HSBC Penguins defeat ULR Samurai 21-14 in Hong Kong Tens

Matches can turn in moments and Richard Hooper exemplified that last night, turning HSBC Penguins from likely losers to definite 21-14 winners in the last minute of the GFI HKFC Tens final last night.

The Manly winger, whose younger brother Michael has made his way into the Australia national team over the last year, showed that talent runs in the family with two game-defining interventions against ULR Samurai International at the Hong Kong Football Club.

With the match tied at 14-14 and seemingly set for extra time, Hooper first threw himself into a last-ditch tackle to prevent Samurai going over right on the touch line. Moments later, teammate James Lightfoot-Brown burst clear on a 50-metre-plus run and, with the opposition closing in, launched a speculative kick towards the end zone, where Hooper pounced on it, having outpaced the Samurai defence with his last gasp of breath. Twenty-three seconds later, the whistle blew on a pulsating, superbly contested final between two of the world's most respected touring sides.

"Get me off the field, I'm buggered, absolutely blowing," was Hooper's reaction when asked how he felt immediately afterwards. "I can't stop smiling.

"I didn't want it to go to extra time. I knew I couldn't last another 10 minutes, and to seal it at the end like that is pretty special. James is a classy player, I knew he'd try to get the ball to me somehow and it couldn't have worked out better.

"The tackle before, I just wanted to make sure we didn't lose that way, it was a last-ditch effort and we got there in the end."

The Penguins were established in 1959, but this was one of the few tournaments they had not won. Like Samurai, it was their seventh attempt.