bc magazine

Seru Rabeni Memorial Game

Saturday 16 April 2016 saw a gathering of players, supporters and friends, all wanting to pay their respects to, and celebrate the life of, this great man.

The Memorial started out with a video of tribute highlighting Seru’s rugby career which began in Fiji, and expanded across the globe. Playing in both the Sevens and 15s format, Seru ran on the pitch for his country Fiji, many times. He then went on to play in New Zealand for the Highlanders, in the UK for Leicester Tigers, in France for Stade Rochelais, as a player/coach in the USA for Lindenwood University and finally did service in Hong Kong for both Discovery Bay Pirates and Hong Kong Scottish.

Hong Kong Football Club pitch saw players from HK Scottish, HK Football Club, HK University, DB Pirates, Valley Fort, Typhoons and Kowloon join together to create teams to play in 3 Memorial games. The first game was a Social friendly; played by many who had “much experience over many years” (the two wingers had 116 years between them). Much heavy breathing and hands on hips was witnessed. This was followed by the Ladies 10s which was competitive, even though it was a first ever game for some.

Finally, a Performance game was played between DB Pirates/HK Scottish (“Pirate Islanders”) and a HK Barbarian team. Players gave their all, some crunching tackles and impressive line breaks. Seru would have been proud of both their performances and the camaraderie on the field. The only thing missing was the Big Man’s laughter coming from the pitch.

The HK Barbarians were victorious in the first two, close games but the Pirate Islanders managed to take a well-deserved win in the third.

A good turnout resulted in good sales of memorial shirts as well as playing shirts, with funds raised going towards the Seru Fund. Currently being administered by DB Pirates, monies donated will go towards projects close to Seru’s heart. The Fund will seek to support work going on in Seru’s home village in Fiji and help complete the building of a school. For more information about the fund please contact [email protected]

Some of the Fund is also planned to form part of a scholarship, to identify and bring a Fijian teenager to Hong Kong to school and play rugby, and hopefully give them a springboard to a brighter future.

In life, Seru was able to bring together people from all corners, to play the game he was so passionate about. Thus, it was most fitting that the same could be done after his passing.

Watch the opening tribute and all three games here:
Opening and tribute to Seru Rabeni, DB Pirates vs HK Barbarians (social men’s game)
DB Pirates vs HK Barbarians (ladies 10s’ game)
Pirate Islanders vs HK Barbarians (men’s performance game)

Photos: Sharon McEneff

HK Sevens

Dear bc readers

As editor, I apologise that our Sevens coverage hasn’t been as comprehensive as in past years. Especially as during the last domestic rugby season bc magazine averaged around three articles per week on local rugby.

The reason is, and I’ll quote the HK Rugby Union’ s PR mandarin Sean Moore “I will continue to omit you from my press release distribution and invitation to rugby union events”. “I believe that my decision is defensible based on the negative spin consistently applied to those efforts”

Negative spin – that means for bc magazine to get press releases and notification of rugby events and media accreditation to matches for our rugby photograher we must write sycophantic “HKRU is wonderful” advertorials.

bc magazine exposed the HKRU’s introduction of ethnic quotas and active racism to local rugby via a new rule announced last September. The rule was quickly amended after bc’s article was published and a defamatory and factually inaccurate cover-up campaign mounted against myself and bc by the HKRU and it’s Chairman Pieter Schats.

It should also be stated here that World Rugby the sports global governing body refused to condemn the HKRU’s introduction of racism to local sport when asked in September to comment on the new rule. So much for rugby’s stated core values of integrity and respect. Perhaps World Rugby could explain how racism ‘builds character’?

The HKRU thinks bc shouldn’t criticise them for scrapping children’s tickets for the general public at this year’s event. Local children who get inspired by watching rugby at the Sevens are the future player pool of the national side, the dream and the desire to represent your country infront of 40,000 screaming fans starts from watching in the stands.

The blatant sexually discriminatory bias of the HKRU’s website where 90% plus of the coverage is about men’s rugby is shameful given the vibrant and surging growth of the game amongst women locally in recent years. As I write this www.hkrugby.com has no mention of day 1 of the HK Women’s Rugby Sevens. The day’s match results are nowhere to be found.

The HKRU’s response to me writing and exposing the truth – throwing it’s toys out of the pram like a spoilt child and blocking my accreditation as a photographer to cover the Sevens and deleting bc magazine from the HKRU’s media mailing list.

Actively introducing racism to local rugby, price gouging children, sexually discriminatory coverage… The HKRU has far deeper and more institutionalised problems than ‘negative spin’.

For the first time in over 20 years I won’t be slaving over a computer screen till 5am finishing articles and editing photos. Hope you enjoy the rugby, I will!

Go Hong Kong!

HK Women’s Rugby 7s, Day 1 at King’s Park

Hong Kong’s lack of a competitive match since November showed as the hosts stumbled on an action-packed first day of the HK Women’s Rugby Sevens losing against an ecstatic Argentinean side. Hong Kong must now beat Japan to move above Argentina and make it through to the Cup semi-finals.

France looked a class apart as their development team (the national side is playing on the Women’s World Series in Atlanta this weekend) notched three wins from three starts in pool A to lock in a semi-final berth, while Kazakhstan and South Africa will fight it out for the other spot. Japan, Hong Kong and Argentina can all still make the Cup semi-finals in pool B.

The home team got their tournament underway with a thumping 45-0 win over Sri Lanka, with Aggie Poon Pak-yan running in three tries and Natasha Olson-Thorne crossing in her first game as captain. Sri Lanka had no answers for a rampaging Hong Kong, who completely dominated with slick passing and fierce tackling.

Lee Tsz-ting, who was a ball girl at HK Women’s 7s 6 years ago, scored on debut when she came on in the second half against Sri Lanka.

Hong Kong’s second match was a low-scoring affair, as the hosts self-inflicted error strewn performance allowed a hard working Argentina side to dominate territory and run large chunks of time off the clock. Argentina received two yellow cards, and embarrassingly for Hong Kong scored the decisive try in their 12-5 win with only six players on the pitch.

“Unfortunately in that game we just lacked a bit of patience,” hiding her disappointment Hong Kong coach Anna Richards said. “We just let mistakes creep into our game under pressure and that does happen. We let Argentina rattle us a bit at the breakdown and there was a bit of a free fall there, but we just didn’t take our opportunities.”

Hong Kong’s last match against Thailand was a must win and it was all one-way traffic, with the local team streaking away to a 24-0 win that saw Richards comment “We tried to force the issue a little bit against Argentina and we made some good opportunities and we killed it,” Richards said.”This time we were very patient, which I thought was great.”

Debutant Lee Tsz-ting and Colleen Tjosvold were shining lights for Hong Kong – while Christine Gordon and Chong Ka-yan were amongst the try scorers.

[gview file=”http://www.bcmagazine.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/2016-HKWR7S-TOURNAMENT-RESULTS-DAY-I.pdf” save=”1″]

France took a while to get going in their opening match before eventually overcoming Kenya 22-5, before flexing their legs and overpowering China in a 39-7 thumping. They finished the day with a narrow 12-10 win over Kazakhstan, with Montserrat Amédée and Noémie Sanch amongst the tries with three each for the day.

With his side semi-final bound, coach Paul Albaladéjo praised the evenness of effort from his charges, but refused to look past their final pool match. “I’m very happy after day one,” Albaladéjo said. “Very happy for my team, everyone was very good and it was a good job. We are now focusing on game number four tomorrow against South Africa. After that, I don’t yet know the way.”

Japan looked composed and confident as comfortably won three match: belting Sri Lanka 41-0, knocking off Thailand 22-7 and finishing the day with a 50-0 drubbing of Argentina. Hong Kong will face Japan in the last pool match tomorrow at 10.00am. Japan shared the scoring load across a wide range of players, with Yukari Tateyama and Ayumi Yabuuchi just two of the players to get in on the act.

Argentina were impressive prior to their match against Japan, shrugging off Thailand (19-12), Hong Kong and Sri Lanka (30-5).Gonzalez Sofia was one of her side’s best, crossing four times throughout the day and constantly creating opportunities for her teammates.

Nadine Roos impressed in a South Africa side that won two and lost one, scoring four tries for the day. For Kazakhstan, Lyudmila Korotkikh also got amongst the points, registering four tries as her side won two of their four matches. There were mixed results for China, with a first up 10-5 win over Kazakhstan followed by losses to France (39-7) and South Africa (7-0). It was a tough day at the King’s Park for Kenya, Thailand and Sri Lanka, with each side going winless.

HK Women’s Rugby Sevens: 7-8 April, 2016

The 19th Hong Kong Women’s Sevens gets under way tomorrow. The two day tournament features ten teams from across the globe competing in two pools. Pool A contains France, South Africa, Kazakhstan, China and Kenya while Hong Kong are in Pool B with Asia champions Japan, Argentina, Thailand and Sri Lanka.

The top two teams after pool play compete in the Cup semi-final with the final played in the HK Stadium at 17:24, at the HK Sevens, in front of 40,000 fans.

Hong Kong enter the tournament under the leadership of new captain Natasha Olson-Thorne after injuries sidelined long-time captain Royce Chan Leong Sze and last season’s able stand-in, Christy Cheng Ka Chi.

Olson-Thorne provides pace, power and an experienced hand after serving in the vice captain’s role in last November’s Olympic sevens qualifiers and having appeared in five Hong Kong Women’s Sevens previously.

Come join in the fun and watch some great rugby where skill and finesse matter more than the brute power of the men’s game. Thursday matches take place at King’s Park with the first kick-off at 9am. Friday’s games are at the HK Football Club, first kick-off at 9am. Entry is free on both days.

The tournament will also be live-streamed at:
http://www.hirugby.com/live

Hong Kong Women’s Rugby Sevens
When: 7-8 April, 2016
Where: 7 April: Kings Park, 8 April: HK Football Club, Final: HK Stadium
How much: Free
More info: www.facebook.com/hkwr.sevens

Women’s Rugby Grand Championship Finals Results 2016

Grand Championship

Valley Black 12-10 Gai Wu Falcons
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 16:30

National 15s WNL1-A: Grand Championship

City Sparkles 8-5 Valley Red
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 15:00

National 15s WNL1-B: Grand Championship

HKCC 17-7 HK Scottish
@ KGV, Kick-off: 16:30

National 10s: Grand Championship

Tin Shui Wai 5-10 Revolution SRC
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 16:30

Valley and Gai Wu Contest Third Straight Women’s Grand Final

Valley Black will take on Gai Wu Falcons for the third successive Grand Final between the two clubs at King’s Park today (16.30). Valley were unbeaten in league play for the second consecutive year extending their winning streak to 28 matches – the longest such streak in Hong Kong Rugby.

It is a fitting match-up as the two clubs have dominated the elite edge of women’s rugby in recent seasons. The last six Grand Finals have seen at least one of the two sides taking part, with Valley claiming four titles to Gai Wu’s two during that period. In their head-to-heads over the past two finals, the clubs split the honours with Falcons handing Valley its last loss in domestic competition in 2014, while Valley ran out 20-10 winners over Falcons to claim the title in 2015.

The Falcons enter the match as the underdogs after having dropped both of their games to Valley this season, a 15-3 defeat in Round 7, followed by a more comprehensive 49-12 loss in their most recent outing on the last weekend of the season, when Valley fullback Olivia Coady ran riot for five tries. Despite the margin of defeat, the 12 points posted by Falcons is the most that Valley conceded to any opponent in the league, when they scored a staggering 565 points in 12 games.

Valley continue to reap the rewards of a long-term vision implemented when coach Chris Garvey arrived at the club following its 2012 Grand Championship. “We lost 9 players after that season and there was a lot of work to do to re-build. The next season we had 25 players competing across the 15s and 10s league. I remember one Saturday when we had back-to-back games and had to finish a 10s match with seven players on the pitch, pulling girls off so we could start a 15s game on the next pitch with 12 players.

“But we gave ourselves three years to re-build with a focus on sustainable growth. We focused on our infrastructure as if we got that right, the results should take care of themselves. We were able to get good coaches and recruit some strong players not just from overseas, but also from local universities and schools. Now we’re at the point where there are only three or four players running out that aren’t playing for Hong Kong or eligible to play for Hong Kong. We have two full squads this season and our seconds went from winning only one match last year to reaching the Grand Championship final tomorrow,” Garvey adds.

Valley’s numbers are holding strong for the re-match with Gai Wu says Garvey, “There are always a few niggles and we’ve had to leave vice captain Karen So on the bench, as she hasn’t fully recovered from injury, which hurts because she’s a prop/hooker and our front row has been a bit light this year. But other than that, we’ve held up well.”

That weakness up front contrasts with Gai Wu, whose main strength is its forward pack and set piece. For Garvey that means a contrast in styles and strategies in the final: “Our backbone is the midfield. We’re good at broken play and anything off the cuff is to our advantage. Our weakness is probably our set piece. The forwards have scored tries for us, but not as many as in previous seasons. I’m being a perfectionist really, as the forwards have done the job for us this season, but I don’t think we’ve developed our play up front as much as we have across the backline this season.”

“Gai Wu’s strengths are their set piece and overall fitness, which is slightly better than ours. They have a solid kicking game and I think they will look to play very structured rugby. But I’m confident. We don’t have to chase this game or change our style, we just need to keep calm, soak up any pressure and trust our systems. If we can restrict Gai Wu to two or three phases, we’re in with a chance, but if they’re still in it with ten minutes remaining anything can happen.”

Falcons coach Lai Yiu Pang is angling to have his side in just that position: “Last week’s win over USRC Tigers gave us a lot of confidence and we’re picking up momentum late in the year. All the pressure is on Valley and we’re optimistic for tomorrow.”

Lai knows that defence is the key to Gai Wu’s championship hopes, saying: “Defence needs to be our primary focus. We need to put Valley under heavy pressure and that starts when they have the ball.”

While missing the inspirational but injured Christy Cheng Ka Chi, a leader for Falcons and the Hong Kong Sevens squad, Lai says the rest of his squad are fit. “Up front we have everyone we’d like to have and our training this week, and really since the end of the league, has been positive with over 30 players out for every session. That was a big help in getting us to the stage to achieve what we needed to in the semi-final over the Tigers.”

All today’s Grand Championship Final’s fixture details here.

photos: Takumi Photography

Women’s Rugby Fixtures – 12 March, 2016

WNL1 B Semi-final Match Report: HKCC 48-7 Tai Po Dragons – 5 March, 2016

HKCC went into the knock-out stages of the season still on a high from the previous weekend’s sealing of the WNL1 B league title. Alex Tarleton reports as HKCC played the Tai Po Dragons hoping to reach a Grand Championships final for the first time since its reincarnation.

The opening minutes saw scrappy play mainly in the Tai Po half as the Dragons worked hard to keep HKCC at bay. A defensive scrum was excellently stolen by HKCC to put the ladies in white on the front foot. HKCC made their way into the Tai Po 22 through some good work by the forwards and then two passes down the line unleashed Tissia Polycarpe for her first of the day in the corner, 5-0.

5 minutes later Tissia added her second in almost identical fashion after some good forward play scoring in the opposite corner, with Harriet Jamieson adding the extras to make the score 12-0.

The HKCC forwards continued to dominate play and turned a Tai Po scrum. From the resulting put-in, simple hands down the line to the wing saw the flying Russian Yana Dimitrova score in the corner as HKCC’s lead increased to 17-0.

HKCC continued to put pressure on the Dragons as Tai Po were boxed in their 22 for the majority of the first half. Another scrum 5 metres out and saw the forwards use their dominance to drive towards the line. No.8 Lynda Nazer showed some great footwork before picking up to push over the line to make the score 22-0.

Approaching half time, Tai Po had a spell of pressure pushing HKCC back into their own half. The Cricket Club defence contained the Tai Po attack and earned a scrum. Some great interchanging passes between Ashley Brooks and Tissia Polycarpe brought the play back into the Tai Po half with Tissia sprinting home to complete a first-half hat-trick. Jamieson made the conversion for a half-time score of 29-0.

The second half started with HKCC not taking their foot off the peddle as Ashley Brooks took a quick penalty on the half way line and jinked in and around the defence to score under the posts with Harriet again converting and taking the lead to 36-0.

Tai Po refused to give in and continued to press the HKCC defence, Centre Tissia however stole the ball in the HKCC 22 and danced through the Tai Po defence to score her 4th try with an emphatic run from her own half, 41-0.

In the closing 10 minutes HKCC continued to bombard the Tai Po try-line and a final score arrived as Lynda Nazer scored her second when she again picked up from the base of the scrum and powered over the line. Harriet added the conversion to put HKCC 48-0.

In the closing minutes the proud Tai Po Dragons team continued to play with great heart and passion and their effort was rewarded on the last play of the game. The ball was shifted wide to the wing who, still with a lot of work to do, used her speed to sprint passed the HKCC defenders and score under the posts and with the conversion added, the final score read 48-7.

HKCC play HK Scottish in the WNL1 B Final, 4:30pm, 12 March at KGV.

Player of the Match: Tissia Polycarpe

HKCC:
Carolyn Champion, Wawa Li, Nobuko Oda, Lauren Petersen, Lainie Man, Isabella Rivers, Cheryl Gourley, Lynda Nazer, Emma Chung, Harriet Jameison, Diani Li, Tinley Wong, Tissia Polycarpe, Yana Dimitrova, Angie Ng, Ashley Brooks, Katie Rowbottom, Mhairi McLaughlin, Stephanie Zhang, Kassie Chapel,Serene Yee, Julia Mason, Jo Harvey