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HKRU Premiership
SportHong Kong

Hong Kong Premiership week three round-up: goodbye losing skids, hello challengers

  • Tigers men’s earn first win in two seasons as teams see vulnerability in reigning champions Football Club
  • Kowloon women’s get first points on the board while Tigers extend lead with a stunning 13 tries

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Kowloon winger Anjalika Ybema scores a try against HKFC Ice in round three of the domestic women‘s rugby league on Saturday. Photo: Ike Images
Andrew McNicol

It was a memorable week for the underdogs as both the Hong Kong men’s and women’s Premierships saw dramatic comebacks and the ending of losing skids. As the city continues its fight against Covid-19, mask wearing and social distancing protocols remained mandatory in week three.

Following two rounds of feeling out and gauging this year’s league standard, the Saxo Markets Men’s Premiership and KPMG Women’s Premiership are now expected to press on – there is simply no time for excuses in this shortened campaign.

Last season’s men’s league trailers Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers earned an emphatic first win in two seasons at the expense of Herbert Smith Freehills HKU Sandy Bay, while women’s contenders DAC Kowloon won their first four points to vacate that bottom spot.

In the men’s, Tigers outworked HKU Sandy Bay 16-13 much to the delight of coach Sam Hocking and fans, who had not seen the team win since 2018. Captain Josh Hrstich declared that the boys are back on track having been able to “hang in there” and win fixtures that “we probably [would have] dropped” previously. HKU Sandy Bay coach Brett Wilkinson could not hide his disappointment, calling on his players to “pick themselves up again” after slipping back down to fifth-place.
HKU Sandy Bay star Luke van der Smit runs into a powerful Tigers defensive line in the HKRU Premiership round three on Saturday. Photo: Ike Images
HKU Sandy Bay star Luke van der Smit runs into a powerful Tigers defensive line in the HKRU Premiership round three on Saturday. Photo: Ike Images

Meanwhile, reigning champions Natixis Hong Kong Football Club edged Kowloon 20-19 in what could have been another remarkable upset. An early haul of tries was just enough to keep Kowloon’s late surge at bay, but surrounding players and coaches will have perked up at Football Club’s apparent vulnerability. Jack Wiggins’ men nonetheless hold a healthy five-point lead and higher points difference than the rest of the field after three weeks of the season.

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