bc magazine

Premiership Match Report: HKFC Ice 0-51 Valley Black – 24 October, 2015

It was a highly anticipated game on Saturday for HKFC Ice, as they took on defending champions Valley Black. Near perfect weather conditions and a home advantage were unable to settle those nerves, and Valley showed they meant business with a try in the second minute of the game. A great run by Valley resulted in another try and HKFC Ice knew they were going to have to put up a big fight. Strong scrummaging and some formidable tackles by Grace Hood and Jamie Bourk were not enough to hold off their dynamic opponents, resulting in two further tries. With minutes to go until half time, Aileen Ryan was yellow carded for a deliberate offside after a 22 drop out and it wasn’t looking good for the home team.

As the second half kicked off, it was still a battle between the pros and the newly promoted Ice. Despite several dropped passes, Valley scored once again leaving HKFC Ice well behind. With Aileen Ryan back on, HKFC Ice displayed some strong defensive moves, and tackles by Nicole Pang and Aysha Fiaz managed to slow down the rampant Valley Black attack. There were three more tries from Valley and then it was all over. HKFC Ice put up a valiant fight against the seasoned Valley Black and will surely use this experience to come back stronger than ever. Coach David Wigley said that he was proud of the performance that HKFC Ice put in against the defending Premiership champions Valley Black.

HKFC Ice 0-51 Valley Black
@ HK Football Club, Kick-off: 18:00
HKFC Ice: Denise Chan, Shonagh Ryan, Kim Kan, Zuzanna Osinska, Martina Colombo, Jamie Bourk, Iris Chan, Daisy Miers, Sophie Short, Aileen Ryan, Casey Gallagher, Nicole Pang, Grace Hood, Natalia Lech, Emma Shields
Substitutes: Carol Hung, Amy Kong, Aysha Fiaz, Madeline Adcock, Kim Lam, Stephanie Siu, Caroline Lau

Women’s Rugby Fixtures – 24 October, 2015

Match Report: Valley Red 17-10 HKCC – 17 October, 2015

Week 3 saw HKCC travel to Happy Valley to play the undefeated Valley Red Ladies. HKCC were eager to get back on the pitch and brush off the frustrations of the previous week’s last second defeat to HK Scottish.

Straight from the kick off HKCC pushed up into the Valley twenty-two putting the Red’s defence under heavy pressure. Valley managed to keep calm and were able to clear their lines well. The first half saw both sides creating good opportunities in the backs and strong rucking and scrummaging from both forward packs.

In a closely contested first half HKCC seemed to be on the front foot with their line-out improving vastly from previous weeks and their scrum looking increasingly confident. Hard work from the forwards led to good clean ball for the backs and Izzy Rivers, (switching from second row to centre this week) took advantage, crashing through the Reds defence and scoring the first try of the match. Unable to convert HKCC went into the closing minutes of the half 5-0 up. Yet shortly after Valley retaliated, with their excellent centre breaking through HKCC defence, leveling the game, 5-5 at the halftime break.

The second half saw a fantastic battle between both sides, with each attack being held at bay by the opposition’s solid defence. HKCC showed some great structure, whilst Valley showed a wide range of skills, particularly from the centre, whose huge boot eased the pressure off Valley on a number of occasions.

HKCC’s scrum continued to dominate in the second half and the cracks in the Valley’s defence started to show. HKCC pieced at least 10 phases together and with superb work, particularly from the back-row, Lynda Nazer crashed over the line, to score a well-deserved second try.

Leading in to the final 15, after putting in a great shift on attack HKCC began to tire and Valley took the opportunity to creep up the field. After a clever chip and chase from the ever-present Valley centre, try scorer Nazer held the player back leading to a Red’s penalty and a yellow card shown. Valley used the extra woman to their advantage, charging through the HKCC line to level the score at 10 all.

Similar to last week’s match, HKCC were able to come out with points against one of the favourites for the league but for a second time in a row were unable to secure a victory. In the closing seconds of the game, having used the forwards to work their way up the pitch, Valley quickly spread it out to the backs who confidently scored a try under the posts. The conversion flew over and the referee blew the whistle for full time.

Both teams came off the pitch knowing they had been in a battle, Valley went and celebrated a well earned win while HKCC sat somber and reflected once again on what could of been.

But after the tears had stopped and some wise words from the coach (if I do say so myself) the HKCC Ladies picked themselves up and realised again what an achievement it was. Even missing out in the closing stages it showed again that HKCC are no pushovers and will be fighting to secure better results in the upcoming weeks.

Only 3 games in and so far it has been a roller coaster. Bring on next week!

Women of the Match:
HKCC: Lauren Petersen
Valley: Kicking Centre (Unsure of her name)

Valley Red 17-10 HKCC
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 18:00
HKCC Ladies: Jo Harvey, Wawa Li, Joan Yip, Lauren Petersen, Nobuko Oda, Lainie Man, Cheryl Gourley, Lynda Nazer, Emma Chung, Lucy Thomson, Christy Ma, Izzy Rivers, Tissia Polycarpe, Steph Zhang, Diana Li
Substitutes: Katie Rowbottom, Angie Ng, Mhairi McLoughlin, Charlotte Berry, Kassie Chapel, Elane Lau
Try: Izzy Rivers, Lynda Nazer

Photo: Panda Man

Match Report: Valley Black 54-5 Kowloon – 17 October, 2015

After a bye last week, the Valley Black Ladies were eager to get back on the pitch at KGV and were looking for their second win of the season against Kowloon.

It was a strong game for Valley right from the start, with ten tries coming in from all over the park. Bella (4), Karen (2), Jen, Deena, Jess, Jaz and Frenchie all got over the line for Valley. Kowloon struggled to compete with our forwards in scrums and lineouts, which gave Valley playmakers Bella and Colleen plenty of opportunity to create some plays.

Deserved MVPs Becky and Jess displayed strong athleticism, challenging the Kowloon ladies in both attack and defence throughout the entire 80-minutes. It was a solid win from the ladies, and a great platform to build from for the rest of the season.

Valley Black Ladies are looking forward to the challenge of playing against a strong HKFC side this coming Saturday, 6pm at the Football Club.

Match Report: DB Pirates 0-20 Revolution

The second round of the Ladies 10s league kicked off under vastly different weather conditions to the first and for the Pirates a squad of 11 took the pitch featuring four rugby debutants: Jackie Philbrick Douglas, Catherine Osburn, Gloria Lau and Louise Shepherd. A nervous start, thus was to be expected as many of the ladies tried to find their way around the rules and the game, and figuring out that ‘match day fitness’ is a very real thing.

The first half saw the Revolution cross the line three times with no conversions putting them up 15-0. The Pirates spirit was not to be deterred though!

Half time came with some words of encouragement, the nerves were gone and it was now time to prove what we were made of. A wonderful kick and chase from Shannon Tjon ignited the fire and got the Pirates very close to the line, however they were unable to convert good field position in points. More was to follow, an amazing line break from debutant Jackie Douglas had all of the sideline spectators up and cheering. The Revolution crossed the line only once in the second half, although a lung busting 70 meter chase down and fantastic tackle by Sienna Stubbs almost prevented that.

An inspiring game by our debutants, all coming off the field with massive smiles. An overwhelming sense of achievement and Pirate Spirit…. Take what you can…. Leave nothing behind!

Discovery Bay Pirates Ladies team are still looking for any players from around Discovery Bay and Lantau interested in joining the team. Any ladies 17and up looking to join the sisterhood please contact [email protected], no experience required – just passion to learn and play!

DB Ladies 0 – Revolution 20
Tai Hung Tang, kick-off 16:30

DB Pirates: Meg McGrath, Jackie Philbrick Douglas (debut), Catherine Osburn (debut), Sienna Stubbs, Rebecca Tomasis, Gloria Lau (debut), Oorja Goel, Louise Shepherd (debut), Paula Andrea (Captain), Shannon Tjon, Substitute: Kon Chan

Match Report: Valley Red Ladies 17-10 HKCC

It’s round 3 of the Womens NL1 and the Valley Red Ladies take on Hong Kong Cricket Club at Happy Valley

The HKCC Ladies soon made it apparent that they were in it to win it after last week’s literally last kick of the match defeat to Scottish Kukris. The undefeated Valley Red Ladies, who won their last game 42-10, were full of confidence that they could make it three wins out of three. Anita Vogel reports on a fantastic game.

An initial intense and powerful surge by HKCC, saw the Valley Red Ladies pushed back into their 22, but the Red’s managed to defend the line and exerting some pressure won the ball back and worked their way to the half way line. A see-sawing half saw both sides attack and stoutly defend their lines until Valley conceded a penalty deep in their own half. This time the hard working HKCC ladies took advantage to score the opening try.

From the restart, the Valley Ladies regained possession, working through several phases of the ball to probe deeply into HKCC’s half. The Valley forwards then combined for a classic pick and go as captain Ci Wong evened out the scores.

For the spectators on the sideline this was an exciting match between two evenly matched opponents with both sides working tirelessly to exploit any slight advantage or mistake. A great kick and chase from Valley speedster Zoe Schmidt, almost saw Valley break the deadlock, but it was HKCC who won the forward power struggle and scored their second try to lead 10-5 at half-time.

Re-energised after the break Valley attacked again and after a string of penalties and a yellow card for HKCC, Red’s Aggie Au Yeung and the forward pack battled their way to the HKCC try line and the score was tied at 10-10.

The last 20 minutes saw the fiercely contested match swing slightly one way then the other as both sides fought back and forth with only small errors allowing a glimpse of a chance of a break through. HKCC had most of the possession, but stout defense from the Reds was not allowing much gain and tiring out the HKCC attack.

With 5 minutes to go it was still anybody’s game, a penalty and a quick tap from captain Ci Wong saw Valley to the 5m line. Their two previous tries came from aggressive pick and go play and with HKCC looking for that, Valley put the ball out wide to Lewis Wong, who scored the game’s final try between the posts, which made it easy for Kay Wong to convert.

Valley Red 17-10 HKCC
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 18:00

Women’s Rugby Results – 17 October, 2015

Premiership
Valley Black 54-5 Kowloon
@ KGV, Kick-off: 18:00

USRC Tigers 54-0 Tai Po
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 18:00

Gai Wu Falcons v HKFC Ice
@ HK Football Club, Kick-off: postponed

National League 1
HKFC Fire 0-56 CWB Pheasants
@ HK Football Club, Kick-off: 16:30

Tai Po Dragons 5-27 USRC Tigers
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 16:30

Gai Wu Fawkes 0-33 City Sparkles
@ So Kon Po, Kick-off: 16:30

HK Scottish v SRC
@ Shek Kip Mei, Kick-off: 18:00

Women’s 10s
Tin Shui Wai 30-0 City
@ Tin Shui Wai, Kick-off: 14:00

SRC 0-20 DB Pirates
@ Tai Hang Tun, Kick-off: 16:30
DB Pirates: Meg McGrath, Jackie Philbrick Douglas, Catherine Osburn, Sienna Stubbs, Rebecca Tomasis, Gloria Lau, Oorja Goel, Louise Shepherd, Paula Andrea (Captain), Shannon Tjon Substitute: Kon Chan

CWB Pink 34-25 HK Scottish
@ Tai Hang Tun, Kick-off: 17:15