Business as usual: Tigers tumble as HKRU Premiership undergoes mid-season shuffle
Valley double-up on Kowloon to open up a 22-point lead in top-flight domestic game
The first day of HKRU Premiership action in 2016 produced a major mid-table shuffle as Bloomberg Hong Kong Scottish overcame Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers 20-11 in a hard-fought match at The Rock while Societe Generale Valley hammered Sabre Kowloon 42-21.
Scottish and Tigers had looked to rediscover early-season form following a run of pre-Christmas reversals, but despite the visitors spending much of the first period camped in the Scottish 22 the home team pulled ahead and held on for an all-important win.
Two penalties each – by Tigers fly-half Liam Gallagher and Scottish scrum-half Charles Cheung Ho-ning – kept the scores level as the first half neared its end before a well-worked try from right-wing Ben Cullen moved the hosts in front.
Cheung’s conversion gave HK Scottish a 13-6 lead going into the break.
Scottish withstood a sustained period of pressure from the restart before quick hands in the Tigers backline fed the ball out to the wing where prop Dan Barlow was waiting to storm home and narrow the gap.
The outcome was sealed for Scottish by quick-thinking youngster Mark Coebergh – riding high after a strong showing with the Hong Kong U19s in Singapore and a Larry Abel Trophy-winning best-and-fairest display in the HKRU New Year’s Day Youth Tournament.
Coebergh, always quick to see an opportunity, plucked the ball from a ruck and sprinted 30 metres for a wonderful individual try that left the visiting Tigers with an all-too tall mountain to climb with just 10 minutes remaining.
HK Scottish general manager Bryan Rennie said afterwards he was especially pleased with his team’s resilience.
Craig Stewart, head coach of USRC Tigers, took the loss in an honest and up-front manner.
“We started well and created plenty of opportunities but Scottish showed lots of character and fought us hard all the way, so that when we made a couple of errors they were there to punish us.
“It’s true we had the bulk of territory and possession, but the loss was our own fault and I make no excuses,” he said.
Saturday’s result enabled HK Scottish to leapfrog their opponents into third place – but only by a whisker with both teams on 20 points and Scottish ahead by a point-difference of -44 to Tigers’ -39.
Gai Wu’s win, their seventh of eight encounters so far this season, puts them just one point behind the league leaders, though the Valley Black Ladies still have a game in hand.
Tigers (22 points) retained their hold on third place with HKFC (17) fourth and SCAA First Pacific CWB Phoenix (10) fifth. Transact 24 Tai Po Dragon Ladies and Kowloon Ladies hold up the table with zero points.