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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

Women’s Rugby Fixtures – 15 October, 2016

Match Report: HKCC Ladies 7-31 Gai Wu Fawkes – 8 October 2016

After a promising start to the season against the ever strong Valley Reds, the HKCC Ladies were invigorated and ready to welcome Gai Wu to their home ground at Aberdeen last Saturday with their rugby heads on. The atmosphere was buzzing and home support was strong, including HKCC’s newest little supporting member, baby Tahi (prop in training).

The Ladies kicked off to a good start, both sides battling hard to keep possession of the ball. Some good defence from the Ladies saw them gain the ball despite Gai Wu winning the first lineout, however Gai Wu’s fast and low rucking saw them break out to the wing scoring a try 7 minutes in with a successful conversion.

Never fazed, the Ladies pushed on to form a good try line defence following another lineout lost to Gai Wu. Despite HKCC’s best efforts, Gai Wu’s centre popped through the defensive line in true firework fashion to score another try minutes later. Some cheeky behaviour from Gai Wu culminated in the referee issuing a yellow card for a dangerously high tackle.

Good scrummaging saw an energised HKCC win back the ball from Gai Wu following a knock on, a forceful maul from the forwards saw Maddy Witt score HKCC’s first try. Half-time score 12-7 to Gai Wu.

The second half saw some great runs from ‘Kamakazi’ Nobby and HKCC’s newest recruit, outside centre Isobel O’Connor. Endurance and stamina were put to the test as it became obvious that HKCC’s were tired and numerous penalties were awarded to Gai Wu.

HKCC soldiered on with a fierce determination, however slow reactions to a Gai Wu penalty left the defence wide open, allowing the Fawkes t0 score another try. Not willing to admit defeat, HKCC persisted in their attempts to force Gai Wu out of their territory, and despite a last concerted effort, a final maul on the try line saw Gai Wu score their final try with a smooth conversion.

Perhaps the familiarity of the Aberdeen turf put the Ladies in their comfort zone, giving a chance for Gai Wu to show the Ladies their worth.

HKCC Ladies
Forwards: Nobuko Oda, Wawa Li, Jo Harvey, Lauren Petersen, Carolyn Champion, Maddy Witt, Kikinay Kemp, Terri Lau, Kassie Chapel, Mhairi McLaughlin, Kon Chan
Backs: Lynda Nazer, Tinley Wong, Margaret Chan, Josie Jolley, Steph Zhang, Allison Mak, Brenda Chan, Serene Yee, Elane Lau, Christy Ma, Isobel O’Connor
Tries: Maddy Witt
Coach: Martin Kibble

Hong Kong Women Seek Improvement at Columbo Sevens

After a disappointing first two tournaments in the Asia Womens Rugby Sevens 2016 where Hong Kong finished third in both, Hong Kong women’s sevens coach Anna Richards and her squad head to the Columbo Sevens seeking their first wins of the season over Japan and China who won in Hong Kong and Korea respectively.

Hong Kong are pooled behind China and ahead of a rapidly improving Singapore side and Sri Lanka in Pool C. Japan top Pool D along with Thailand, South Korea and India on their season debut.

Richards has selected an unchanged squad from the last outing. “We played pretty well in Korea so we didn’t see the need to make changes,” said Richards, who noted that attacking wing Aggie Poon Pak-yan is still sidelined by injury and will miss her second tournament of the series.

Hong Kong’s chances to move higher in the rankings would require either China or Japan, who have swapped the titles and runners-up spots over the first two legs, to fall outside of the top four, while Hong Kong would have to at least reach the final this weekend.

“It doesn’t seem likely due to the consistency of China and Japan this season,” said Richards. “We would have to reach the final while one of the others would have to have a steep fall. We are more focused on our own performance and consolidating our third placed finish.”

Instead, Richards will be looking for a breakout performance against first China in the pool stages. “We would like to perform better against China. From what we are hearing they will have a totally different team in Sri Lanka compared to what we have seen so far, with players being drawn from a new province. Who knows what will turn up but most of the provincial sides in China are pretty similar and we are expecting that they will again be very competitive,” said Richards.

“We want to consolidate our third place finish and also to play better than we have done so far. Training has been going well and the girls have put a lot of work into this weekend so now we just need to perform,” Richards added.

The tournament is being live streamed at www.asiarugby.com

Hong Kong: Cheng Ka-Chi, Christy (captain); Natasha Olson-Thorne (vice Captain); Nam Ka-Man; Candy Cheng Tsz-Ting; Amelie Seure; Sham Wai-Sum; Colleen Tjosvold; Kwong Sau-Yan; Lindsay Varty; Chong Ka-Yan, Adrienne Garvey, Yuen Lok-Yee.

Additional reporting and image: HKRU

Match Report: Uni-Pirates 15-68 Gai Wu @ Happy Valley – 8 October, 2016

The Uni-Pirates continued their magical voyage with their second National League 2 game against Gai Wu Hawks in Happy Valley. The team suffered a blow before kick-off with winger Pricila Wang fracturing her finger in the warm-up. Gai Wu requested to have uncontested scrums during the match as they didn’t have enough scrum trained forwards – a frustrating situation for the Uni-Pirates who had a clear advantage in forward pack weight, but safety first.

Gai Wu took advantage of an uncontested scrum in the Uni-Pirates twenty-two to create their first try, scored by their fly half. A second quickly followed as the Hawks scored from a quickly taken penalty close to the Uni-Pirates try line. The Uni-Pirates played their way into the game using their forward strength and a ten-minute period of possession deep in the Hawks’s half finally paid off with a penalty five metres from the Gai Wu line. The Uni-Pirates forwards worked hard and drove hooker Kon Chan over the try-line for their first try of the season. Gai Wu used a long restart kick to pin the Uni-Pirates deep in their own half. Unable to clear the danger, Gai Wu scored a third try and then a fourth just before the half time. Half-time 30-5.

Gai Wu’s backs were pushing the Uni-Pirates defence hard and scored another try early in the second-half. Down, but not out the Uni-Pirates responded with some powerful forward play which was almost rewarded when Estelle touched the ball down, only to have the referee disallow the try for a knock-on. The uncontested scrums really favoured Gai Wu whose backs scored another long distance try. With fatigue setting-in for the Uni-Pirates, Debby was shown a yellow card for a high tackle. Gai Wu took full advantage of the extra woman scoring three tries.

An exchange of tries then followed as the Uni-Pirates strong forwards put together over 10 phases of play which finally released full-back Gloria Law who scored with a nimble pick-up before darting over the line. The Hawks responded, taking advantage of a line-out fumble to score another converted try. Back though came the Uni-Pirates as scrum-half Estelle Barbaroux continued her scoring streak taking a quick penalty near midfield and breaking through seven defenders to score close to posts. Looking for bonus point the Uni-Pirates pushed hard in the final minutes in an attempt to score a fourth try. Another line-out fumble though saw Gai Wu steal the ball and score another try in the games closing minutes. Final score 68-15.

Although the score looks lop-sided the young and in-experienced Uni-Pirates – a combination team of the University Unicorns and the DB Pirates – learnt a lot of lessons and scored some confidence boosting tries to show that there’s more to come as season progresses.

Uni-Pirates:
Forwards: Debby Cheung, Monica Aoko Ariwi, Florence Li, Imogen Dean, Joyce Leung, Kon Chan, Amoy Hugh-Pennie, Lai Ka Yan, Meg McGrath, Renee McCreadie, Julie Buddle
Backs: Sombo Sisay, Estelle Barbaroux (Captain), Cheng Hiu Yi, Bonbon Jan, Gloria Law, Sienna Stubbs, Celine Malunes, Keren Shahar Gafni, Liza Avelino
Tries: Kon Chan, Gloria Law, Estelle Barbaroux

Match Report: HKFC Ice 39-17 City Sparkles @ HK Football Club – 8 October, 2016

On a beautiful evening at the HK Football Club, HKFC Ice’s first match of the 2016-17 season was against City Sparkles newly promoted from National League One and looking to prove themselves in the Premiership.

The game kicked off and Ice dominated the early possession, camped constantly in City’s half HKFC created several try scoring opportunities in the first ten minutes but couldn’t cross the line to register the game’s first score. City looked threatening at times with their kicking skills and solid teamwork and certainly showed they are worthy Premiership opponents, their defence and tenacity particularly impressive. In attack the Sparkles put together some solid passages of play and Ice had to defend well to keep them from scoring.

The first 20 minutes saw some impressive tackles and line breaks from the Ice forwards, with Megan Richardson and Bobby Wilson driving the team forward to secure HKFC’s opening try in the 22nd minute. Rosie Hopewell-Fong’s conversion deflecting off the post prevented Ice from adding the extra two.

Backed by the cheering home crowd, Ice looked dangerous in attack and a great piece of skill from Jane Cheung saw her make a clean break to rampage deep into the opposition’s 22.

City’s sparkling attack broke through Ice’s defence in the 33rd minute to record their first Premiership try, secured with a conversion. Sparked into life Ice retaliated with an amazing break from by Rosie Hopewell-Fong, who sprinted 50m after a beautiful chip only to be fouled just short of the try line in the 40th minute. The resultant yellow card for City’s number 3 saw her spend 10 minutes in the bin and Ice’s Iris Chan took full advantage scoring in the corner with a successful conversion from Rosie Hopewell-Fong. Half-time 12-7.

After the break, HKFC set out to take control of the game and Jamie Bourk quickly scored a try, successfully converted by Rosie Hopewell-Fong.

Cheryl Gourley and Zuzanna Osinska came on in the forward line for HKFC and their impact was felt immediately with another try to Ice’s Angelina Cheung which was quickly followed by a second for the enthusiastic Jamie Bourk who controlled the ball with ease to own yet another try.

Further substitutions for HKFC saw Hei Hei Wong on for Crystal Wray on the wing, with Denise Chan, Shonagh Ryan and Stephanie Siu replaced by Royce Chan, Doris Chen and Rabbit Leung. City scored a simple try to going into the last 20 minutes to give them hope of a come-back. Rosie Hopewell-Fong quickly doused that flicker with her first try of the game after some fine individual skill.

Ice’s Megan Richardson was yellow carded in the 67th minute for a high tackle and City took advantage to score their third try with ten minutes to go and close the gap on the scoreboard.

Claire Hunter came off for Cynthia Luk at flanker and Jane Cheung added the icing to a fine display with Ice’s seventh try two minutes from the end.

HKFC controlled much of a game which saw some exciting play from both teams. City competed well in their first game in the top tier and can take many positives from the game. Final score 39-17.

HKFC Ice:
Denise Chan, Shonagh Ryan, Megan Richardson, Angelina Cheung, Iris Chan, Claire Hunter, Nina Pirie, Bobby Wilson, (Captain), Sophie Short, Rose Hopewell-Fong, Jane Cheung, Stephanie Siu, Jamie Bourk, Crystal Wray, Helen Lee.
Substitutes: Doris Chen, Cheryl Gourley, Zuzanna Osinska, Royce Chan, Cynthia Luk, Henrietta Wong, Hei Hei Wong and Rabbit Leung.

Tries: Angelina Cheung, Iris Chan, Jamie Bourk (2), Jane Cheung, Bobby Wilson, Rosie Hopewell-Fong.
Conversions: Rosie Hopewell-Fong (2)

City Sparkles:
Pui Yan Lam, Suen Yan Tiffany Leung, Ka Yan Fung, Lee Wa Wong, Chun Yi Annie Ng (Vice Captain), Pui Yin Yau (Captain), Kar Man Hilary Tse, Lok Lam Joanna Hung, Tsz Wing Donis Fung, Sau Yu Lam, Man King Cheng, Yuk Yan Ng, Oi Ying Stephanie Tang, Hoi Ying Cheung, Agnes Tse
Substitutes: Lai Lai Wong, Tin Yee Cheung, Cheng Wai Yee, Mila Hiu Lam Pang, Tsz Ying YoYo Lau, Yee Sum Lee and Yu Nam Suet.

Match Report: HK Scottish Kukris 37-15 Valley Red @ Shek Kip Mei – 8 October, 2016

After a disappointing opening game to the season against Gai Wu, when the Kukris failed to score, the HK Scottish players were understandably nervous ahead of the match against Valley Red. But a vocal home crowd proved to be just the encouragement they needed. The Kukris quickly settled, put Valley under sustained pressure, and it wasn’t long before Ket Robinson went over in the corner. Karis Cheng was unlucky with the conversion, which bounced off the upright. Before Valley could respond, Kukris had scored again through Fung Yuen-ting and Hui Man-ling, making it three tries in the spate of seven minutes. Again the conversions were unsuccessful. The pressure on Valley’s try line continued, but they managed to secure the ball and kick up pitch. Hui Man-ling caught the ball, accelerated away and scored in the opposite corner. No conversion. Half-time score 20-0 to HK Scottish Kukris.

The second half continued in the same vein. Nieve Heskin, one of the Kukris’ new players from Chicago, exploited a gap and scored under the posts. Karis Cheng made no mistake with the conversion. But Valley responded well, swiftly moving down the field and scoring, 27-5. Any thoughts of a comeback were quickly extinguished, as Crystal Lee, who had an excellent day on the pitch, powered over the line for a classic forwards’ try. But shortly after, as Valley again sought to break out of their own 22, fullback Ket Robinson was deemed to have tip tackled the ball carrier and shown a yellow card. Before Valley could make use of their numerical advantage, Kukris regained possession and passed to Hui Man-ling, who completed her hat-trick in the corner. But by now Kukris were looking ragged, and conceding penalties. Valley regrouped and swiftly scored two unconverted tries, but ran out of time to add to the score. Final score 37-15 to HKS Kukris.

Overall a great game for HKS Kukris, who, with the exception of the last ten minutes will be pleased with the performance. Next week the Kukris play Tai Po Dragons at KGV.

HK Scottish Kukris
Neon Chau, Po-Ki Chan, Tung-Hoi Jim, Crystal Lee Oi-Yan, Emily So, Myron Ng, Nieve Heskin, Kathy Yip, Karis Cheng, Hau-Yi Chung, Yuen-Ting Fung, Andie Ma, Ket Robinson, Man-Ling Hui, Lo-Ho Yau.
Substitutes: Yumi Fan Sau-Yi, Tiffany Tse, Nicola Yau

Tries: Man-Ling Hui (3), Crystal Lee Oi-Yan, Nieve Heskin, Yuen-Ting Fung, Ket Robinson
Conversions: Karis Cheng

Match Report: Women Premiership Round 2 – 8 October, 2016

Hong Kong’s sevens squad players returned to domestic action in the second round of the Women’s Premiership which saw Valley Black and Gai Wu Falcons register convincing wins over Kowloon and CWB Phoenix. The two top clubs in the local women’s game continued their impressive form of the opening Saturday with Valley’s 56-0 win over Kowloon equalling Gai Wu’s margin over the same opponents the previous weekend, while Gai Wu beat CWB Phoenix 31-0.

Gai Wu’s coach Lai commented after the game “Causeway Bay were really competitive in the first half, they put us under a lot of pressure in both defence and attack. Their attitude was positive and they got right on to us. I thought we took a long time to get on top of things but then we got a bit of confidence in the final quarter.” Lai added “We can take a lot of positives from the game but we made a lot of errors in basic skills too, which we’ll need to address for the next game.”

Despite the loss CWB Phoenix coach Ocean Chow was confident. “I was very pleased with our performance. This game built our team spirit and I think the players enjoyed the game.”

Causeway Bay got off to a torrid start putting the Falcons under significant pressure right up to the final quarter when the Falcons returning Hong Kong sevens players put some gloss on the scoreboard.

At half-time Phoenix trailed by only two tries, missing several chances to get on the board themselves.

“Gai Wu scored two tries in the first half while we had a very good chance that we did not take. In the second half, it was the same story as last week: not enough fitness, so our performance is not yet stable,” said Chow.

Chow was pleased with the efforts of his forwards “Our scrum was stronger than previously – we were probably 50:50 against Gai Wu [in this area] and our driving was also good, but it was not enough.”

In the days other Premiership game HKFC Ice got their campaign off to a solid start with a win over a battling City XV, 39-17.

Additional reporting and image: HKRU