After the excitement of the World Cup, domestic rugby returns with the start of the women’s 2017-18 season. The Premiership has been expanded to eight teams, with National League 1 winners Tai Po Dragons promoted, and a new fixture structure created.
The HKRU is calling the new structure “innovative and designed to boost the competitiveness of games, the skills of individuals and the strength of teams”. In the first half of the season, up to Christmas, each of the eight teams plays all others before splitting to a Premiership of the four top-placed teams, and a Premiership Development league of the lower four.
We’ll be blunt and state that the new structure is crap. Yes you’ll not see 100 point blowout results – but as the World Cup showed, you improve by playing better players and teams. Playing the same players more often in the mini leagues does not help you improve. Last year you could visibly see teams and players strengthen through the season.
Also if anything it reinforces the problem of players playing a person because they know their weaknesses rather than the game situation. With no disrespect to the World Cup squad even we watching fans knew exactly what the HK team and each player would do in each situation. The tries HK scored at the World Cup were when a player did something a little different – used their skill to play the game situation not follow a pattern.
The Premiership winners secure the Women’s Premiership League Cup, while in the ‘Development’ half, the Premiership Development Challenge Trophy, which will start the year in the hands of the fifth-placed team and then pass to any team that beats them, and so on.
The end of season Grand Championships will feature all eight teams, playing quarter-finals, semis, and the Grand Final. In addition as last year there will be three Super Series games featuring sides drawn from a mix of players from across the club teams.
At the end of the season, the lowest-placed team in the Premiership Development will be relegated to National League 1, while the winners of that league will be promoted.
On the pitch, all eyes will be on Valley Black who enter the fray off the back of a third straight unbeaten season, 42 consecutive matches won. In charge of the Valley Premiership team this season is former Samoan national captain and Hong Kong national backs coach, Bella Milo – one of two women coaches in the Premiership.
“We had a camp last week in Sheung Shui, with the aim of bringing both our teams closer. Our aim is to promote off-the-field relationships. We want to develop a lot of our group and will give more players game time in the first half of the season,” Milo revealed.
There are no major withdrawals from the squad, but a couple of big names have been added. Aroha Savage, Black Ferns World Cup winner will play at number 8. Rawinia Everitt, a former Black Fern, arrives with an injury that will keep her from playing at the start of the season, but affords her extra time to settle in as Assistant Coach.
Milo said, “Everyone is eager to get playing, putting into practice some of the details we’ve focused on pre-season. The league is looking a lot better. I expect higher intensity levels and a good competition.”
Gai Wu Falcons will be looking change the pattern of recent seasons where their only losses were to Valley, and are confident to go one better having reduced the gap against their arch-rivals last season, from a 28-3 thumping early on to gritty, tight contests in the season-closing league game (8-7) and Grand Championship final (15-7)
The team has seen a lot of changes in personnel, which, says coach Lai Yiu Pang, is why they are running three teams, “to press development, so that players can come through, challenge each other and the seniors. It helps to keep the club strong.”
Injuries from national duty to Christy Cheng and Lau Sze Wa, combined with the absence of Hong Kong sevens players training for the Asian series, leave Lai working hard to put out the team he wants early on.
Charmaine Da Costa, who has been playing for the club in NL2/NL3, has caught the attention of the national sevens set-up. And teenage fly half Jasmine Fung, who only joined last season, put in such impressive hit-out performances last Saturday that Lai will use her to replace veteran Lee Tsz Ting, who is focusing on her sevens game.
Others moving up from Gai Wu’s lower levels to the first team include flanker Justine Chan; prop Cherry Ng; and scrumhalf Wong Suet Ying. Ng will be making a big jump after playing NL3 rugby last season.
“The first half of the season will be a good chance to look at the whole squad and our bench depth. I hope to build a squad of 30 or even 35 players. The league is about consistent performance throughout the season and in the more challenging second half we will need that depth,” observes Lai.
USRC Tigers ambitious to improve on last season’s third place are now coached by Fan Shun Kei. A former Hong Kong national half-back, who played for Tigers from age 13, right through his club career and has recently been coaching the national Men’s U20 Sevens side.
“The key challenges for us are to develop a performance culture across the whole squad and enhance the basic skill sets for those players,” said Fan.
The squad features a crop of new players, including a couple of capable 19-year-olds from New Zealand, prop Abbey Rivers and fly half Sarah Swinbanks. Fan enthuses that, “Abbey offers some hard ball carrying and physicality, and Sarah can use her experience to direct the games and enhance our kicking game.”
Fan is looking to rotate in players from lower levels to give them experience. As the season kicks off, injuries and absences are making that a necessity.
“The hardest thing at the moment is losing some key players to sevens duty. Our objective for the first half is to finish in the top four so I’m trying to promote some of the new players to give them a taste of Premiership rugby.”
There’s also a new player-coach at HKFC Ice as Royce Chan Leong Sze just back from playing in the World Cup takes charge. Chan says she’s still fired up by the experience and eager to apply with Ice what she learned there.
HKFC is in somewhat of a rebuild, with new players arriving from other clubs and overseas. Chan will be playing alongside national teammate Rose Hopewell-Fong who’ll also take on a coaching role.
Newly joined from Australia, where she played at national sevens level, is Rachel Crothers. Two quality players are also back from injury. Rachel Fong (sister of Rose) is developing as a fly half, as she returns from 12 months of enforced layoff, while Fion Got is back after nearly two seasons off with injury.
“We have some new players from varied backgrounds and my challenge is to bring everyone together, and meld their playing styles,” Chan says.
SCAA Causeway Bay Phoenix have a new coach as Chris Lin takes over a team that has finished fifth for the last seasons and looks to guide the upwards.
Jonathan Ho, Kowloon Ladies coach, believes his team can do much better than last season’s sixth place finish, having been competitive in games against most of their opponents. The squad is essentially unchanged, although injuries to key players including forward Christine Gordon and centre Lily Chau will make the early games tougher.
One new player is Stephanie Ching, an exciting youngster who has been training with the national sevens side. Joining the coaching team is Ho’s brother, former Hong Kong fifteens and sevens player Ben Ho, who will take responsibility for the forwards.
Ho believes in Kowloon’s ability. “We are competitive. Not so much needs to change – the players just need the confidence and belief that they can beat the likes of Football Club and Causeway Bay,” he said.
In their debut Premiership season City Sparkle fought hard and showed they could challenge for wins, but ended up bottom of the table. In their second season they look to consolidate. Coach Kai Hang Fung was delighted with his side’s performance in pre-season games against Tai Po and Gai Wu, which he said “showed that we’ve improved and are better at handling pressure.”
“We have boosted the squad size with some girls from NL2. We now have the numbers to stay strong through the back of the season, when injuries mount. That really cost us last season.”
City’s second team took out the NL2 championship last season, offering a pipeline of players who know all about winning.
As 2016/17 Women’s National League 1 champs, Tai Po Dragon Ladies return to the Premiership as the eighth team. The side played in the inaugural Premiership season 2015/16 and will look to offer feisty competition under the tutelage of coach Tsang Hing Hung, a former Hong Kong international and a serving police officer.
