Quick-fire Adrian Griffiths hat-trick stuns HK Scottish

Hard-working forward Adrian Griffiths rubbed salt into a gaping wound on Saturday as he scored a remarkable hat-trick against his former team Bloomberg HK Scottish to lead Leighton Asia HKCC to a comfortable 41-14 victory at Aberdeen Sports Ground.

Blindside flanker Griffiths, who moved to the defending league champions during the summer, scored his hat-trick in the first 10 minutes to leave HK Scottish dazed and on the ropes. They failed to recover from HKCC's remarkable opening burst and fell to their first defeat this season, leaving the Cricketers as the only unbeaten team in the 2014-15 HKRFU Premiership.

“It was a good team result. There were no grudges or anything on my part, and I'm just happy to win. But this is the first hat-trick I have scored and it was a good result,” said Griffiths.

“To be 21-0 down after the first 10 minutes was pretty frustrating. We coughed up too much ball and turned it over too many times. But four wins from five after the first round is still pleasing,” said HK Scottish head coach Craig Hammond.

The win sees HKCC occupying top place in the standings with 23 points, having won a bonus point with five tries after Tom McQueen and Moses Bailey also touched down.

By half-time HKCC were 31-6 up, and although the second half was more closely contested the deficit was too big to overcome for HK Scottish.

HKCC coach Deacon Manu credited the fast start for making the difference. “The early tries were a bit fortuitous, but we will take any points against quality opposition like Scottish,” he said.