Round four of the HKRU Rugbypass.com Men’s Premiership saw tense matches instead of typhoons sweeping the territory’s rugby pitches.

Natixis HKFC posted a 29-13 victory over Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers, while Herbert Smith Freehills HKCC turned in a gritty 15-10 away win over Societe Generale Valley, handing the reigning league champions their first league loss of the season and their first in-competition loss since January of last season. Bloomberg HK Scottish beat Kowloon 28-13 at Shek Kip Mei.

HKFC is starting to build the momentum that coach Phil Bailey has been talking about over the opening rounds, making it two wins on the trot with an impressive 29-13 victory over Tigers on its home deck. After a tight opening and hard-fought first half, HKFC hit its straps as the second half wore on, with the boot of Max Page and Mitch Andrews proving particularly lethal.

“We had plenty of opportunities in the first half and again we shot ourselves in the foot,” Bailey said.

“The bit where we have learnt is that we don’t continually compound those errors. We got ourselves back in the game, so if we made an error we either exited correctly or forced an error, got points and away we went. Two, three weeks ago we were compounding error upon error.”

Scores were level at 3-3 after a dour opening twenty minutes, with Tigers hitting the scoreboard through a successful Sam Ellis penalty that was countered soon after by Page. It took until the 27-minute mark for either side to create a legitimate try chance and when Ben Axten-Burret pounced on a loose ball HKFC thought they were in business, but the try was disallowed and the stalemate continued.

HKFC snuck ahead 6-3 soon after when Page was again on target and when Tiger’s Tyler Spitz was handed a yellow card the home side had eight minutes before the break to extend its lead.It didn’t take HKFC long to capitalise, with captain Andrews finding the line for a just reward for the continual hard work of the likes of fullback Tom McColl and flanker Dan Falvey.

Page added the extras from close range to push the score out to 13-3 and it remained as such until half-time.

The opening of the second half was another grind, with penalties aplenty – three of which Page put through the sticks – allowing HKFC to extend its lead. The floodgates well and truly opened in the final 20 minutes, with Andrews again finding the line as the score ballooned out to 29-6.

A late yellow card to HKFC reserve prop Leon Wai provided some respite for Tigers and Salom Yiu Kam-shing capitalised, scoring to trim the margin in the shadows of the siren. Cado Lee Ka-to and Yiu were a constant presence for Tigers, forever trying to create chances and bring teammates into the play, while outside centre Sam Purvis showed aggression and intent throughout.

Valley found themselves in an uncharacteristic position at the end of the first half, as they trailed their seemingly perennial Grand Championship final opponents HKCC, 5-0. Winger Rowan Varty had opened the scoring in the 38th minute, after taking advantage of a man-down Valley who had a player in the sin-bin for repeated infringements. The deadlock could have been broken earlier but both kickers combined to miss four penalty opportunities in the opening half.

In the second half, HKCC captain Liam Slatem bookended Varty’s effort with an early score. Fullback James Love found his form with the boot to add the conversion, but HKCC’s 12-0 lead proved ephemeral as Valley fullback Doug Fluker collected his first penalty minutes later put his side on the board, 12-3.

Another classic Valley-HKCC stalemate ensued over the final 30 minutes before Love added his first penalty of the afternoon in the 78th minute - seemingly putting HKCC home for good 15-3.

But a desperate Valley effort put winger Jean-Baptiste Aldige into space along the far touchline to cross over for a try in the 39th minute.

The conversion narrowed the margin to 15-10 and brought back visions of HKCC’s last-second 31-30 loss to Kowloon in Round 2, but on this occasion the Cricketers were able to clamp down and run out the clock for a momentum-setting win.

A pleased HKCC manager Richard Cooke hailed his side’s performance saying, “We are very happy with that win. What was most pleasing was our ability to keep our composure under some real pressure. Valley had us under the pump for significant periods in the second half, but we held our nerve.”

Cooke highlighted the performance of his back row forwards, flankers Seb Brien and Matt Lamming and No.8 Ben Davey.

“It was a real team effort, from everyone from number 1 to 23, that got us over the line, but the back row in particular stood out. Seb Brien was outstanding, I don’t know how many tackles he put in today, but he was always there on defence, and it was obviously a big game for Ben [Davey, a former Valley No.8] being the first time he was back in the Valley. He turned in a big stop in the second half that swung the momentum back our way,” Cooke said.

It was Valley’s first loss since January of last season’s league competition and its first at home in over two seasons as HKCC claimed the Broony Quaich, Hong Kong Rugby’s Ranfurly Shield style competition, from Valley who have held it since the opening day of last season.

“We’re delighted to have won the Broony Quaich, it’s special to all in Hong Kong Rugby,” Cooke added.

Bloomberg Hong Kong Scottish outlasted Kowloon at The Rock in Shek Kip Mei in a match that was vital for both sides to stay in the hunt after salvaging only one win from their first three rounds.

Scottish took a slim 17-10 lead into halftime, but it was Kowloon who struck first after a try from hooker Jamie Tsang opened the scoring early in the proceedings. Tsang’s try saw him rise to the top of the league try-scoring table with three for the season, level with HKCC captain Slatem and HKFC captain Mitch Andrews after his brace today.

Kowloon fly-half Jack Neville added the conversion and a penalty mid-way through the half to extend the visitors’ lead to 10-3 before Scottish replied with a try from Hong Kong prop Jack Parfitt. Scottish fly-half Gregor McNeish nailed the conversion to level the scores at 10-all before fullback Jarrod Mongston’s try in the 40th minute swung the momentum further Scottish’s way. McNeigh’s conversion brought the score to 17-10 at the break.

Scottish kept its momentum in the second half with McNeish collecting his second penalty before winger Dennis Chang’s 51st minute try. A drop goal from McNeish widened the gap to 28-10 before Neville’s 64th minute penalty finished the scoring as Scottish ran home 28-13 winners.

McNeish’s tally this afternoon brought him to 52 points scored this season, 14 ahead of second-placed Matt Rosslee from Valley. The win for HKCC sees them rise to second in the standings with 11 points behind leaders Valley who are on 14 points. Scottish are in third (10 points) followed by HKFC (9), Tigers (8) and Kowloon (4).