bc magazine

Falcons beat Tigers in Women’s Premisership

USRC Tigers ran unbeaten Gai Wu Falcons close at So Kon Po, losing a tight encounter, 12-0. In the weekend’s other Women’s Premiership match Kowloon beat City Sparkle 21-0. The match between Valley Black and HKFC Ice was postponed. For the National league 1 & 2 results click here.

The tight contest between last year’s second and third places finishers saw the Tigers trail 5-0 at the break despite Falcons exerting a strong territorial advantage in the first forty minutes.

“We played superb rugby in the first half,” said Falcons coach Lai Yiu-pang. “We kept Tigers under a lot of pressure and penned them back in their half for most of the opening period. We knew that the game was going to be a physical test and we matched up with them well. I think they only managed to get the ball in our half one or two times in the first half.”

Lai credited his forward pack, laden with Hong Kong fifteens and sevens stars, as the difference makers this afternoon, saying, “Our forwards did really well in both attack and defence. We have a lot of sevens players in the backline who are just coming off their international season and I think they need to develop their fifteens-sense a bit more as we made a lot of errors in the backline today.”

The Falcons had their full compliment of 13 national squad representatives available including Aggie Poon Pak-yan who played for 65 minutes in her first fifteens game of the season, after being injured in the Asian sevens series.

Despite the loss, Tigers coach Liu Kwok-leung was proud of his team’s efforts: “Compared to our game against Valley [a 32-3 loss] last weekend we played much better today. The girls took the lessons from last week to heart and showed a big improvement.”

Ahead of the game, Liu had warned his side of the importance of closing down Gai Wu’s speed and attack in open play. That comment proved true as Gai Wu pulled away for good in the second half after capitalising on a rare defensive miscue by Tigers, when a botched clearance kick failed to make touch and was returned by Falcon’s speedy wing Chong Ka-yan for a try that put the game out of reach for Tigers.

Liu also bemoaned his side’s inability to convert their chances saying, “We had a lot of possession but we couldn’t take our opportunities to score. The game was really close especially in the first half with both teams’ defences playing very well and forcing a lot of errors.

Our defensive effort was top notch. We really shut them down in the first half and our line speed and communication on defence was really good, but we just lacked some composure on attack.”

“We are looking forward to the second round of matches and will analyse our early performance with the players, but there is a lot we can build off from this match. I think we may need to refine some of our patterns and structures when we play against the top teams like Valley and Falcons, but it is coming together well,” Liu added.

The Falcons’ win brought its hot streak to five matches, during which they have only conceded a single unconverted try. Next up they taken on Valley Black for what promises to be the match of the season so far next week. While the Tigers now prepare to take on Football Club.

Kowloon collected its first win of the season, 21-0 over Premiership debutants City, who were hunting for their first win in Hong Kong Women’s Rugby’s top flight.

Additional reporting and image: HKrugby

Hong Kong Beat Papua New Guinea by 106 Runs

Captain Babar Hayat anchored Hong Kong to victory by 106 runs in the first One Day International against Papua New Guinea at Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground.

Hayat top scored with 77 in a Hong Kong innings that rebounded from 111-6 to reach 269 all out. On a turning track, that total proved enough as Papua New Guinea were dismissed for 163 after having been well in the match at 100-2 after 17 overs.

It was the introduction of spin that changed the course of both innings, Hong Kong fell from 105-2 to 111-6 after Mahuru Dai dislodged Nizakat Khan for 45.

But Hayat survived the carnage to make 77 off 95 balls, which in the end was hampered by a groin injury that could be put the skipper in doubt for the remainder of the series.

In the PNG innings it was Anshuman Rath who turned the tide for Hong Kong as the left arm tweaker picked up 3-22 from 10 overs. Hong Kong’s two other spinners Nadeem Ahmed (3-37) and Ehsan Khan (2-37) were also among the wickets.

“It was a great moment for me as first game as captain to get the win and to play well,” captain Babar Hayat said. “There was a lot of turn out there and our spinners bowled really well. I’m not sure about the groin, I will see the physio tomorrow and decide whether I can play in the next match.”

Hong Kong coach Simon Cook was particularly pleased “I was really happy with how we stuck in there after we lost wickets, the guys in the lower order made some important contributions that helped us get to a decent target.”

“The wicket definitely deteriorated in the afternoon, which probably made our target a more difficult proposition for them. I’m looking for us to improve our rotation of the strike in the next game, which will hopefully equal a few more runs from the top order.”

One Day International Series: Hong Kong v Papua New Guinea
Date: 4, 6, 8 November, 2016
Venue: Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground
Tickets: $500, $30 from Ticketflap

Additional reporting and image: HKcricket

Hong Kong Name Squad For Papua New Guinea ODI Series

HK Cricket announced a 14 man squad for this weekends three-game ODI series against Papua New Guinea that will be held at Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground on the 4th, 6th and 8th November.

Former captain Jamie Atkinson makes his return after his absence due to work on the recent tour of the UK and Ireland. While ICC World T20 squad member Kinchit Shah has been recalled to the line-up, and the selectors have also named a new face in Kyle Christie.

“We welcome back Kinchit who has been in prolific form at the start of the domestic season and answered the coaching staffs request for runs,” Director of Cricket Charlie Burke said. “Kyle is Hong Kong born and currently playing in Perth Western Australia, we’re looking forward to having another pace option who is also a very handy batsmen.”

“Jamie is available for the home series against PNG, however won’t travel with the squad to face Kenya due to work,” Burke added. “We have come off a good series in the UK and we have a really important WCLC round against Kenya to come in mid November so this is a really important series for us and an opportunity for guys to push for a place in the best XI”

Hong Kong v Papua New Guinea ODI Series
1. Afzal Tanwir (Pakistan Assoc.), 2. Ahmed Nadeem (DLSWCC), 3. Ahmed Tanveer (KCC), 4. Atkinson James (KCC), 5. Carter Christopher (KCC), 6. Christie Kyle (Kalamunda Cc – Perth, Wa), 7. Hayat Babar © (DLSWCC), 8. Khan Aizaz (VC) (KCC), 9. Khan Ehsan (DLSWCC), 10. Khan Nizakat (HKCC), 11. Khan Waqas (DLSWCC), 12. Rath Anshuman (HKCC), 13. Shah Kinchit (KCC), 14. Wasif Shahid (DLSWCC)

Hong Kong v Papua New Guinea
Date: 4, 6, 8 November, 2016
Venue: Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground
Tickets: $500, $30 from Ticketflap

Additional reporting and image: HK Cricket

Tegan Smyth Wins Peel Street Poetry 11th Anniversary Slam

https://youtu.be/ZufiRSLXr_c

Tegan Carling at Peel Street Poetry: 11th Anniversary Slam – 26 October, 2016 (https://youtu.be/ZufiRSLXr_c)

Tegan Smyth (Carling) wows, entertains and provokes her audience while winning the 11 Anniversary Peel Street Poetry Slam.

Peel Street Poetry an open mic poetry evening that originated at the now closed Joyce is Not Here on Peel Street eleven years ago. When the bar closed, the poets upped pens and moved to their current location Orange Peel, where on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Wednesdays of the month you can enjoy an evening of poetry and good conversation.

How do poets celebrate, with a slam of course. 10 minutes to write an original poem based on a word or phrase picked at random by the judges. This year’s slam saw over 20 entrants necessitating three high quality elimination heats.

It was tough for the judging panel of Nury Vittachi, Collier Nogues, Henrik Hoeg, Nashua Gallagher and last year’s winner as the quality of the hilarious/clever/personal/provocative poems was high. But eventually six emerged.

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Watch the other Poetry Slam finalists in action – they were given 10 minutes to write a poem on/about/using ‘simply put’.
Denis Tsoi
Angus Gallagher
Akin Jeje
Vishal Nanda
Steph Carter

Tegan was a unanimous winner amongst the finalists but it took the judges some time to decide.

Simply put it was a night where everyone was a winner. All the poets rose to the challenge of the slam and we the audience enjoyed some great poems, both in the slam and in the open mic sections that bracketed the slam.

https://youtu.be/xIZuUD3p4Kk

Tegan Carling Winning Peel Street Poetry: 11th Anniversary Slam – 26 October, 2016 (https://youtu.be/xIZuUD3p4Kk)

Peel Street Poetry Open Mic
Date: 2nd, 3rd, 4th (and 5th) Wednesdays of the month
Venue: Orange Peel
Tickets: Free
More info:
www.peelstreetpoetry.com

Women’s Premiership Preview – 29 October, 2016

This weekend’s Women’s Premiership features clashes between the league’s four remaining unbeaten sides. The title contenders will meet for the first time this season when USRC Tigers host Valley Black at Kings Park (3pm) and Gai Wu Falcons travel to Sports Road to play HKFC Ice in Saturday’s second tie between unbeaten sides at 6pm.

In the day’s third match, Kowloon will face off against SCAA Causeway Bay Phoenix at KGV, (6pm), with both sides having come close to their first wins of the season in recent weeks.

Valley Black have extended their historic two-year unbeaten streak into a third season, scoring 154 points in their three matches to date; third-ranked Tigers have posted a similarly impressive 126 points over their three victories this season.

The Tigers, who finished second in the league last year before being edged out of the Grand Championship stakes, have clear ambitions to figure in the top two this time around, but will be tested heavily on Saturday.

The scrutiny will go both ways as Valley are under no illusions as to what they can expect, with coach James Elliott calling Saturday’s match a “tough exam.” “None of the games are going to be easy, especially against Tigers, Football Club or, of course, Gai Wu. It is still just the start of the season so we need to be ready for anything.”

Despite facing their first real threat of the season, it’s business as usual according to Elliott.

“Our preparation has been nothing special, we have done some contact work and kept up on our fitness. We’re missing a couple of players, so there will be a bit of a reshuffle, particularly in the pack, but we have no major injuries.”

Spectators should be in for some exciting running rugby as two of the league’s premier backlines enter Saturday’s match. The Valley backline features a number of Hong Kong Sevens squad members and nearly the entire group was invited to trial for the National XVs earlier this week.

“Our backline performance will be hugely important. Tigers also have a great backline, and that is where the competition will be – I’m expecting an open, running game. It will be a fast game, which is fine for us, fine for both teams actually,” Elliott added.

Valley’s already imposing backline will be bolstered by the addition of sevens squad mainstay Colleen Tjosvold as she gets her first fifteens action of the season after being on international duty for Hong Kong early in the season. Tjosvold will join her sevens teammates Adrienne Garvey and Amelie Seure in the squad.

Valley captain Olivia Coady is excited about the challenge ahead; “We watched Tigers play last week [a 49-0 win over Kowloon]. They looked really strong. There has been some good competition already this season, but this weekend will be our biggest test so far.

“I’m also expecting a fast, running game, perhaps even a high scoring one. We don’t care about necessarily winning big, just winning,” Coady added.

Tigers coach Liu Kwok-leung agrees that the Premiership is about to get much more challenging for his team. “It’s the time to test the players in the field. Valley is a top team and I expect to learn a lot about our players, and about Valley, tomorrow. And they will learn a lot too. Every season when we play them, it exposes something, and I hope it will be positive for us tomorrow.”

National team players Natasha Olson-Thorne, Nam Ka-man and Lindsay Varty are all back from duty and are set to start for Tigers, and with only a couple of injuries to disturb his selection options, Liu expects a tight match saying, “It will be really close but we don’t feel too much pressure.”

Having earlier in the season expressed concern over his charges’ ability to maintain focus for the full 80 minutes, Liu believes there is enough in his team to give champions Valley a real fight.

“We’ve done a lot of work on our defence and our players have grown a lot since last season. We will focus on our defensive patterns, and if we can maintain them and convert defence into attack smoothly, it’ll be a really exciting game that brings out the best in both teams.”

Gai Wu will take their perfect record to meet fellow unbeatens HK Football Club. On current form they should have the upper hand, however, their hopes to add a league-leading fourth consecutive shutout could be in jeopardy against a battling Football Club outfit.

Wine & Dine 2016 – A Few Things to Enjoy

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It’s Wine & Dine! After a walk around under the blazing sun here’s a few things to enjoy. We can’t say it’s a ‘best of’, there’s over 400 booths to explore taste and savour. Have fun finding your own favourites.

It’s not cheap! While many outlets are offering discounts on their regular shop prices for buying bottles (with many happy to home deliver after the festival). Food is pricey, most places are averaging $50-75 per portion.

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In an attempt no doubt to break up the massive crowds this year’s Wine & Dine Festival is laid out in short blocks set at sharp angles. It’s not instinctively easy to find your way back to an outlet/booth so eat /drink what you want when you see/find it. This layout also makes it hard to direct friends to a spot they’d enjoy – take a photo of the booth number.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/Wine-Dine-Festival-2016/i-qXB5vTS

Wine Whiskey and Beer

There are more wine companies and stands than you can possibly sample… decisions, decisions. Your wine tokens get a tasting portion – not a full glass. Ensure they rinse your glass first! Check out the Riedel tent, the glass manufacturer has an ongoing selection of talks and tastings.

There’s a large, essentially craft, beer area – towards the Admiralty end, far side from the harbour – with a wide range of local and international beers to sample. Several stands have special beers only available at Wine & Dine. Want a bite with your beer? Next to the beer stands at booth E814 you can find a mixed sausage platter of black cuttlefish and traditional German cheese sausages covered in melted cheese for $40.

If you like whiskey there are single brand whiskey stands, most are grouped in the middle of the festival. Except for the Jack Daniels booth which is in the American area. Celebrating it’s 150 anniversary, you’ll be able to taste a wide selection of Jack Daniels.

Food

It won’t mean much to many but one of the booths in the American street is offering a free drink to those who kiss Hillary and or punch Donald 🙂 For for a simple snack try Millennium Seafoods lobster soup.

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Enjoy a big tasty sausage? Opposite the stage the 30cm Mega Jumbo Wurst ($75) offers a nice meaty custom made German sausage. Cooked over a massive circular BBQ, the team is organised and ready for the rush, their target to serve you in 60 seconds. There’s also a 15cm version ($65) which is the same type of sausage but sold more like a hotdog in a bigger bun. Wash is down with some Fruh Radler (lemon beer).

Flavabomb (E506) has a lovely light refreshing Gelato di Moscato – a choice gelato ice-cream, topped up with moscato and we added in a few dried strawberry flakes (top photo). A light refreshing option perfect in the summer sun or after dark. They also have a range of bakery products including croissants and pain au chocolat and some tasty beef balls with truffle.

Seafood: Abalone more abalone plus a bit of shellfish. There several booths offering abalone from a variety of different locations, in different sizes and farmed or wild. On the harbourfront edge of festival The Gold Coast Hotel has a bowl of their signature tasty Sri-Lankan crab for $98 and a hearty German sausage with sauerkraut for $60. Both portions sized to be almost a complete meal in themselves. Next door the Panda Hotel has a lobster bun ($40) and salmon, crab, cheese tarts ($40).

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If want a change from seafood, U Banquet is offering Grilled Assorted Balls for $20 a portion

While you’re picking up your free cookies from Lucullus check out some of their other offerings the predominantly Kowloon side chain has a range of tasty bakery and desserts on offer including cheese tarts (original, durian or green tea, $30 for 2) and stuffed baked parmesan cheese rolls (chicken, Thai green curry, sichuan spicy pork $35 for 2) and some cute looking chilled offerings.

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There are lots of desserts on offer, one of bc’s favourites from last year returns at booth E507. A rich silky smooth egg custard served in a real egg shell. $40 for box of 4, it’s seriously delicious.

Other food booths to check out –pork knuckle specialists Golden Pig, K-Town, Butcher and Baker who are offering hotdogs ($40) and baked chocolate fondants topped with ice-cream $30. And for something a little different, next to the Admiralty entrance, Kwun Tong private kitchen Wines Buddy and Dining at Home.

Basic things: A reminder there is little shade! Sun cream and a hat or expect to boil during the day. Bring water, there’s lots and lots and lots of wine, beer, whiskey – but little water to keep hydrated. There are very few seats.

NO refunds on coupons! In fact, unless you want to sample wine, there’s very little point in waiting in the long lines to buy coupons at a rough estimate over 80% of booths accept cash.

It’s outside, there’s food, wine, beer, whiskey, live music… what’s not to like, have fun!

Wine & Dine Festival 2016
Date: 27-30 October, 2016
Venue: Central Harbourfront
Tickets: $30

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Premiership Round-up: HKFC Ice beat Kowloon in Dramatic Fashion

Kowloon Ladies lost a thriller as they nearly upended the Premiership form-book in round three – falling just short in a 22-17 loss to HKFC Ice. In other Premiership action, Valley Black outclassed City Sparkle 51-0, while USRC Tigers beat CWB Phoenix 32-0 at Kings Park.

HKFC scored twice as Stephanie “SSY“ Siu and Jamie Bourk both crossed the try-line before Kowloon put it’s first points on the board with an unconverted try by Chloe Mak Ho Yee. Ice scored a third try through Sophie Short just before the hooter to take a comfortable 17-5 lead at half time.

Kowloon fought back with two tries in the second half the last coming in the 75th minute to pull level at 17-17. Despite a rash of six injuries in the second half, it was Ice who used the clock best as Crystal Wray scored in the dying seconds to secure the 22-17 win.

“We lost in the last minute because we lacked a bit of control late. We didn’t have to rush things as much as we did, but the performance in the second half was exactly what I was looking for,” said Kowloon coach Jonathan Ho.

“Scoring in the first half gave us some belief and the second half was a huge improvement. Just a tiny bit more and the game could have been ours. We can now look ahead confidently to Tigers next week,” Ho added.

“It was a tough day at the office and we were glad to come through,” said HKFC coach David Wigley. “We expect every game to be tough and today shows why. At half time we thought we were in a comfortable position: our lineouts were going well, and even though our scrums were problematic in places, we felt well ahead. We let them start the second half better and fair play to them, they turned the screw quite well. We had six injuries in the second half so we had to do a lot of adjusting. We were successful in reshaping and that was pleasing to see.”

Valley Black ran out easy winners against City Sparkle, improving their record to 3-0 on the season. Valley led 26-0 at halftime and closely mirrored that strike rate in the second half, a remarkable output considering they spent stretches with 13 on the pitch after having two players sin-binned for repeat infringements.

“It was a good game and a good result. It was quite difficult and feisty in places,” said Valley coach James Elliot. “They were a bit physical and our girls couldn’t get the fast ball that they wanted.”

USRC Tigers beat CWB Phoenix 34-0 but coach Liu Kwok-leung seemed pleased to have come through with any type of win at all:

“It was a very hard game. In the first half we played great and everything was going according to plan. In the second half we got some injuries, and had to bring on some younger players. That was when we lost our concentration. We lost momentum and focus, and made a lot of errors. They put us under pressure, but we worked hard in defence,” said Liu

It was another tough blow for Phoenix, who have faced the stiffest schedule in the early going – meeting last season’s top three in succession to start the year.

“In the end, we were very strong in our attack, but the players were not ready,” said a disappointed Causeway Bay coach Ocean Chow.

“We weren’t mentally ready in the first half. We raised our game and created some opportunities to score in the second, but we failed to follow through. We didn’t play as well as we did last week against Gai Wu. If we had, then the scores would have been closer, or it could have even been a win.”

Additional reporting: HKRU

Can City Sparkle Against Valley Black?

Premiership debutants City Sparkle take on a Valley Black team unbeaten for two seasons in the third round of the 2016-17 tournament.

City coach Fung Kei-hang acknowledges that his side’s steep learning curve is about to face an even higher gradient: “It’s going to be a tough game for us but we will focus on our defence and hopefully be able to create some counter opportunities to mount our attack.”

In keeping with this season’s objective of acclimatising to the top flight, Fung views the Valley tie as another crucial learning opportunity for his side. “We have learned a lot from the last two games. We are still struggling to get used to the intensity of play at this level but are working hard on building our own intensity in terms of bringing our pace and quickness into the game.”

Fung is encouraged by some early signs of progress: “We have improved our recycling from the back significantly compared to last season and we managed to score a few points against Football Club last week so we can build from that,” Fung added.

The USRC Tigers will be roaring to go against SCAA CWB Phoenix after a stop-start beginning to the season. They were in action in week one, before joining all of the clubs on a bye for the Women’s Super Series the following weekend and then had a Premiership bye last week – leaving them with only one game over the last three weeks.

Coach Liu Kwok-leung is not concerned that the lengthy lay-off has hampered his team’s preparations. “We’ve done a lot to prepare our mindset for this and to prepare physically. We’re missing three of our sevens players this weekend, but that just creates opportunities for the younger players,” said Liu.

Tigers are bracing for a backlash from Causeway Bay who have yet to record their first win after facing last year’s Grand Finalists Valley and Gai Wu Falcons in the opening weeks. “It will be a hard game and we are ready for that,” said Liu.

“South China are always aggressive, especially early in the match. From playing them over the past few seasons we know we will need to focus on the contact area. It will be a real challenge for us as most of our team don’t have the physical size they have.

“We have been focusing on our defence and have had some hard, physical practice sessions. We know we can win when we play to our game plan so it’s all about our mindset and our discipline. With some experienced players away a lot will rest on the younger players stepping up and I am confident that the they can do it.”

HKFC Ice will look to back up their opening win with another ‘w’ this weekend over Kowloon after a solid start to the season last weekend against City.

“We had a positive start to the season with a tough game against City. Our forwards were key against them, they had an outstanding performance and took the match to them.”

Coach Wigley is pleased with the enthusiastic start but wants to channel his team’s energy better saying, “We need to focus more on improving the structure of our play. We were frenetic in the opener and even though there was a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of our play was disorganised and we wasted a lot of energy.”

Despite the presumed gap between the two sides, with Kowloon finishing near the bottom of the table last season, Wigley remains cautious:

“We go in to every game looking to win – whether by a few or by a lot it doesn’t matter – we take every game as it comes. Even though Kowloon have some losses we don’t consider that. We don’t know what teams have been doing over the break so we don’t take anything for granted.

“Kowloon are strong in the forwards – as are we – so I expect a real battle in the packs. I’m confident in the quality of our forwards and we expect to win the majority of those confrontations,” Wigley added.

Kowloon coach Jonathan Ho is also expecting a tough encounter: “Last season we had two very close matches against Football Club – even though they won both, they were tight affairs. We weren’t too far away from them so we can take some confidence into this match.

“Football Club are very balanced. Rose Fong is a big threat at the back and Claire Forster, who used to be one of our players, is playing well for them up front. But our forwards have also improved and our backline isn’t too far off of Football Club’s pace, so I expect it will be a fast game and we will try to involve our backs to good effect.”

Ho is also confident of a turnaround in his side’s fortunes this year: “The season doesn’t look good in terms of our points on the board, but behind the scenes there has been quite a significant improvement. That isn’t just my view either; I have heard the same from other coaches in the league.

“I think we are most improved in the ruck and I’m pleased that the new players are getting used to being part of this group. Our backs are also more competitive even against the top teams. But we still need to improve our aggression, our tackling and our reaction speed,” Ho concluded.

Additional reporting and image: HKRU