Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
NZ NZ

Valley and Tigers top table in Old Mutual Hong Kong Premiership

By RugbyPass

Societe Generale Valley proved too strong for Kowloon in the match of the round in the Old Mutual International Men’s Premiership on Saturday, leading throughout to win 27-12.The round’s other matches saw the Borelli Walsh USRC Tigers notch a come-from-behind 27-21 win over Herbert Smith Freehills HKCC, while Natixis HKFC blanked Bloomberg HK Scottish 35-0.

ADVERTISEMENT

It was a trio of internationals that got Valley off to the perfect start, with fly half Ben Rimene slotting a penalty before inside centre Matt Rosslee and front rower Ben Higgins found the try line.Rimene converted the second of those efforts to give his side a 15-0 lead after 29 minutes at Happy Valley.

Ben Madgwick found the line just before half-time to give Kowloon a much-needed boost going into the break, with Jack Neville slotting the extras to make it 15-7.

But it was all one-way traffic after the break, with No 8 Thomas Lamboley and prop Taukiha’amea Koloamatangi piling on tries of their own as the score ballooned to 27-7 early in the second half.

Speedster Fong Kit-fung conjured a consolation try for Kowloon late in the match but that couldn’t stop Valley regaining a share of top spot with Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers.

“It was a tough old game, we were delighted to get the win,” Valley coach Andrew Kelly said. “We really only had one day preparation with the guys being away and then having a few days off after the internationals. It was great to have them back, Ben Rimene wasn’t selected so in a way it was good for us because he was fresh to play.

“I think we had dominance in the set piece area because they had a few of their front rowers out. We made that dominance tell and we managed to convert that pressure into points.

ADVERTISEMENT

“They’re a good team and they move the ball around really well but we just squeezed them out in the end. I think when they have got all their team together they are a very dangerous side and we were just fortunate they had a few of their main guys out.”

Kelly praised the even effort of his side but did highlight a number of individual efforts.

“One of the good performances was Hugo Chui on the wing, he’s a young fella who has joined us this year and has been excellent,” Kelly said.

“Our forwards were great again in the scrum and the line-out. Ben Higgins, Dayne Jans, big Martin [Muller] our captain, they were great and our back row was getting around the pitch as well.”

Tigers were forced to dig deep into their bag of tricks to get out of jail against HKCC at King’s Park after trailing for the first hour of the match and only hitting the front with 10 minutes to go.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Cricketers had their opponents on the hop early and forced a number of mistakes, with scrum half Jack Metters slotting the first nine points of the match from the tee.

Tigers’ fly half Michael Harman also slotted three penalties of his own in the opening half, but it was a try to HKCC winger Seb Brien that ensured his side had a 14-9 lead at the break.

HKCC extended their lead 12 minutes into the second half when opposite winger Owen Pescod also found the line and at 21-9 they were very much looking the winners.

It took skipper Josh Hrstich to ignite the Tigers, with the No 8’s 58th-minute try sparking a run of 18 unanswered points.

Outside centre Braam Gerber also got in on the act with a touch down of his own to level the scores, while Liam Gallaher was on target with two late penalties to seal the deal.

After thumping HKCC 68-17 in their last outing, the tables were turned on Bloomberg HK Scottish as HKFC ran amok at Football Club. Fullback Glyn Hughes notched 15 points and winger Josh Birch added a brace of tries as Club blanked Scottish 33-0 in the first whitewash of the Premiership season.

Club led 20-0 at the break after captain Mitch Andrews and winger Liam Herbert added tries to Hughes’ two penalties and two conversions in the opening stanza.The match devolved into a messy affair with Scottish losing captain Josh Dowsing to a red card mid-way through the second half, while Football Club fly-half Nate De Thierry was shown a yellow card moments later. Birch made short-handed Scottish suffer with two tries in the final six minutes to bring the total to 35-0 and keep HKFC within range of co-leaders Tigers and Valley at the top of the table.

ADVERTISEMENT

Join free

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | Episode 6

Sam Warburton | The Big Jim Show | Full Episode

Japan Rugby League One | Sungoliath v Eagles | Full Match Replay

Japan Rugby League One | Spears v Wild Knights | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 10 | Six Nations Final Round Review

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | How can New Zealand rugby beat this Ireland team

Beyond 80 | Episode 5

Rugby Europe Men's Championship Final | Georgia v Portugal | Full Match Replay

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
Jon 31 minutes ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

32 Go to comments
j
john 3 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

15 Go to comments
A
Adrian 5 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

15 Go to comments
T
Trevor 7 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING RFU statement: TMO reaction to alleged foul play against Owen Farrell RFU statement: TMO reaction to alleged foul play against Owen Farrell
Search