It’s the final round of the 2017-18 women’s rugby season and there’s all to play for at the top and bottom of all three divisions. With teams also looking for an advantage going into the Grand Championships it promises to be another fiercely competitive day of rugby.
In the Premiership Gai Wu Falcons lead Valley Black by a single point. To take the title for a fourth successive year, Valley will need a bonus point victory over USRC Tigers (18:00, King’s Park) and hope that HKFC Ice can contain Gai Wu (16:30, KG V). Quite why the HKRU can’t schedule the games to kick-off at the same time instead of giving Valley the advantage is unknown.
In the insultingly names Premiership Development Legaue three teams have a shot at wrapping up top spot. Kowloon, in second place, need a four-try win over leaders Tai Po Dragons (17:30, HKIED), while third-placed CWB Phoenix need a demolition of winless City Sparkle (16:00, HKIED) and a narrow win for Kowloon.
The USRC Tigers head to King’s Park touting their October draw with Gai Wu as evidence that they have what it takes to bring down Valley Black, whose seeming invincibility was dispelled in their 22-15 loss to Gai Wu, two weeks ago. Both teams have near-full-strength squads, with their Hong Kong sevens players back from the Coral Coast Sevens.
Tigers coach Fan Shun Kei has opted to play exciting 17-year-old Lara Schats at fly half, and move New Zealander Sarah Swinbanks to fullback where she can use her strength and kicking skills to cover the back line. His only notable absentee is winger Hebe Talas, resting after a concussion in her previous game.
“Lara is the youngest in the squad, but is a very attacking player. In the fly half role, she gives us an extra possible combination for the Grand Championships. We now have the option to swap around for each team we play,” Fan explains.
Fan is brimming with optimism about the opportunity to cap the season by beating one of the top two. “Unfortunately we are not able to compete for the league leadership,” Fan added. “But our girls are very excited because of Valley’s defeat by Gai Wu. This is our rehearsal for the Grand Champs and hopefully it will bring out our best game.”
“Valley have some really good players, but do not always play as a team. If we can mark up their important players, and shut down their attack, we’ve got a chance. Our attack this year is quite sharp, and we should be able to score against them, as Football Club did last week,” points up Fan.
Unsurprisingly, that’s not how it looks to Valley’s player-coach, former Samoa captain Bella Milo. She recognises that the league win may have slipped from their grasp, ruing that their single loss to date in the season doesn’t overcome Gai Wu’s two losses and a draw. But the team are focused on securing a fourth consecutive Grand Championships title, and are going about it in typically thorough fashion.
Milo had the players watch and honestly analyse the video of their streak-breaking loss to Gai Wu. The team saw some correctable errors that led to a dip in confidence that she believes they can put behind them, with no major revision of the approach that notched 51 straight wins across three seasons.
Milo expects a tough match but comes well-armed. “We can’t take anything for granted, after losing to Gai Wu. Tigers have all their sevens players back and a strong team so it’s going to be a battle right through the 80 minutes. But this is the first week this season that we have a possible best starting line-up. So this is a good situation as we go into the [Grand Championship] quarters and semi-finals,” she observes.
In Women’s National League 1, leaders Revolution SRC will hope to retain the WNL 1 Challenge Shield for a fifth week when they play HK Scottish Kukris, just two points adrift in third (18:00, King’s Park). In WNL2, second-placed Police Sirens play City Twinkles (18:00, PBS), eying a third week in possession of the National League 2 Challenge Shield.
Additional reporting and images: hkru, Phoebe Leung