IT WAS perhaps a sign of things to come this season. Lightning and thunder greeted the titans of the Hong Kong rugby scene, Valley and Football Club, as they ran on to the racecourse pitch for the Cup final at the Valley 15s last night.
It seemed as if even the gods were approving the sight of the territory's strongest clubs meeting for the first time. And with the heavens opening out, in deluge and noise, Club scraped through to an 8-7 win over Valley.
The action on the pitch matched the electric-charged atmosphere in the air as Club drew first blood. It was a bitter pill for Valley to swallow. They lost custody of their own trophy and $5,000 prize money (which will go for the 'administrative' use of Club).
Valley were expected to roll everything before them yesterday. Fielding their first choice team, they looked favourites to retain their title. And coming up against a Club team bereft of Colony players Ashley Jones (prop), Grant Jamieson (lock), Rick Shuttleworth (flanker) and Justin Weston (fullback), Valley seemed destined to win.
But Club had different ideas. Led by former Hong Kong prop Morgan Chubb (filling in for injured captain Jamieson) making a comeback after missing out last season, Club dominated all aspects to go one-up over their arch-rivals.
Despite missing three of their top forwards, the Club pack were superior, outplaying Valley in the set-pieces and loose. The backs matched the commitment of their forwards in defence and even looked more innovative than Valley's star-studded backline which resembles the Hong Kong backline bar scrum-half Paul Welham.
Club's attacking options have been given a deadly edge by the presence of new South African scrum-half Rodney Meaker. The former Durban Collegians player was instrumental in Club's first score when he kicked a neat grubber for fly-half Robin Bredbury to beat the defence and score by the corner flag.