Category: sport

Match Report: HK Scottish Kukris 26-5 USRC Tigers – 25 February, 2017

The Women’s National League 1 quarter final between Hong Kong Scottish Kukris and USRC Tigers had all the makings of a classic encounter, but the form was difficult to predict. Andrew Robertson reports as the teams who finished fourth [Kukris] and fifth [Tigers] in the league, faced-off in the Grand Championship.

Head to head Kukris had narrowly beaten Tigers at King’s Park, while in their most recent clash, the Tigers had easily beaten Kukris at The Rock. So much for home advantage. And the noise from the stands showed that the visiting Tigers supporters had every intention of being the loudest.

The match started at a frantic place, with both teams giving away penalties. Over eager or nervous? It was hard to tell. After a period of stout defending, the Kukris drove up the field. With ball in had LI Sze-ting passed the 22, and found two defenders between her and the try line. A classy double sidestep put her clean through, and she scored under the posts. Karis Cheng converted; 7-0 to HK Scottish.

The Tigers responded well, only for Kukris to soak up the pressure. Then HK Scottish won the ball and displayed excellent team work. Twice the ball carrier was tackled, only to execute an offload, putting Chung Hau-yi through to score. Karis Cheng converted; 14-0.

With halftime approaching Tigers looked to reduce their deficit, but Nieve Heskin gained the ball, drove through the defense and score Kukri’s third try. No conversion; 19-0 at halftime.

After an exceptionally thorough motivational briefing, Tigers came out with intent. But they reckoned without the Kukris defensive wall. Time and again the Tigers surged forward. Time and again the Kukris repelled. Then, with Kukris in possession, the ball was worked wide to winger Hui Man-ling, who sprinted from the halfway line to score under the posts. Karis Cheng converted again; 26-0.

The Tigers refused to give up and resumed their assault getting ever closer to the try line. A penalty against them seemed to have cleared the danger. But a hasty, as opposed to quick, tap left the Kukris unsupported. The Tigers pounced, stole the ball and easily scored in the corner. No conversion; 26-5. Kukris responded with another attack, while Tigers sought to regain the ball.

Neither team was able to trouble the scoreboard again before the referee blew full-time. The victorious Kukris will meet Tai Po in the semifinals, while the Tigers will be disappointed with the end to their season.

Women’s Premiership Grand Championship Quarter Final Round-up

HKFC Ice beat CWB Phoenix 32-5 while USRC Tigers and Gai Wu Falcons advanced by walkover to complete the semi-final pairings in the Women’s Grand Championship.

HKFC Ice will face undefeated league champions Valley while Falcons will play Tigers in next weekend’s semi-finals.

“I’m very happy with the result. Football Club versus Causeway Bay is one of the closest match-ups in the Premiership and it was a lot tougher than the scoreline suggests,” said coach David Wigley who was pleased with his side’s efforts on a day when everything went right for the Sports Road outfit.

“We started very well, at last. We’ve often started slowly this season, and it was a good time to put that right. We got a couple of tries early and that set us on track,” Wigley noted.

Two early first-half tries saw HKFC take a healthy lead with Jamie Bourk, celebrating her 19th birthday and her last game before departing Hong Kong for university, putting Ice on the scoreboard almost from the kick-off. A second try soon followed, coming off a driving maul as HKFC’s forwards handed a stiff challenge to their opposing pack. A similar move built around a driving maul at the close of the half added more points.

With both coaches predicting the backlines would be the difference makers ahead of the game, the match ran counter to form, developing as a physical battle between two accomplished forward packs.

“It wasn’t so much of a backline affair as I’d expected. All our players did well, but it was the forwards who carried the day. If anything, our backline could have used their possession better,” Wigley said.

“Our forwards took it to their forwards and beat them. It was the first time this season that our forwards have outscored the backs. We got in their faces and tried to stop the ball getting out to their wings and it seemed to work,” added Wigley.

Football Club kept up the pressure in the second half with Stephanie Sin scoring a 60th minute try, capping a well developed backline movement, before hooker Royce Chan Leong-sze added a try.

The prolific attack was matched with some dogged defence from HKFC. “Our defence worked well. Causeway Bay always attacks around the fringes but we were prepared for that and effectively neutralised their offensives.

HKFC’s hard-fought win ushered their closest competitors throughout the league season out of the Grand Championship stakes, but the challenge now gets stratospherically harder with the route to the final going through league champions Valley Black, who are unbeaten in three seasons.

HKFC Ice will look to hand Valley Black its first loss in 40 matches but Wigley knows it will be tough. “Unfortunately, a few of our girls will be away for the game against Valley but hopefully we can put up a good fight. We haven’t put in a good shift against them this season and we really want to show what we can do,” Wigley asserted.

Grand Championship Preview: HKFC Ice v CWB Phoenix

After achieving a top-four league finish for the second season running HKFC Ice will take on CWB Phoenix in the quarterfinals of the Premiership Grand Championships.

HKFC coach David Wigley believes his side are on target to advance to a semi-finals match-up against unbeaten league champions Valley Black.

“At the start of the season our target was to secure fourth place in the league again, and we’re extremely pleased to have achieved that. We’ve been improving through the season, and the last two weeks have seen our systems really coming into place,” said Wigley.

HKFC Ice were a model of consistency in keeping their stranglehold on fourth place this season, but Causeway Bay came on strong in the second half to close the gap on their nearest rivals ahead of the final league match against City Sparkle. The Phoenix’s effort came agonisingly short as they couldn’t secure the bonus point win that would have leap-frogged them over Football Club in the standings.

“In our last game, against City, we really wanted the four tries [the bonus point] but they put up a good show, with a strong defence, and we were only able to score twice,” said Phoenix coach Ocean Chow.

The win saw Causeway Bay finish with a better win-loss record for the league campaign but Football Club, who dropped from a 4-2 record in January to finish at 5-7, had four bonus point wins and claimed fourth on points differential, 24 points against Causeway Bay’s 23.

The two sides split their meetings this season with HKFC securing a 22-14 win in October while Causeway Bay edged Club 12-5 last month.

Wigley believes that things are falling into place just in time for the big push. “Every time we play Causeway Bay it’s fiercely competitive. The two teams are evenly matched, but the squad is in good shape and we will be able to field as strong a squad as we’ve had all season.”

Adding to the toss-up, the match will be contested on neutral ground with the sides playing at Aberdeen.

“We haven’t played at Aberdeen for two years so it will be interesting to play on grass. The bounce of the ball is different, and it may come down to which team settles best on the surface. Against Causeway Bay, we give it our all. It is like a local derby for us. We met them last year at this stage and came through in what was ultimately a game of attrition,” said Wigley.

Both coaches agree that there isn’t much between the challengers. “With both sets of forwards going at it hard, this game is usually won or lost in the backs,” said Wigley.

Chow concurred saying, “Football club have strong forwards and a dangerous maul, but I think our backline gives us the advantage. Quick rucking is one of our strengths and we’ve been training for contact attack, which is necessary in a physical game like this. We need to play to our strengths with quick ball and offload.”

Wigley is preparing his team for a similar test: “The threat from their scrum is always tough. If we can neutralize that, we can work to our own strengths. We’ve been working hard on our defence at the ruck and breakdown. We also need to shut down their wingers, who gave us problems last year.”

With excitement mounting ahead of the must-win tie, Ocean Chow believes that the deciding factor may come down to mental more than rugby skills.

“It’s a matter of keeping focus. The mindset is crucial. It’s all about that desire. Saturday will be exciting. It will be close-fought, but we will win,” Chow predicted, as he hopes his Phoenix will be able to rise to the occasion.

Gai Wu Falcons and USRC Tigers will advance to the semi-finals stages, along with Valley, after City and Kowloon forfeited their matches against the second- and third-ranked league finishers.

For all this weekends fixtures click here

Additional reporting, photo: HK Rugby

Women’s Rugby Quarter Final Fixtures – 25 February, 2017

Rugby photo: Gozar Images

Women’s Rugby Results – 18 February, 2017

Premiership

Valley Black 8-7 Gai Wu Falcons
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 16:30

CWB Phoenix 10-0 City Sparkle
@ So Kon Po, Kick-off: 18:00

HKFC Ice 12-52 USRC Tigers
@ HK Football Club, Kick-off: 18:00

National League 1

Valley Red 7-22 Gai Wu Fawkes
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 13:30

Tai Po Dragons v USRC Tigers
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 15:00

HKCC 5-38 Revolution SRC
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 18:00

National League 2

City 5-5 Tin Shui Wai
@ Tin Shui Wai, Kick-off: 13:30

HKFC Fire 0-68 CWB Lammergeier
@ HK Football Club, Kick-off: 16:30

Uni-Pirates v Kowloon
@ Sandy Bay, Kick-off: 16:30

Police Sirens 29-27 Gai Wu Hawkes
­@ Police Boundary Street, Kick-off: 18:00

Valley Black Clinch Premiership Title With 8-7 Win Over Gai Wu Falcons

Valley Black survived a scare from Gai Wu Falcons as they ran their undefeated streak to three league seasons – and 39 games – with an 8-7 win to clinch the Women’s Premiership title.

Another hard-fought encounter between Valley and Gai Wu was a fitting end to the league season, as both sides entered the afternoon with legitimate claims on the title.

For eighty minutes, the local titans of the women’s game played each other to a standstill defensively, allowing just one try in either half.

“It was a really tough game,” said Valley coach James Elliot. “Gai Wu clearly wanted to win the league. It was obvious when they turned down four or five opportunities to take penalty shots at goal, preferring to go for the try.”

With Valley only having to avoid conceding a bonus point loss to Gai Wu to win the league – and having one of the league’s top goal kickers in Zoe Smith, Elliot was happy to take the conservative approach as he sent his fullback out to slot an opening penalty for the 3-0 lead.

Falcons replied before the half with a quick tap and run try that was converted by Lee Tsz-ting, putting Valley in the unfamiliar position of trailing at halftime, 7-3.

With the game deadlocked in the second half, Valley flanker Olivia Coady stepped to the fore, scoring the game-winning try from 20 metres out in the 50th minute, brushing off five tacklers to barge over in the right corner.

“Olivia was immense,” enthused Elliot, “There are no words to describe her effort; she was invaluable; she was everywhere. I think she forced more than 15 turnovers, which is a good number for an entire team in a game.”

Falcons threw everything they could into the last 20 minutes, and were given an excellent opportunity when Rachel Wong was sin-binned. They camped out on the Valley try-line for the entirety of the final quarter, but an immense defensive effort from Valley held them off the board as time expired.

“Gai Wu worked really hard. We didn’t have as much ball or as many opportunities. They could have won the game if they’d taken a different strategy,” said Elliot. The girls were happy to win the game and win the league but it wasn’t just about the ladies today. It was fantastic day of rugby at the Valley ground, with a great turnout and a great atmosphere.”

Gai Wu coach Lai Yiu-pang hailed his side’s spirited performance, especially after they improved on a 28-3 loss to the champions in November.

“Our performance improved a lot since we played earlier this season. We were understrength today, with key players out injured and a lot of inexperienced players on the pitch, but they all pulled together.

“Compared to the last match against Valley, we did much better, especially at the breakdown. We managed that part of the game very well,” said Lai.

Despite the loss, and conceding the League title to Valley, Lai knows that today’s performance will benefit his side.

“We took a lot of confidence out of that performance. Hopefully we can build off that momentum. We have a few weeks now to get some of our key players back fit, so ideally we can be stronger and make it back to the final,” added Lai.

In other Premiership action, USRC Tigers beat HKFC Ice 52-13, while CWB Phoenix held off City Sparkle 12-0.

The weekend’s results earn Valley a first round bye in the Grand Championships. Gai Wu will play bottom-ranked City in the opening stages, while third placed Tigers will play Kowloon, who were on bye today but finished in fifth on the table. Fourth placed HKFC Ice will face fifth placed Causeway Bay in the mid-table clash in round one.

For all the weekends results see here

Additional reporting: HKrugby

Hong Kong v The Netherlands ODI @ Tin Kwong Road – 18 February, 2017

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Hong-Kong-v-The-Netherlands-ODI-Tin-Kwong-Road-18-February/i-bpCrfWt

Perfect weather and a noisy partisan crowd were not enough to prevent Hong Kong losing the second ODI to The Netherlands at Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground on the 18 February. Read the match report here.
Click on any photo for the full gallery of images.

https://youtu.be/WSQoEy3mnO4

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Hong Kong Fall Short Again…

For the third time in a week Hong Kong and the Netherlands laid on a thrilling game but unfortunately for the partisan crowd at the Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground it was the visitors who triumphed again.

It was another high scoring affair, the Netherlands posted 314-9, with the heroics of Anshuman Rath and Babar Hayat again not enough for Hong Kong as they fell short by 13 runs in a match they should have won.

In the four day game, Hong Kong dominated but didn’t have the mental fortitude and the game smarts to win the match and were forced to settle for a draw. The same applied in both ODI games, although chasing 300+ totals in both matches, Hong Kong laid the foundations to win but failed to finish the job. Credit to The Netherlands who stuck to their task, but Hong Kong should have had a clean sweep. The players need to learn how to win.

Netherlands opener Michael Rippon (53 off 78) and Ben Cooper (78 off 72) gave Netherlands a solid base, getting the Dutch to 97-1 in 20 overs.

Again it was a team effort from the Netherlands with the bat, with six players scoring over 20. Captain Peter Borren (49 off 43) and Pieter Seelaar (31 off 23) provided the impetus at the end of the innings.

The Netherlands threatened to make a higher target but were restricted in the final overs on a wicket just starting to lose some of its pace.

In response it was the familiar faces of Anshuman Rath and Babar Hayat who again dominated for Hong Kong. They took Hong Kong to 144-1 after 29 overs when Rath was stumped off the bowling of Rippon who backed up his half-century with two wickets in a man-of-the-match display.

For Rath, at just 19 the future is bright. He is now the leading run scorer in the World Cricket League after scores of 134 and 85 in the series. Nizakat Khan lifted the rate and blasted 41 off 26 balls to leave Hong Kong requiring 103 off 78 balls with 8 wickets still in tact.

But as in the first match, the Netherlands bowled with clever plans and good execution in the final overs. The home side couldn’t find the boundary enough and when Hayat was dismissed for 86 off 80 balls, the match was as good as done.

“There are a lot positives for us, there is a lot of talent in the dressing room and we are not far away,” Hong Kong captain Babar Hayat said. “We should have won one of these games at least and done better, so the players are just disappointed. It’s hard to take being so close in both games and not getting a win.”

Netherlands captain Peter Borren was understandably delighted with his side taking both games in the series. “A really good team performance from us. 315, we were pretty happy with that at half time on a wicket getting a little bit tired.”

“You have to give credit again to Anshuman and Babar who have batted for the last 9-10 days where we have chased a lot of balls, they deserve better than what they have got here but we are delighted to have the points from these games.”

“We can be very proud with how we have done in the last week or so against a very good Hong Kong team, they have been fantastic hosts.”

The Hong Kong squad will now break off into their Hong Kong T20 Blitz squads with that tournament to be held on March 8-12.

Additional reporting: HK Cricket
Photo: Panda Man