Premiership
Gai Wu Falcons 63-0 Tai Po Dragons
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 16:30
Valley Black 17-10 USRC Tigers
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 16:30
Gai Wu Fawkes 0-15 HK Scottish Kukris
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 15:00
Valley Red 5-22 Revolution SRC
@ KG V, Kick-off: 18:00
Police Sirens 29-14 HKFC Fire
@ Police Boundary Street, Kick-off: 18:00
CWB Lammergeier 10-0 Kowloon
@ So Kon Po, Kick-off: 18:00
Images: hkru, scaa
Hong Kong and Macau turn green this month as March see’s a month long celebration of all things Irish culminating on the 17 with Saint Patrick’s Day.
Now in it’s third year the Hong Kong and Macau Irish Festival organised by the Consulate General of Ireland celebrates the very best of the Emerald Isle showcasing arts and craft, music, dance, sport, literature and of course Irish hospitality!
Among the events this year are two St Patrick’s Day Parades (11 March in Hong Kong at Tamar Park, 17 March in Macau), a Flavours of Ireland night at Tiffany’s New York Bar on the 8 March featuring Irish whiskey and food accompanied by traditional Irish songs from Bill Kong. An Irish music week and a free screening of a documentary about the Claddagh Boatmen who are the custodians of the Galway Hooker, the iconic fishing vessel from the West of Ireland. The boatmen will travel to Hong Kong and Macau to talk about their lives and share their unique skills and experiences.
See the full programme of events here
Valley Black continue their defence of the Women’s Premiership Grand Championship with a semi-final against USRC Tigers. In the other semi-final, league champions Gai Wu Falcons take on Tai Po Dragons.
Bella Milo, Valley’s player-coach, is keen to see her side playing again, after a long break, but is clearly hopeful that her charges are on track for yet another appearance in the final.
“It’s the most exciting time of the year, the Grand Championships are the big test – the pinnacle of club rugby. We’re all a little bit nervous and excited at the same time. Going into this match with Tigers with so little recent match time is not ideal, but we’ve had a couple of good training sessions that have given us a little bit of confidence,” she said.
“Our last game against Tigers was high quality and high scoring, and we’re expecting something similar this time. That was a fast running game, and likely this will be too, so whoever has the most ball will probably win. We held on to possession well then, and if we repeat that we can make it through to the final,”notes Milo.
Milo and her team have done their homework on Tigers, and pinpointed Lara Schats as a threat they need shut down. Tigers don’t always have great continuity, she says, and is confident if her side hold up their level of play, they will make another final appearance.
With Shan Pong and Stephanie Cuvelier away, Kelsie Bouttle at school in Australia, and Rebecca Thomson out with a fractured cheekbone sustained in training – all in addition to several players missing since Christmas, and Valley’s second team also in semi-final action this weekend – Milo will have slim bench of only four forwards and one back.
The Tigers go into the match buoyed by last week’s solid quarter-final win over Causeway Bay Phoenix, and while coach Fan Shun Kei is in no doubt that Valley will provide stiffer opposition, he takes confidence from the encounters between the two sides earlier in the season.
“We played them twice this year, and did quite well. Our attack is looking really good this year, we just need to keep on doing in attack what we did in that last game, when we have the ball. We’ll use our speed out wide, and try to force penalties by putting them under pressure,” said Fan.
“It will be a bonus if we can get into the final. Valley are strong and skillful, with special threats in Bella and Aroha Savage. Gai Wu have beaten Valley, so we know they can be undone. So our focus has to be on defence and tackling. I want our players to believe in themselves and go firmly into one-on-one tackles, a bit more aggressive,” he added.
Like Valley, Tigers have to work with some absences from their ideal squad, including veteran Lindsay Varty and captain Jessica Ho. Fan has called on the services of second-team flanker Maylynn Ng, who has featured before but never started, aiming to strengthen ball carrying and defending. Lai Pou Fan will move to No. 9 from her usual full back.
Additional reporting and images: HKRU
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2018/Women-of-Wine-Festival-The-Murray-Hong-Kong-1-March-2018/i-8DKKCdf
Over 400 people attended the Women of Wine Festival at the The Murray, Hong Kong on the 1 March which featured wines made by female winemakers from around the world as well as seminars and wine tasting workshops.
Looking to empower and encourage women the festival also saw the launch of the Hong Kong Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award with the winner to be announced in October.
Click on any photo for the full gallery of images
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2018/Women-of-Wine-Festival-The-Murray-Hong-Kong-1-March-2018/i-kKzXjbJ
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2018/Women-of-Wine-Festival-The-Murray-Hong-Kong-1-March-2018/i-HzjqHFK
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2018/Women-of-Wine-Festival-The-Murray-Hong-Kong-1-March-2018/i-GGWHDK5
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2018/Women-of-Wine-Festival-The-Murray-Hong-Kong-1-March-2018/i-fPt7Ccq
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2018/Women-of-Wine-Festival-The-Murray-Hong-Kong-1-March-2018/i-Qvmgg4w
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2018/Women-of-Wine-Festival-The-Murray-Hong-Kong-1-March-2018/i-XvZjLhR
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2018/Women-of-Wine-Festival-The-Murray-Hong-Kong-1-March-2018/i-tLgkKvL
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2018/Grand-Opening-Galerie-Ora-Ora-1-March-2018/i-gj74Jm9
Galerie Ora-Ora celebrated the grand opening of it’s new space at H Queens on the 1 March, 2018 with a party and the launch of a new group show Screaming Books featuring works by Xu Lei, Peng Wei, Hung Keung, Zhang Yanzi and others.
Click on any photo for the full gallery of images.
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2018/Grand-Opening-Galerie-Ora-Ora-1-March-2018/i-C2SsFwV
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2018/Grand-Opening-Galerie-Ora-Ora-1-March-2018/i-7PFgWvJ
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2018/Grand-Opening-Galerie-Ora-Ora-1-March-2018/i-6x4SqPj
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2018/Grand-Opening-Galerie-Ora-Ora-1-March-2018/i-JzSWVkT
This year’s European Union Film Festival features 16 award-winning films and documentaries released across the EU in the past year. The Festival will open with The Divine Order – screening at the new cinema MOViE MOViE Cityplaza – and close with Welcome to Germany. Valentin Hitz, director of Hidden Reserves will visit Hong Kong to meet with the audience after the screening of her film.
Directed by Petra Volpe, the opening Film The Divine Order is set in Switzerland in 1971 where women were still denied the right to vote. When housewife Nora is forbidden by her husband to take a part-time job, her frustration leads to her becoming the poster child of her town’s suffragette movement. Marie Leuenberger who played Nora won Best Actress at Tribeca Film Festival.
Welcome to Germany is directed by Simon Verhoeven. Recently retired teacher Angelika decides, against her skeptical husband Richard’s will, to take in a refugee. Soon afterwards, a whirlwind of complications ensue. The film explores the European refugee issue with humour while making you think.
Hidden Reserves (Austria)
Paradise Trips (Belgium)
Republic Home Care (Czech Republic)
Man and A Baby (Finland)
Montparnasse Bienvenüe (France)
Welcome to Germany (Germany)
Roza of Smyrna (Greece)
Kincsem — Bet on Revenge (Hungary)
The Farthest (Ireland)
Porn to Be Free (Italy)
Quality Time (Netherlands)
Gods (Poland)
All the Dreams in the World (Portugal)
1898, Our Last Men in the Philippines (Spain)
Eternal Summer (Sweden)
The Divine Order (Switzerland)
European Union Film Festival 2018
Date: 1-18 March, 2018
Venues: Broadway Cinematheque (Prosperous Garden, 3 Public Square Street, Yaumatei, Kln) & AMC Pacific Place (Level 1, Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Hong Kong Island)
Tickets: $various
More info: https://issuu.com/broadwaycinematheque/docs/_issuu_20180206_booklet_euff2018
An epic Leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race saw the teams pushed to extremes: from the wet and wild upwind conditions of the start through the stifling heat and calms of the doldrums, leading to an incredibly close finish in Auckland, New Zealand.
The City of Sails has played host to many historically close finishes and this year’s will only add to the legend. With only miles to go the finish line, positions changed as the pressure ratcheted up. Five boats within sight of each other, charging towards the finish line under a bright moon.
After 21 days at sea, as exhaustion set in, team AkzoNobel were able to fend off the challenge from Scallywag to earn their first leg win by less than two minutes with MAPFRE completing the podium. Dongfeng Race Team and Turn the Tide on Plastic finished just minutes later, with Team Brunel completing the arrivals finishing in sixth place 1h 29min 11s after the leader.
It was a tremendous win, and came after an amazing final 24 hours, when a ridge of high pressure off the north east coast of New Zealand stalled the progress of the leading boats, allowing those over 100 miles behind to close what had appeared to be an insurmountable gap.
For team AkzoNobel and Scallywag, the buffer they’d built up over the past week was only just sufficient, and they were able to match race down the coast all the way to the finish line in the Waitematā Harbour, usually sailing within hailing distance of each other.
In the end, the margin at the finish was just two minutes between first and second place.
“It’s been a 6,500 mile match race, it’s unreal,” said Simon Tienpont of AkzoNobel’s first leg win. “I’ve never sailed a race like this in my life. We’ve always been in each other’s sights. They were always there. It’s been neck and neck. Huge respect to Scallywag, they never stopped fighting and we never stopped defending. I’m so proud of our crew. They never flinched.”
“Our team never gives up,” said Scallywag skipper David Witt. “We just didn’t pull it off this time. We had our chances, but AkzoNobel were just a little bit too good this time. But we’ve come a long way since leg one.”
The second place finish in Leg 6, combined with a leg win into their home port of Hong Kong, has elevated Scallywag up to third place on the overall leaderboard.
While the weather pattern of the last 24 hours has made for a heart-stopping finish for race fans, it also led to a heart-breaking result for Dee Caffari’s Turn the Tide on Plastic.
Just 24 hours ago, Caffari and her team appeared poised to claim their first podium of the race, even while challenging for the leg win. MAPFRE and Dongfeng Race Team, first and second on the overall leaderboard, were over 60 miles behind Caffari.
It would have made for a well-earned and popular result for an underdog team. But as the leading trio bumped up against an unavoidable patch of calm winds, MAPFRE and Dongfeng roared in, closing the gap down minute by minute.
As darkness fell on Tuesday night and the wind picked up for the final 60-mile sprint to the finish, the two powerhouse red boats were within striking distance of Caffari and her team, just 2 miles back. And over the next 90 minutes, they were able to grind their way past, pushing Turn the Tide on Plastic back into fifth place with 20 miles to run.
While Caffari and her crew showed incredible fighting spirit, clawing ahead of Dongfeng Race Team once again as the boats raced through the Hauraki Gulf on the final approach, they couldn’t hold on, and would need to settle for fifth place, behind both MAPFRE in third and Dongfeng in fourth.
“It’s been a crazy 20 or 21 days, match racing all the way here,” said MAPFRE skipper Xabi Fernández. “We’ve been fighting with Dongfeng like crazy. We never stopped, we fought so hard, and now we feel very happy of course. We were hoping for opportiunites in the doldrums and they never came, but finally they came today, and we did it.”
“We’re sorry for Turn the Tide on Plastic,” said Dongfeng skipper Charles Caudrelier. “They did a fantastic race and I think they deserved a third place finish, but that’s sailing, they’ve been unlucky today and we managed to come back… It was a good surprise.”
Overlooking the immediate disappointment of the day, this marks the best result of the race to date for Turn the Tide on Plastic and is a sign of progress for a young and improving team.
“We’re gutted, I don’t even know what to say,” said an obviously disappointed Caffari dockside. “We had a good race, and we thought we were going to have a better result. But those pesky red boats always seem to get it their way.”
Team Brunel finished 90 minutes behind their fellow competitors after a bold tactical choice over the weekend backfired and put them behind the rest of the fleet.
Vestas 11th Hour Race did not sail in Leg 6 after being shipped to Auckland for repairs. The team has lost ground on the leaderboard, with both Scallywag and AkzoNobel overhauling them to hold down third and fourth place, with Vestas 11th Hour Racing sliding to fifth. The team is expected to release an update over the coming days.
| 1 | AKZO | Elapsed time: 20d 09:17:26 | |||||||||
| 2 | SHKS | Elapsed time: 20d 09:19:40 | |||||||||
| 3 | MAPF | Elapsed time: 20d 09:39:38 | |||||||||
| 4 | DFRT | Elapsed time: 20d 09:42:36 | |||||||||
| 5 | TTOP | Elapsed time: 20d 09:45:08 | |||||||||
| 6 | TBRU | Elapsed time: 20d 11:14:19 | |||||||||
| 7 | VS11 | DNS | |||||||||
MAPFRE – 39 points
Dongfeng Race Team – 34 points
Scallywag – 34 points
team AkzoNobel – 23 points
Vestas 11th Hour Racing – 23 points
Team Brunel – 20 points
Turn the Tide on Plastic – 12 points
Additional reporting and images: Volvo Ocean Race, Ainhoa Sanchez, Jesus Renedo, James Blake,
