SCAA Causeway Bay Phoenix beat HKFC Ice 15-12 in the final game of round two of the Women’s Premiership. The other three matches were more one-sided with Valley Black beating Tai Po Dragons 72-0; defending champions Gai Wu Falcons blanking Kowloon, 50-0, and USRC Tigers finding clear water in beating Plastic Free Seas City Sparkle 68-0.
Playing without eight first choice players didn’t seem to affect HKFC in a keenly contested first half. Hau Sin-man scored her second try in two weeks to give Phoenix the lead in the 15th minute, but Football Club drew level on the stroke of half-time when Elizabeth Musgrove scored her third try in two games to level the scores at the break, 5-5.
Causeway Bay struck early on after the resumption of play with Tsang Ching-man scoring and extended the margin to 15-5 in the 70th minute when No.8 Martini Ip Ka-ling powered her way over the line. Musgrove, who plays sevens for Scotland, scored her second try of the game in the 76th minute, converted by Cheung Ka-ki, 15-12. Ice piled on the pressure as they looked to steal a dramatic come from behind win, but time ran out as Causeway Bay clung on.
Phoenix Coach Chris Lin was pleased with Causeway Bay’s unbeaten start to the season and credited his side’s cohesion as an advantage over Club tonight. “I think we were a bit more focused than they were tonight. We were able to follow our game plan and put what we have been doing in training onto the pitch.”
Lin credited his forwards, in particular prop Chin Po-po, for their efforts in the win. “Our forwards are one of our strengths this season. They are a bit skillful and are showing some good aggression in both attack and defence.”
Of Ching, Lin said, “She is our pack leader and played very well today in the set piece, both in the scrum and in putting the ball into the lineout. Even though Football Club have a bigger pack than us, her technique was good and really helped give us an advantage.”
Neutralizing Club’s forwards helped to level the playing field for Causeway Bay, whose backline stepped up to the challenge at Sports Road. Phoenix have bolstered their numbers with several new players on loan from some of Hong Kong’s non-Premiership teams this season, and are aiming to be in the top four places on the league table after round one when the Premiership will split into two grades, the Premiership and Premiership A.
Valley Black player-coach Bella Milo scored four tries to lead all scorers in week two, while Zoe Smith, Caitlin Spencer and Yuen Yin-lo all collected braces in Valley’s 11-try win over Dragons.
For all the weekend’s results click here