Top-dogs Valley overcome stifling defence

Indiscipline and the inability to counter their opponents' forte of scoring tries when within sniffing distance of the tryline cost DeA their top-dogs status in the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union's Major Championships.

Defending league champions Asahi Valley rumbled to a 22-3 victory to leapfrog DeA and take top spot in the six-team standings at Happy Valley yesterday.

A win was never in doubt considering the load of good possession Valley enjoyed and the amount of penalties DeA gifted them. But Paul Dingley's men had to spend close to 70 minutes at the barricades before breaching the brave DeA defence.

DeA's tactic of slowing down the game and not allowing Valley to get into stride disrupted their opponents until they scored two tries in the last 10 minutes to extend a 12-3 lead and enter the safety zone.

'It was frustrating for us. They did not play a positive game at all and we couldn't get a pattern going,' said Valley skipper and No 8 Dingley, who was always in the vanguard of his side's attack.

Valley's forwards found their feet in the last 20 minutes and started to string together multi-phase moves which DeA vainly tried to stop. But with Dingley and his forwards firing, the end was inevitable.

Both tries came from close range. The first from a five-metre scrum giving Dingley an easy pushover try and the other from a lineout which saw hard-working hooker Stu Denton driving over. 'Their forwards are very difficult to stop from close range. But we were our worst enemies, giving away penalties in prime positions,' said DeA captain Rob Naylor.