Men’s Premiership: Scottish top Valley, HKFC down Sandy Bay and Tigers defeat Kowloon

HK Scottish full back Sean Taylor said there’s a number of reasons their team is fairing so well this year in the men’s premiership rugby season, but one of the biggest is the team’s chemistry.

“It’s a really tight-knit group of guys,” said the 27-year-old, who joined the team at the start of the season, coming over from England. “It makes it a lot easier to play for each other when you are this close, that is for sure.”

Scottish beat Societe Generale Valley 32-20 on Saturday afternoon, Taylor scoring the team’s second try, and stayed atop the men’s Premiership standings. They now have 29 points, six ahead of HKFC, who they will face next week.

Josh Dowsing, Andrew Henderson and James Christie (penalty try) also scored for Scottish in the win, while Richard Lewis, Harry Sayers and Hugo Chui scored for Valley in what was a hard fought back and forth tussle.

Frustrations boiled over for Valley player Grant Kemp, who was given a red card in the second half for punching Christie.

Herbert Smith HKU Sandy Bay finally got to try out their home pitch this season as they squared off against the Hong Kong Football Club at the Aberdeen Sports Grounds. The game took place on actual grass, and Sandy Bay manager Grant Beuzeval said the fans and the players definitely noticed the difference as opposed to playing on artificial turf.

“It definitely makes the game a bit heavier,” said Beuzeval. HKFC ended up winning the game 32-18.

“Guys on both sides commented on the grass, it definitely slows the game down and adds a different element.”

Men’s premiership: Valley slip by Sandy Bay, Scottish stay on top and Tigers edge HKFC

Beuzeval said the grass also added an extra level of emotion to the tilt.

“It was a very intense match on that grass for sure. There’s going to be a lot of sore boys tomorrow.”

HKFC got tries from Tom Isaacs and Glyn Hughes (who had 27 points in total counting conversions and penalty kicks), while Jack Metters and Luke Van Der Smit responded for Sandy Bay.

In the other match of the day, the Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers beat Kerry Hotel Kowloon Rugby 37-15. The Tigers are tied for second in the league standings with the HKFC, while Valley sit below them with three wins and four losses and Sandy Bay and Kowloon are at the bottom of the pack, with seven and six points respectively.

There are two more rounds of play remaining before the season breaks for Christmas.