The player at the centre of the controversy surrounding Altus Kowloon's league silverware triumph this season will be a definite starter for Newedge Club in the Grand Championship final at King's Park on Saturday.
Former Hong Kong tighthead prop Nigel Hobler (pictured) has already been confirmed as a starter by Hong Kong Football Club coach Rob Naylor. He was also in the starting line-up for the semi-final against Tradition Valley on Saturday, which Club won 29-3.
'Yes, I will definitely start with Nige [Hobler]. It will be very hard to make any changes to the forward pack from last Saturday considering they were so dominant against Valley,' Naylor said yesterday.
Hobler, who retired from the international scene last season after a long and illustrious career, was hauled out of the lower divisions by Naylor to take a place on the bench against Kowloon in the second round of the league competition on January 14. He came on in the last quarter and played his part as Club defeated Kowloon 27-20.
But the result was overturned by the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union after Kowloon protested that Hobler was ineligible to play because he wasn't registered to play in the First Division. The appeal was upheld, and Club were penalised six points, which proved decisive as Kowloon went on to win the league title for the first time in 30 years.
'We have now registered him. Ever since that game, he has been involved with us. The last deadline for registration was January 31, and this was to make certain that if teams lost in the early rounds [of the Grand Championship], they wouldn't fill their sides in the lower divisions with players from the top.