NAN FUNG GROUP | AIRSIDE HONG KONG PREMIERSHIP: ROUND 3 REVIEW

Round 3 of the 2025/26 Nan Fung Group | AIRSIDE Hong Kong Premiership ran from Friday 17 to Saturday 18 October, highlighted by the Women’s Super Saturday back-to-back fixtures and our first Friday night lights fixture.

It was also a round in which a spotlight was placed on Breast Cancer Awareness Month and players were encouraged to wear something pink.

In the Men’s Premiership, Societe Generale Valley RFC, Kroll USRC Tigers RFC and HKU Sandy Bay were victorious, and most teams should start to see players come back into the mix over the coming week from representative duty.

In the Women’s Premiership, Societe Generale Valley RFC, Kroll USRC Tigers and Clement Shield/VetiVa Gai Wu Falcons all notched up wins on Super Saturday.

For both Premierships, Societe Generale Valley RFC sit at the top of the logs and are the only undefeated teams thus far.

Women’s Premiership

Societe Generale Valley RFC  43-19 HKFC Natixis Ice

The clash of the two top teams from last season, and both came into the round undefeated, saw Societe Generale Valley RFC get the better of their foes. The HKFC social post after the game said it all - “Tough day at the office”.

The league leaders put up a century of points last week against Kowloon and were in the mood for points again. Valley led 24-14 at halftime with two tries by Jayme Nuku (who can't stop scoring and was voted by fans as MVP of Super Saturday), Tiffany Hiu San Fu, and Katrina Roszynski - with the latter two both late scores in the opening period.

HKFC had actually opened the scoring with a try from Fion Got and a second score by Annie Buntine which saw them lead by the half an hour mark.

Crystal Mayes, Zoe Smith, and Haruka Uematsu (who were all try-scorers last week) crossed the whitewash in the second half for Societe Generale Valley RFC, while Octavia Nanai-Iafeta got a late score for HKFC Natixis Ice.

The sides will face each other at least two more times in the regular season, but it's the Grand Final winners from last season who have the bragging rights for now. 

What is scary for their opponents is they have bolstered the squad with the addition of Grace Hamilton - the former Australia Wallaroos Women’s Captain who has Super W and NRLW experience. 

Kowloon Rugby Club 5-86 Kroll USRC Tigers Women

Kroll USRC Tigers Women made it two consecutive wins and put a big win on the struggling Kowloon side who have shipped nearly 200 points in the last two losses. 

The Tigers were leading comfortably 45-5 by the halftime break before nearly doubling the points tally in the second half. The win sees them move up to second on the log with a superior points difference but same number of log points as Clement Shield/VetiVa Gai Wu Falcons and HKFC Natixis Ice. A new signing this season, Shandre Fouche was voted by the fans as player of the match. 

Kowloon are still looking for their first log points, as are Causeway Sandy Bay. The club should see the return of some key personnel after the HKCR 7s Women return from the Asia Rugby Sevens Series. Still, they might also be on representative duty for the upcoming National Games in November.

Causeway Sandy Bay 0-22 Clement Shield/VetiVa Gai Wu Falcons

Clement Shield/VetiVa Gai Wu Falcons bounced back from last week’s defeat and inflicted a third straight defeat on Causeway Sandy Bay with Tsz Wun Ho putting in a player of the match performance, scoring two tries.

The defeated team’s CCO Kevin Moggridge is still looking for that sole win which would match their returns from last season in the Women’s Prem and hopefully can reach the goals they have set, of which he said “We've set some challenges. We think they're smart goals. We think they're achievable goals. If we go beyond that, we'd be exceptionally happy.”

For Gai Wu Falcons, they are driven by a very motivated Head Coach. Tumua Loane said, “Last year still hurts if I'm honest. I'm very competitive, and a big thing for our group last year was just to drive belief in our club that there might be lots of great overseas players playing for other clubs, but it's nothing that we need and that they can achieve as well as the other teams.”

Men’s Premiership

Kowloon Rugby Club 25-43 Kroll USRC Tigers RFC 

Kowloon narrowly lost last week but were trailing again against Kroll USRC Tigers RFC in the first Friday night match of the new season. They have started slowly in all three games thus far but they could not turn it around and were behind 13-17 at halftime against a Tigers team stacked with new signings and who looked dangerous all game.

The win means its two in a row for Nigel Hotham’s Kroll USRC Tigers RFC - which doubles the number of victories compared to all of last season - have they quietly put together a squad that can go the distance this campaign?

In the first half, tries from Kwun Ho Chan and centre Paula Fukofuka Maama as well a penalty put Tigers up but a converted try and two penalties from Kowloon’s flyhalf Dylan White kept them in touching distance. 

South African flanker Lindokuhle Ncusane extended the lead with another try, he won the clubs MOTM the previous two games.

Two yellow cards for Tigers saw Kowloon pounce, as Tik Wong scored a try, then lock Samuel Gwynne Carroll went over to give them a chance. 

But a late try to Tigers debutant Joshua Eustace wrapped the match up and saw Kroll USRC Tigers RFC occupy second in the standings.

Societe Generale Valley RFC 54-15 HKFC Natixis Club

Societe Generale Valley RFC are enjoying a great 50th anniversary season and defeated rivals HKFC Natixis Club to make it three bonus-point wins in a row and lead the log.

HKFC Natixis Club Men are arguably the biggest impacted by the 15s and 7s teams in action with the club contributing nearly 20 players. Even Director of Rugby Operations Andrew Durutalo answered the SOS and started at number 8.

Societe Generale Valley RFC were great value for the win and have looked to be in top form all season. Head Coach Gus Leger was optimistic pre-season, saying, “We're pretty comfortable with what we've got there in terms of guys that are new to the club; we've also got a couple of our younger athletes that are coming out of the Valley Fort programme (players coming back from university overseas).”

First half scores to Toby Salmon, Asipeli Vea, Viliame Naivalu, and Luke Dewar for Valley compared to tries for Patrick Jenkinson and Madison Hunting for HKFC saw the victors lead 26-12 heading into the second period.

After the break, Joel Drake, Nyasha David Tarusenga (twice), and Hong Kong legend Max Woodward saw them close out strong in a convincing win.

HKU Sandy Bay RFC 17-8 Milwaukee Hong Kong Scottish

Defending champions HKU Sandy Bay RFC recorded their first win of the season, but Milwaukee Hong Kong Scottish (who are winless) have been in every game so far making it a real contest. They have picked up two bonus points in their losses and narrowly missed out after leading 5-0 at the break thanks to a Jacquin Moses try.

New Head Coach for Milwaukee Hong Kong Scottish, Ngatai Walker, continues to look for that first win in Hong Kong but they are not far away from registering one. Still, they might need another season to chase his dream of being the first team to win the title for HK Scottish in their 14-year history. They face a team on the rise in the form of Kroll USRC Tigers RFC in Round 4.

HKU Sandy Bay RFC outscored them 17-3 in the second half and now sit mid-table having played one less game than the teams above them on the log (Kroll USRC Tigers RFC and Societe Generale Valley RFC). They will face top of the table Valley in round 4 next weekend which will be one to watch.

Marno Meyer, their Head Coach and Club Coaching Officer said at the start of the season, in which they've had to heavily recruit, “We’ve made it a bit more youthful with the players coming in and still here. I firmly believe we can challenge again and be in the top three or four, which is where you want to be at the end of the season.”

This article was posted in collaboration with our good friends at RugbyAsia247 – check them out for all the latest Asia Rugby news!