The Women’s Premiership returned last week, after an extended break as the national side toured Spain and Wales, with USRC Tigers thrashing current league and Grand Champions, Gai Wu Falcons, 34-5.
This week’s fixtures are the penultimate before the league splits into separate four-team Premiership and Premiership A competitions.
USRC will press their claim for sole possession of second place against SCAA Causeway Bay at the Education University of Hong Kong (17.00), while Gai Wu will meet Tai Po Dragons at KGV (16.30). Valley Black play Kowloon at King’s Park while City Sparkle take on HKFC at Shek Kip Mei, with both these matches kicking off at 18.00.
The Tigers eviscerated the Falcons last weekend, jumping out to a 20-0 lead in the opening 30 minutes before adding a fifth try before half time. A proud Falcons outfit improved as the minutes wore on, allowing only one more try in the second half, but Gai Wu’s attack was stuck in neutral and could only muster a late consolation score.
It was a magic outing for Tigers coach Fan Shun-kei, particularly as it represented the first chance this season for him to run out the club’s impressive combined international strength after the conclusion of the Asian Sevens series and November tests. USRC’s strength in depth this season was evident in that several promising Hong Kong U18s sevens players played against Gai Wu.
“Our national girls haven’t been with us for basically the entire first round, so against Gai Wu we really wanted to try to integrate the full squad, including our national players, some transfers from other clubs, and even some of the U18s players. It is going quite well after the first run,” said a delighted Fan.
The only downside was an injury to Hong Kong flanker Maggie Au-yeung, which will likely keep her sidelined until next spring.
For Fan, who also coaches the highly successful Hong Kong U20s men’s sevens team, the early returns from the women’s tour to Europe, during which 14 players made international debuts, are already being seen, particularly amongst his new capped charges.
“We had a number of players capped in Europe and I have already seen a real difference in them on their return. They played two tough games overseas and have come back more experienced and their physicality is really enhanced, they are more physical then ever before,” said Fan.
Gai Wu’s first loss of the season has altered the look of the table, where Valley remain undefeated side. With two games remaining, Tigers have drawn level with the Falcons on 20 points and Kowloon are currently in fourth spot with 15 points – one ahead of chasers SCAA Causeway Bay.
The final place in the top division could come down to a winner-take-all battle on 8 December when Kowloon and Causeway Bay meet, that same weekend Gai Wu and Valley reprise last season’s grand championship final.
“Valley have probably cleaned up the first round, but hopefully we will challenge them in the next round. We are targeting the League championship this season, because the girls are now ready. We have been developing them for two years and now they are starting to perform,” continued Fan.
“We have depth now and everyone is hungry for rugby off the bench and to crack the starting line-up. The biggest takeaway from Gai Wu is that we believe in ourselves and know we can beat Gai Wu and Valley.
“We just need to continue to execute our game plan, keep our attack sharp, just keep going really and stay injury free for the back half of the season,” Fan added.
