just three penalties and a penalty try to a Valley side that could have been suffering a Cup of Nations hangover, with ten of its team coming off three test matches in the last fortnight.
Kowloon had its share of internationals in action as well, and one of those, flanker James Cunningham, was first across the line for the hosts in the 20th minute. Fly half Jack Neville added the conversion in another bulletproof performance with the boot, as Kowloon claimed a 7-0 lead. Flanker James Sawyer added to Kowloon’s lead ten minutes later with a try that was converted by Neville to push the lead to 14 points.
Valley’s lone reply came in the 40th minute through a penalty from fly half Ben Rimene to bring the score to 14-3 at half-time. Rimene ushered Valley back to within touching distance in the second half, adding a second penalty and a conversion of a penalty try in the 58th minute, as they clawed back to 14-13 ahead of the final quarter.
A stalemate ensued, with Neville’s boot the only difference. His 64th minute penalty gave Kowloon some respite at 17-13, and he added the icing on the cake with a second penalty on full-time to bring the final score to 20-13.
Neville’s ten point effort brings him to 73 points for the season, second in the scoring stakes to McNeish, whose 11-point tally in atrocious conditions in the late game moved him to 77 for the season.
Comments on RugbyPass
Well that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
2 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
2 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
2 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
2 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
4 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
18 Go to commentsJake White is a brilliant coach and a master in the press. This is another masterclass in media relations and PR but its also a very narrow view with arguments that dont always hold water. White wants his team to win, he wants the best players in SA and wants his team competitive. You however have to face up to the reality of a poor exchange rate and big clubs with big budgets. SA Rugby cant compete and unless it can find more money SA players will keep leaving regardless of Springbok eligibility and this happened in 2015 - 2017. Also rugby is not cricket. Cricket has 3 formats and T20 cricket is where the money is at. When it comes to club vs country the IPL is king but that wont happen because the international calendar does not clash with the club calendar in rugby. So the argument about rugby going down the same path as cricket is really a non-starter
18 Go to commentsNZ rugby seem not to have learnt anything from professional rugby. Super rugby was dying and SA left before they died with the competition. SA rugby did a u turn on their approach to international players playing overseas and such players are now selected for Bok teams. As much as each country would love to retain their players playing in local competitions, this is the way the world is evolving my friends. Move with it or stay 20 years behind the times. One more thing. NZ rugby hierarchy think they are the big cheese. Take a more humble approach guys. You do not seem to have your players best interests at heart.
3 Go to commentsBeaches? In Cardiff? Where?
1 Go to commentsHe is right , the Crusaders will be a threat. Scott Barrett, ( particularly), Fergus Burke , Codie Taylor, ( from sabbatical) etc due back soon for the Crusaders. There are others like Zach Gallagher too. People can right the Crusaders off, Top 8 , here we come !!
1 Go to commentsWe will always struggle for money to match the other sides but the least the WRU can do is invest properly in Welsh rugby. Too much has been squandered on vanity projects like the hotel and roof walk amongst others which will never see a massive return. Hanging the 4 pro sides out to dry over the last decade is now coming back to bite the WRU financially as well as on the pitch. You reap what you sow.
1 Go to commentsWhat do you get if you cross a doctor with a fish? A plastic sturgeon
14 Go to commentsWhat happened to feleti Kaitu’u? Hasnt played in a while right?
1 Go to commentsGregor I just can’t agree with you. You are trying to find something that just isn’t there. Jordie Barrett has signed until 2028. By the end of that he would have spent probably 11-12 years on Super Rugby and you say he can’t possibly have one season playing somewhere else. It is absurd. What about this scenario, the NZR play hard ball and he decides to leave and play overseas. How would that affect the competition. There seems to be an agenda by certain journalists to push certain agendas and don’t like it when it’s not to their liking. I fully support the NZR on this. Gregor needs to get a life.
3 Go to commentsHope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to commentsMake what step up? Manie has a World Cup winner’s medal around his neck and changed the way the Springboks can play. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone. The win record of the Boks with him in the team is tremendous. Sacha can be wonderful and I hope he has a very succesful Bok career, but comparing him to Manie in terms of the next Bok flyhalf is very strange. Manie is the incumbent (not the next) and doing pretty incredibly.
4 Go to comments00 😍 U
1 Go to commentsSabbaticals have helped keep NZ’s very best talent in the country on long term deals - this fact has been left out of this article. Much like the articles calling to allow overseas players to be selected, yet can only name one player currently not signed to NZR who would be selected for the ABs. And in the entire history of NZ players leaving to play overseas, literally only 4 or 5 have left in their prime as current ABs. (Piatau, Evans, Hayman, Mo’unga,?) Yes Carter got an injury while playing in France 16 years ago, but he also got a tournament ending injury at the 2011 World Cup while taking mid-week practice kicks at goal. Maybe Jordie gets a season-ending injury while playing in Ireland, maybe he gets one next week against the Brumbies. NZR have many shortcomings, but keeping the very best players in the country and/or available for ABs selection is not one of them. Likewise for workload management - players missing 2 games out of 14 is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Again let’s use some facts - did it stop the Crusaders winning SR so many times consecutively when during any given week they would be missing 2 of their best players? The whole idea of the sabbatical is to reward your best players who are willing to sign very long term deals with some time to do whatever they want. They are not handed out willy-nilly, and at nowhere near the levels that would somehow devalue Super Rugby. In this particular example JB is locked in with NZR for what will probably (hopefully) be the best years of his career, hard to imagine him not sticking around for a couple more after for a Lions tour and one more world cup. He has the potential to become the most capped AB of all time. A much better outcome than him leaving NZ for a minimum of 3 years at the age of 27, unlikely to ever play for the ABs again, which would be the likely alternative.
3 Go to comments