Tag: Hong Kong

The midday sun was the greatest opposition for both teams at Shek Kip Mei on Saturday as Leighton Asia HKCC Ladies faced off against Abacus Kowloon Ladies in the second of three pre-season warm ups  before the Women’s 15 Divisions start. ‘Warm’  doesn’t come close to describing the intensity though, in a blisteringly hot encounter during which Kowloon’s more experienced line up (mostly drawn from the league above HKCC), superior attacking skills, and seemingly relentless supply of fresh legs proved too much for the HKCC Babes, resulting in a 29-0 scoreline.

Dig a little deeper though, and the Babes emerge with credit. Three of Kowloon’s tries were scored in an aggressive and dominant first half display which led to uncontested scrums. HKCC’s backline had limited opportunities to show what they could do, and couldn’t take those that did materialise, with some basic decision making errors. In the second half though, and despite the energy-sapping heat, the Babes forced a number of errors and created turnover ball on numerous occasions, coming agonisingly close only for Captain Anna Holmes to be judged held up over the try line. Consistently excellent rucking around the park from Carolyn Champion and the irrepressible Emily Tuck provided a platform for forward momentum which finally swung the game HKCC’s way in the final quarter, but the damage was already done and Kowloon put on the afterburners with a last break to cap a well-deserved victory.

With five debuting players, including Jo Harvey making her first ever 15s appearance (just three months after picking up a ball for the first time) and a new-look backline with Julia Mason and Harriet Jamieson freshly arrived at 10 and 12, HKCC can walk away from the game with lots learned, lots to work on, and welcome reinforcements back from holidays. Stand in Coach Jeremy Nesbitt commented, “despite us having 17 players facing a squad of 30 we forced them to work really hard for their tries. The fact that every player who came off injured put their hand back up to get out there and give it a go again was great to see“. Special credit for this also goes to the great Paul Nazer, patch-up artiste extraordinaire.

If this game is any indication for the rest of the season, it’s going to be a scorcher, so come along next Saturday, 27^th September, for a 6PM kick off against Valley 2s at Happy Valley pitch 8.