VALLEY'S reign as champion club on the Hong Kong rugby union scene continued when they defeated arch-rivals Football Club 34-28 to win the Premiership title yesterday.
'We have done it for the past three years and I'm extremely happy that we defeated Club again to finish the season,' said an elated Valley skipper Isi Tu'ivai afterwards.
Valley will savour the moment. Victory is always that much sweeter when the vanquished come from Club. Since the 1993-94 season, Valley have looked unbeatable. This season they won everything on offer apart from their own Valley 15s trophy which Club won.
But yesterday, Valley were in no mood to let slip the season-ending Premiership. They did it in style, running in four tries, but had to endure a couple of moments of anxiety especially towards the end when their opponents fought back to within one score.
Club left their revival too late. Their forwards looked jaded for most of the match. Only in the second half, with the presence of giant lock and replacement Doug Morton (coming on for injured Charlie Scragg) did the Club pack perk up as they won enough possession to mount some pressure on the Valley line.
Valley, however, had built a sufficient lead to ward off any last-minute challenges, although referee Bill Coalter's whistle - coming with about one minute on the scoreboard clock remaining - must have sounded sweet.
