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Hong Kong Men's Premiership Race Still Wide Open With Four Rounds to Go
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RugbyPass
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It’s getting tight at the top in the RugbyPass.com Men’s Premiership. With only four rounds to go, competition leaders Societe Generale Valley have three other sides making genuine claims for their league championship title.
They face Natixis HKFC at 4.30pm this Saturday at Football Club, while the other matches – also kicking off at 4.30pm – see Herbert Smith Freehills HKCC host Bloomberg HK Scottish at Aberdeen and Kowloon locks horns with Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers at King’s Park.
HKFC is one of the chasing pack – along with Kowloon and Scottish – and Phil Bailey’s side were buoyed during the week by the news they will be awarded the points for a match early in the season when HKCC pulled out due to a shortage of front-rowers.
The decision leaves them only four points behind Valley and Saturday’s game is the perfect time to further stake their claims.
“Kowloon has proved that [Valley are beatable], Kowloon has done a great job against them,” Bailey said.
“I think the competition is getting better and better and it is closer and closer.”
Despite this, Bailey has seen in his side’s two defeats to them so far this season just what Valley are capable of.
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“Valley are very good at capitalising on any team’s mistakes. They play very good set-piece footy and they will pin you in a corner and they will keep you there all day, apply pressure and score points,” he said.
“We need to take our opportunities but also play smart footy and limit our mistakes. The big thing for us is errors and not compounding those errors.”
Valley welcome back winger Doug Fluker and second-rower Tom Broughton and are keen to bounce back from last week’s loss to Kowloon.
“[HKFC] are creeping up the table and have put some good performances in,” coach Andrew Kelly said.
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“It’s a good opportunity for us to get back in to winning ways, a derby match against our rivals is just what we needed really, so hopefully the boys will be up for it.”
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HKCC are edging their way back to full strength after a nightmare run of injuries prior to Christmas and last week welcomed back fly half Angus Cameron and prop Dylan Rogers for their game against HKFC.
The forward pack has been the area hardest hit and after having had a full complement of second-rowers to choose from last week, coach Kevin West is hopeful hooker Ben Roberts will play this Saturday against Scottish.
After another narrow loss against Football Club compounded what has been a tough season thus far, Kevin West is preparing his charges for a bruising encounter.
“We are expecting them [Scottish] to be flat out,” he said. “There is a league title getting close to being decided and they’re obviously in the running, which shows what a fantastic season they’ve had. They’re a team that mix a fair bit of aggression in defence and around the breakdown with a lot of width, so that is a challenge for any team.”
Scottish have had far fewer injury woes and will be full strength when hooker Lachlan Chubb and flanker Ewan Miller return to the side.
“They are two pretty key guys to upping our level of game and they add a bit of firepower and punch,” coach Craig Hammond said.
“Whether it’s this week or next week, they will add a bit of competition to what we’ve got which is good.”
Hammond is putting no weight on the fact HKCC currently sit in second-last place and insists there will be no complacency within his side.
“They rely a lot on their forward pack, they do really well in the set piece, they have got a very good scrum and a good line-out and they have got a lot of strike-power out wide,” he said.
“They are a strong team so it is about containing them and containing them up front so we have just got to make sure we can mix it with their forward pack. But we have also got to play, we have got to keep the tempo going and keep the ball in hand and strike.”
Kowloon sit nine points behind Valley and must continue winning to remain in the hunt for top spot, however they face a Tigers side who are in reasonable form despite being bottom.
Tigers pushed Scottish last week and defeated HKCC before the Christmas break, but will need to find another gear against a Kowloon side at the top of their game.
“[Kowloon] are a tough side and they have got some good go forward with Turoa Stephens, their number eight; he is a big boy,” Tigers coach Craig Stewart said.
“Probably one of the best players in the league at the moment is their 10 Jack Neville; he is very dangerous.”
Flanker Alex Woodburn and centre Tyler Spitz miss out this week with injury, while back Sam Purvis and forward Jack Capon come in as Stewart longs for the day when he has a full squad to pick from.
“We seem to lose a different key guy every week but that has just been the way it has crumbled for us this year,” Stewart said.
“It would be nice for us to get some consistency in the team we are able to put out but we still put out a quality team. We are still really positive and the boys are enjoying what we are doing.”
