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Societe Generale Valley, Bloomberg HK Scottish and Natixis HKFC all got their seasons off to a winning start on the HKRU Old Mutual International Men’s Premiership Super Saturday.
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Valley and Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers got things underway with a tightly fought affair that saw the five-time reigning grand champions prevail 24-21.
Tigers led 11-9 at half-time thanks to a try to flanker Alex Woodburn and a penalty and a conversion from full back Robbie Keith, with Valley’s points all coming from the boot of fly half Matt Rosslee.
Yellow cards to Dan Barlow and Matthew Price halfway through the second half didn’t help the Tigers as Valley pulled away to what turned out to be an unassailable 24-14 lead thanks to tries to Ruan Duplooy and Taumafi Komiti.
“I think they put us under a lot of pressure and they will probably feel like they could have had that game, which is fair enough,” Valley coach Andrew Kelly said.
“I would say we were a bit lucky to get the win but we’ll take it. We were making really bad system errors in defence and attack and we just had to tighten it all up. We knew we had some pace and fitness to come off the bench and we just stuck with it.
“Some of the stuff was alright, but maybe only 10 per cent and the rest was pretty bad. Guys like James Currie and Tom Mahony came off the bench and were brilliant for us.”
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Tigers’ coach Sam Hocking – coaching his first game after three years playing at the club – was left to rue his side’s ill-discipline.
“It was a good first half, I thought we probably left a few points out there to be honest. They lived off our mistakes and we gave them nine easy points,” he said.
“That killer 15 minutes in the second half, where we got two yellow cards and gave up two tries hurt.
“I got a bit frustrated towards the end but it’s a learning curve for the boys out there and it’s a learning curve for me as well.”
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Scottish led throughout against HKCC however the Cricketers never let the margin blow out, with a first-half double to Shae Turner giving Scottish an early 19-0 lead.
Tries to Jack Metters and Moses Bailey ensured HKCC were somewhat in touch at 26-10 down at the half and when Metters crossed again, before converting his own try and nailing two penalties, it was game on at 26-23.
A red card to Matt Lamming made put paid to HKCC’s fightback before a third try to Turner and one to Lucas Duley saw Scottish home.
The win by HKFC over last year’s beaten finalists Kowloon was the biggest surprise of the day, with Football Club prevailing 19-10 on the back of a brilliant game from Glyn Hughes that saw him score all of his side’s points via a try, four penalties and a conversion.
