The Nan Fung Group / SEWIT Men’s Premiership kicked off this weekend in front of a great crowd of friends, family and supporters.

With a threatening typhoon Koinu staying at bay for the first round of the season, fans and players were treated to a cooler, calm day at King’s Park. The drinks were flowing and there was plenty of yummy food on offer as people settled in to support their favourite team. 

A highly anticipated contest between Hong Kong Football Club Natixis Club and Societe Generale Valley was the first order of proceedings, and the first half of the game was a fairly tight and physical contest. However, despite missing a few familiar faces due to injury, Club were able to rely on their depth to pull away in the second half, finishing up on 29 points to Valley’s 8. 

Next on the menu was a tasty match-up between DAC Kowloon and Kroll USRC Tigers. It looked like Lewis Evans’ men had the better of Kowloon in the first half, however they will rue their poor discipline as a few errant yellow cards enabled Kowloon to regain the edge and a swing in momentum, assisted by a memorable drop goal from Joe Barker. There were points on offer from both teams and lots to get excited about for the rest of the season. DAC Kowloon 44 – 29 Kroll USRC Tigers.

To top off the evening, HKU Sandy Bay took on KPMG Hong Kong Scottish under the lights. The Bay have been on a recruitment drive and there were plenty of new faces for fans to get a look at. The game swung several times in both teams’ favour, with Scottish applying plenty of points and pressure, but in the end it was a relentless Sandy Bay who managed to take the spoils after a late yellow card proved the demise of a hard working Scottish side, with multiple scrum penalties giving Sandy Bay some breathing room to take care of business. 

Eagle eyed supporters will also have spotted a number of the Hong Kong China Rugby U20s squad featuring in the senior competition, which is great to see. Tyler McNutt, Dave Bennett, Cami Cheung and Matt Rickard all had a run for their teams – be sure to remember these names, the future is bright!

As always, a big thanks to the team behind the whistles who kept things running smoothly on the pitch – Craig, Matt and Morgan. Congratulations also to Sunny Lee who made her AR debut in the men’s Premiership before flying to Dubai for the WXVs competition. 

In other Saturday rugby news, we also had our representative Touch teams away in Singapore playing a number of friendlies in preparation for the 2024 Touch World Cup – well done to everyone who travelled. 

However, the icing on the cake has got to be the Hong Kong China Women’s XVs test win versus Colombia in Dubai. Despite the soaring temperatures, Hong Kong displayed excellent game control early on, exiting into the right areas which allowed Zoe Smith to nail a few early shots at goal. 

The short side attack was also on display, with good offload work by Au King To and Pun Wai Yan leading to first-half tries from Shanna Forrest and Lee Ka Shun. 

Colombia applied consistent pressure, scoring just before half time to take the score to 18-10 to Hong Kong China. After the break, Colombia came out strongly and their long periods of possession required a sustained defensive effort from Hong Kong. Colombia managed to tip the momentum to a 23-21 lead with 20 minutes to go – but our women showed some excellent resolve to keep themselves in the game, finishing off with a fantastic kick-chase try to Zoe Smith, who also nailed the extras. Hong Kong China 31 – 28 Colombia. 

Great work and congratulations to our Women’s XVs, coaches and support staff. We are very proud of your efforts!