'I have never scored two tries in a game before. It is a great feeling,' said Rambo, the first Chinese player to represent Hong Kong on the international stage.

Never mind the brace, the Valley hooker could have scored a hat-trick of tries if not for foolishly trying to gift a try to teammate Brent Edwards in the last quarter of the game.

With the goalline staring him in the face, Rambo decided to play Santa Claus and swung an inside pass to flanker Edwards.

Edwards, who couldn't believe his eyes, was caught by the cover defence, which would have been hard-pressed to catch Rambo.

A couple of harsh words from Edwards seemed to do the trick. The next opportunity which arose saw Rambo drive for the line as if winning the World Cup depended on it.

The PLA's defence was mixed. At times it stood strong, repelling Valley's backline forays which was superbly organised by scrumhalf Robin Bredbury and orchestrated in midfield by Rodney McIntosh and Isi Tu'ivai.

But on occasions the PLA defence resembled a sieve, especially the backs who were unable to match the commitment of their forwards.

This allowed Valley to run in half a dozen tries and cement their place at the top of the standings at the end of the first round of the competition.

Valley's right winger John Hart began the party, scoring his side's first two tries by easily rounding the defence.

The visitors cut the lead to 12-6 midway through the first half with Yue Yeung kicking over two penalties.

But that was about the end of their material success on the field.

Valley's other tries were scored by second rower Lachlan Miller and fullback Jason Going, who had an outstanding game.

However, the glory belonged to Rambo, who was blooded yesterday.

Alvin Sallay