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
