HKCC coach questions 100-point win over second-stringers
Synovate HKCC coach Richard Cooke has cast doubts over the bona fides of rival CBRE Club's massive 100-0 win over second stringers Club Dragons, saying 'team orders' must have played a part in the lop-sided result.
Football Club who are in a race with HKCC for the First Division League title - to be decided on Monday night - routed their sister-side Dragons on Thursday night, running in 16 tries in a one-sided match.
'It is like Formula One racing with the Ferrari bosses ordering Rubens Barrichello to pull over and allow Michael Schumacher to win,' said a sceptical Cooke. 'We knew this was going to happen, but not to such a degree.'
Cooke was referring to the infamous incident at the 2001 Austrian Grand Prix when Ferrari ordered Barrichello to move over and allow teammate Schumacher to pass so that the latter could clinch the F1 drivers' title.
The huge win lifted Club to the top of the standings on 58 points. HKCC are second on 54 points and need to defeat DeA Tigers at King's Park on Monday, along with a bonus point (by scoring four tries), to clinch the title for a second successive year. If they beat DeA, but fail to secure a bonus point, both teams will finish tied on 58 points with Club declared champions due to a superior point's differential - boosted by the 100-0 victory.
'What can I say,' replied Cooke when asked for his comments on the result. 'Or maybe Club got their act together and all their training paid off,' he said, tongue firmly in cheek. Cooke, who was not present at the match, added: 'Our task is now simple. We need to win with a bonus point. This has always been our target.'