Hong Kong’s sevens squad players returned to domestic action in the second round of the Women’s Premiership which saw Valley Black and Gai Wu Falcons register convincing wins over Kowloon and CWB Phoenix. The two top clubs in the local women’s game continued their impressive form of the opening Saturday with Valley’s 56-0 win over Kowloon equalling Gai Wu’s margin over the same opponents the previous weekend, while Gai Wu beat CWB Phoenix 31-0.
Gai Wu’s coach Lai commented after the game “Causeway Bay were really competitive in the first half, they put us under a lot of pressure in both defence and attack. Their attitude was positive and they got right on to us. I thought we took a long time to get on top of things but then we got a bit of confidence in the final quarter.” Lai added “We can take a lot of positives from the game but we made a lot of errors in basic skills too, which we’ll need to address for the next game.”
Despite the loss CWB Phoenix coach Ocean Chow was confident. “I was very pleased with our performance. This game built our team spirit and I think the players enjoyed the game.”
Causeway Bay got off to a torrid start putting the Falcons under significant pressure right up to the final quarter when the Falcons returning Hong Kong sevens players put some gloss on the scoreboard.
At half-time Phoenix trailed by only two tries, missing several chances to get on the board themselves.
“Gai Wu scored two tries in the first half while we had a very good chance that we did not take. In the second half, it was the same story as last week: not enough fitness, so our performance is not yet stable,” said Chow.
Chow was pleased with the efforts of his forwards “Our scrum was stronger than previously – we were probably 50:50 against Gai Wu [in this area] and our driving was also good, but it was not enough.”
In the days other Premiership game HKFC Ice got their campaign off to a solid start with a win over a battling City XV, 39-17.
A new and as yet unnamed DB Pirates & University combined team for 2016-17
A new and as yet unnamed team took the field at the weekend as the combined forces of the University Unicorns and the DB Pirates faced their first challenge of the new season on a warm sunny Saturday afternoon at Sandy Bay. The Uni-Pirates squad consists mainly of players from the Summer Elementary Course, many of whom first picked up a rugby ball as recently as June, and a few veterans from the DB pirate enclave.
The home team kicked-off their National League 2 game against an experienced City Ladies team in high spirits and backed by the cheers of home crowd. Stout defence blunted the City attack and and the Uni-Pirates earned their first offensive scrum. And here’s where City’s experience told, you can practice and practice scrums on the training field but a match scrum is a vastly different beast and the Uni-Pirates conceded a penalty. Quickly taken by the visitors who passed it along their back line for the first try of the match.
Buoyed by the score City Ladies took control of the game, enthusiastic defending by the Uni-Pirates however kept them from adding to the scoreboard. The home town ladies though did not learn their lesson from the first try and conceded another as City successfully took advantage of another quickly taken penalty. The Ladies then added two more tries before the half time.
After the break, City remained on the front foot scoring two quick tries with some excellent back line moves. The plucky Uni-Pirates weren’t disheartened and kept plugging away looking for an opening and confidently seized their chance when it appeared. Awarded an offensive scrum on the City ten metre line the pack secured the ball and scrum-half Estelle Barbaroux sneaked through on the blind side, broke a couple of tackles and scored a fine try under the posts. A happy moment for the home crowd and the new team as they celebrated their first try of the season.
Despite the home team try, City were in complete control of the game and scored a seventh try before the final whistle for a final score of 35-5.
The crowd were generous in their applause of the players, congratulating the far more experienced City victors and celebrating the Uni-Pirates first game of 15s and their debut in the league.
Forwards:
Amoy Hugh-Pennie, Kon Chan, Meg McGrath, Monica Ariwi, Chona San Lopez-Aguila Alcantara, Florence Li, Catherine Greg Osburn, Debby Cheung, Jackie Philbrick Douglas, Renee McCreadie, Julie Buddle
Backs:
Sienna Stubbs, Estelle Barbaroux (Captain), Bonbon Jan, Hiuyi Cheng, Karen Shahar Gafni, Celine Malunes, Mandy Smith, Joyce Leung, Lai Ka Yan
A new and as yet unnamed DB Pirates & University combined team for 2016-17
National League 1
Gai Wu Fawkes 19-0 HK Scottish
@ KGV, Kick-off: 18:00
Revolution SRC 5-10 USRC Tigers
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 18:00
Valley Red 19-10 HKCC
@ Kings Park, Kick-off: 18:00
National League 2
Tin Shui Wai 17-25 Gai Wu Hawks
@ KGV, Kick-off: 16:30
University 5-35 City
@ Sandy Bay, Kick-off: 16:30
Tai Po Dragons 7-26 CWB Lammergeier
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 18:00
HKFC Fire 22-0 Kowloon
@ HK Football Club, Kick-off: 18:00
Photos: courtesy of their owners Our apologies that not all scores are currently available, 2 days after the games and the HKRU has still not released the match scores
