Gai Wu Falcons and Valley Black face a winner-take-all next Saturday in another exciting end to a Premiership season. The Falcons set up the decisive clash with a 22-0 victory over USRC Tigers, while Valley, beat Kowloon 34-0.

Gai Wu entered their penultimate match needing a bonus point win to keep their hopes of defending their league title alive. They did enough to stay in contention – just, leaving it to the last possible second when winger Chong Ka-yan crossed over in added time to secure the bonus point and a 22-0 victory.

This season the Tigers have stepped up turning what in recent years has been a two-horse race into a ‘Big Three’ with little between the sides. Gai Wu could only muster a 7-0 lead at half-time, their only points coming from a 38th minute penalty try when the Tigers pack infringed at a scrum on their own try-line.

The late score brought some half-time solace to Falcons coach Lai Yiu-pang, but he was frustrated at the break after his charges failed to convert a glut of first-half possession into points.
“It was hard work for sure,” said Lai.

“Our defence was very consistent, but our attack couldn’t function in the first half. We must have had 70percent possessions and spent a huge amount of time in their 22, but we lost the ball either through handling errors or at the ruck.”

Lai was pleased with his side’s ability to adjust after the break, “At half-time, we just talked about controlling the game a bit more and eliminating those handling errors. I told our halfbacks to control the game, you know, if we can’t play fast, then play slow and steady and make sure.”

“In the second half and we were able to convert that steady pressure and managed to get three more tries.”

Key second-half tries came from Hong Kong lock Chow Mei-nam in the 52nd minute and Ng Ki-sum in the 73rd minute before Chong kept the dream alive with her score in added time.

Despite inflicting the Tigers their first shutout of the season and domination possession it was a tense conclusion for Lai as he watched the seconds tick off the clock “If we couldn’t score than I knew league was over for us, so it was an exciting finish,” said Lai.

“On my watch time was up, so I was worried if we could only keep the ball. I was confident that if the time was there we could score because we were only a few meters off the line.”

Earlier in the season, it looked doubtful that the miss-functioning Falcons could retain the Premiership title, now they face a winner-take-all game against Valley for the league silverware next Saturday.

Lai is already plotting his side’s next steps; “Defence will be massive for us. We didn’t let Tigers score and our scrambling defence was really good. Tigers have a lot of strong individual players, which is similar to Valley, so I think we can take a lot of confidence from our defensive effort.

“But today was another good lesson for us on improving our attack. If we can link up our attack a bit better with our forwards and backs, we should be in a handy position against Valley, but we are going to need to spend some time with the backs this week.”

Valley enters the final league match of the season leading the Premiership with an unbeaten record and 22 points. Gai Wu are second on 19 points, while Tigers breakout season isn’t truly reflected by their 7 points. Winless Kowloon prop-up the table.

Causeway Bay Phoenix’s 44-5 win over City Sparkle and league leaders HKFC Ice 17-10 victory at Tai Po Dragons 17-10 ensured that the Premiership A title will also be decided on the last weekend of the season when table toppers Ice (22 points) face off with Causeway Bay (18 points) in another winner take everything clash.

Additional reporting and images: hkru

To keep their dream of defending their championship double alive, Gai Wu Falcons will need to see off USRC Tigers at Kings’ Park on Saturday (18:00). A bonus point win over Tigers will set up a winner-take-all clash with unbeaten table toppers Valley Black on the final league weekend of the season.

Valley are likely to prove too much for an injury-depleted Kowloon in Happy Valley (18:00). In Premiership A action, table toppers HKFC Ice take on third place Tai Po Dragons at HK Football Club (1800), while second-placed Causeway Bay Phoenix play City Sparkle at KGV at 17.30.

Gai Wu have come on strong since the split in the league competition at the end of 2018, putting their game faces on for the business end of the season. Coach Lai Yiu-pang has been slowly introducing new players throughout the campaign and the team are starting to see the fruits of his and their hard work on the training pitch.

“I think the team understand where our strengths are now. The team is finding its way to play. They have a better understanding of our own team and our strengths, particularly our forward pack, and how to play to those strengths and gain control and manage games better,” Lai said.

The two sides have split their encounters to date this season with Tigers taking a 34-5 win in November, before Falcons gained a measure of revenge with a 20-7 win on the final league weekend prior to Chinese New Year.

Lai believes his team is entering the tiebreaker with more spring in their step but remains concerned about the trials of facing Tigers and Valley back-to-back.

“We took a lot of confidence from our last game with Tigers, so hopefully, we can replicate that again, but it will be a bit tough given the break and some injured players have been a bit slower to recover than we had expected before the break.

“We had some really good momentum going, so the break was really a bit of a distraction. That is why this week’s training is so crucial. We need to get everyone back in and re-focus now.”

Lai is fully aware that despite the roundabout season his side remains in contention to defend their Premiership and Grand Champion titles, particularly with the end of this season looking remarkably similar to last, when Gai Wu pipped Valley for the Premiership title in the final league match of the year.

“We are still in the race. If we can get another bonus point against Tigers then we will have a shot next week. Mathematically we are still in it, but we won’t be if we don’t focus on this week’s game.

“We have to make it happen now.”

Additional reporting and images: hkru, Takumi Photography