Undefeated league champions Valley Black Ladies proved too strong for HKFC Ice, easily advancing to the Grand Championship final. HKFC Ice bowed out after a strong debut in the Premiership. Coach David Wigley commented on their season saying: “Valley are a level above everyone, but we’re really pleased with our first season in the Premiership.
“We had quite a few injuries early on, but we’ve come on and got stronger. This is a tight-knit group that play for each other. We came in fourth this season and we would have been happy to finish 5th or 6th at the beginning of the year, but now we feel like we can contend against the likes of Tigers and Gai Wu. We’re still at a learning and building stage, but we’re very happy with our performance.”
In the other semi-final, Gai Wu Falcons came up with an emphatic 24-5 win over USRC Tigers to set up a rematch of last year’s Grand Championship final with Valley. Speedster Aggie Poon Pak Yan collected a brace for the Falcons, with Hong Kong fifteens captain and No.8 Chow Mei Nam, and up and coming sevens star Chong Ka Yan, adding tries in the statement win over Tigers. Falcons coach Lai Yiu Pang was proud of the performance saying:
“We went out and executed our game plan, particularly with our defence and our play at the breakdown. It was a really tough game and the team deserves a lot of credit. It was a big win for us and will give us a some momentum. It was also good to get a bit of revenge after Tigers edged us out of second place in the league.”
It will be a rematch of last year’s Grand Championship when Valley beat Falcons 20-10. “It is going to be tough against Valley, said Pang, “They have a lot more size then we do so we’re going to need to be clinical in our defence and tackling. But we have built some strong momentum today. The win over Tigers was really good for our confidence and we deserve our place in the final,” Pang added.
photo: Valley RFC
source: HKRU
