The blockbuster matches continue in the HKRU Rugbypass.com Men’s Premiership, with a rejuvenated Herbert Smith Freehills HKCC taking on a Natixis HKFC side that has strung two wins together as the highlight of Round 5.

The two heavyweights meet on Cricket Club’s home turf at Aberdeen at 16.30, while elsewhere Societe Generale Valley will be looking to rejoin the winners list when it hosts Kowloon at Happy Valley (15.00). Bloomberg Hong Kong Scottish take on Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers at King’s Park (16.30).

The match at Aberdeen is sure to be captivating, with the strong set piece work of HKCC meeting the constant running game of HKFC. The Broony Quaich, which HKCC picked up in their inspirational away win over Valley last weekend, will be on the line this weekend at Aberdeen.

HKCC ended a two-match losing streak in emphatic fashion with a five-point win over the previously undefeated Valley last weekend, while HKFC also notched its best win of the season in a 16-point victory over Tigers.

“We’re starting to build and we have strung a couple of wins together, but we are still along way off at the moment,” HKFC coach Phil Bailey said. “We’re still getting everything in play and getting used to how people play, little pieces of the puzzle are coming together.”

Bailey is expecting a well-organised HKCC side and will be looking to his prime movers to get things going for his team.

“They are very good in their lineout and scrum and their goal kicker James Love’s been kicking them from everywhere so we have got to be very disciplined,” he said. “Mitch Andrews is a good, hard, strong runner who has really hit some form and both our centres, Ben Axten-Burrett and Charlie Higson-Smith, are pretty hard, direct runners and if they hit their straps they are hard to manage.”

HKCC coach Kevin West was pleased to see his charges begin to gel as a unit in last weekend’s victory but is taking things one step at a time.

“We didn’t do a lot differently on the weekend, we just showed more composure, which I suppose comes from a greater understanding and confidence in what we are trying to do,” West said. “We can’t get carried away and think we have all the answers though because we are still along way from that.”

HKCC introduced the new centre partnership of Andrew Krelle and Fapene Popoalii against Valley and they showed promising signs in their first outing.

The winner of the Scottish and Tigers match will be sitting pretty after five matches and, with the sides looking evenly matched, it should be a hard-fought encounter.

“They have a lot of strike power all over the park,” Scottish coach Craig Hammond said. “They are similar to us in that they have quite a big forward pack. They like to play and they like to throw it around so I’m sure we will have our hands full.”

Scottish captain Kane Boucaut made a welcome return from injury last weekend and Hammond is starting to see his side come together.

“It was good to get Kane out on the pitch and have his leadership out there,” Hammond said. “It puts a bit more strength and depth into our squad and we are starting to get a few guys challenging for positions. He has got a huge work rate and hopefully he can carry that on and some of the other guys can follow.”

Valley will be eyeing an immediate return to the winners list against Kowloon and will no doubt be ready to fire after last week’s loss, while their opponents will be hopeful of a fighting performance.

“We are really looking forward to the challenge and the opportunity to play as well as we can against what has been the top team over the last couple of years,” Kowloon coach James Scaysbrook said.

“Elements of our game are coming along really well, we have just got to knit them together and get our set piece functioning a bit better. If we can knit together all of these positives and cut out the mental errors we are making we will be getting a long way towards pushing to where we need to be.”

The return of flanker James Cunningham last week, who is a full-time member of the HKRU’s elite rugby programme, was a boost for Kowloon, while star signing Olly Barkley is also close to taking to the park.“It won’t be long before he has really got a handle on the coaching, that was the priority, for him to come in to coach,” Scaysbrook said. “Hopefully it won’t be too long before we see him out on the field.”