Ten seconds before kick-off at Aberdeen Sports Ground on Saturday evening and two thoughts are running through a player’s head: (1) Causeway Bay Phoenix (the opposition, in pink and blue stripes, comprehensive winners at the last fixture in October) are incredibly strong in the ruck and counter at pace and (2) don’t let it happen. HKCC Babes launch the ball high and wide. Thoughts stop; training kicks in. Run. White shirts flood the Causeway Bay half, the first hit connects and it’s good. Causeway Bay reset, probe left, try right, find no forward momentum against an onslaught of tackles. These are full, flying, wheeling tackles, fingertips connecting to pink jerseys and refusing to let go. Causeway Bay are pinned in their own half. Babes attack with aggressive runs breaking though lines of defence but can’t quite find the fourth or fifth phases needed to make it count. The referee intervenes, blowing against HKCC for a series of ruck infringements – hands on the ball on the ground, not rolling away, coming in from the side. Mainly down to exuberance or lack of experience – sweet relief to Phoenix. They smartly kick for position.
Line out. Pause, lift, release. That split second of confusion after a play, where’s the ball? Realise white shirts have shot up fast and pinned it down. Rejoice. Re-join the line. But Causeway Bay kick clear four times in quick succession to march up the field. At times like these, HKCC Babes have looked vulnerable in the past, a ragged defensive line. Not today. A streak of white sets determinedly across the field, players holding position. Approach as a line, retreat as a line. Tackle after tackle goes in; some of the smallest players in the squad hauling down the opposition with huge efforts. Tackle. Release. Roll away. Re-join the line. HKCC stands firm, even as the Causeway Bay scrum works well to disrupt the pack. Nearly 10 minutes of pressure in the Babes’ 22 and then, HKCC wins a scrum and the fly half kicks for touch; It’s halftime. Breathe. It’s still 0-0.
Kick-off is caught cleanly and the second half begins, HKCC in possession and determined. Determined not to let the shirt, or each other, down. Substitutes – debutants, those returning from injury, some probably still really injured – flit in seamlessly. There’s shouting on the sidelines, huge support in the ground; inaudible, but invaluable. It’s dark now, floodlights illuminating the pain on the pitch: tackle, release, roll away, repeat. HKCC stop giving up penalties quite so cheaply, discipline installed by a vocal captain who leads by example, firm on the ball. The backs, strung wide across the pitch, demand the ball more loudly. And this is all it takes, five or six minutes of controlled possession, a sudden streak of white from ten yards out to under the left post. A try! Fireworks! Seriously, actual fireworks, sparking in the distance with impeccable timing as the conversion is taken cleanly. Thanks Ocean Park!
Causeway Bay restart and reassert their game. Passing it wide, using their pace. Once again, kicking for territory. And now they’ve something to prove. But HKCC give up no weakness and cede no ground. Tackle, release, roll away. Nine minutes remain. There’s hurting, there’s mud, there are flashes of pink and blue attempting to barge through, and then there’s more pain, and more mud. Counter attacks are exchanged, there’s no time for a gasping recovery. Even the supporters are breathless. And then, the referee, “last play”. The HKCC scrum packs down; the front row is in agony, the second row on its third patched-up incarnation, the back-row eager and ready. The backs are able to do little but wait. The scrum half and fly half share a look – they have just one more job to do.
And then it’s done. Kicked out of play. All over, bar the hugs, the tears, the celebrations, the beer and, later, the pain. And, as always, bruised hands shaken between each and every participant, and thanks given to the referee. Leighton Asia HKCC Babes 7 – SCAA Children’s Cancer Foundation Causeway Bay Phoenix 0. All that fuss, you might question, for a middle-of-the-table, run-of-the-mill game? For a game settled by one measly try? Try telling that to anyone who was there, to anyone on that winning team. That’s rugby.
HKCC Babes:
Carolyn Champion (c), Cheryl Gourley, Jo Harvey, Lauren Petersen, Lainie Man, Rosie Wright, Emily Tuck, Sarah Higgins, Lynda Nazer, Harriet Jamieson, Christy Ma, Lucy Thomson, Tinley Wong, Steph Zhang, Wendy Sham
Substitutes:
Joan Yip, Ellie Storey, Jess Gilbert, Brenda Chan, Kirsty Reid, Serene Yee
Coach:
Darren Cartlidge
Tries: Rosie Wright
Conversions: Harriett Jamieson