Natixis HKFC closed their Saxo Capital Markets Premiership title campaign in exciting style tonight at Sports Road when centre Tom Hill scored his second try of the game in the final minute to salvage a 27-27 draw with Societe Generale Valley.

It was a night worth celebrating for HKFC, with the men’s Premiership team claiming their first league silverware since 2011 on a day that saw six other Club sides win their leagues as well.

“Seven league titles - it was a great day for the entire Club. We are lucky to have such a good Club behind us and the strength in depth has shown this season,” said HKFC coach Jack Wiggins.

“There was nothing on it today, so it was one of those banana skin games, but I think we came through unscathed and I’m proud of the boys,” he added.

Wiggins’ side had to fight to stay in it this afternoon, trailing 13-3 at the break, after a positive opening quarter from Valley with Matt Rosslee notching two penalties to bookend a try from No.8 Karetai Williams inside the first 20 minutes.

Flyhalf Glyn Hughes got Club on the board with his first penalty shortly after Rosslee brought the score to 10-0. Hughes would add two conversions in the second half to finish as the league’s top points scorer this season with 201.

The rains came down in the second half creating more space in the game and Club were first to capitalize with a barreling run from Tom Hill finding the try-line as the hosts narrowed the lead to within a try, 13-8, with 30 minutes remaining.

Young try-scoring machine Harry Sayers looked to have broken the game open for Valley ten minutes later with a searing run through the heart of the Club defence, a long-range try that restored Valley’s lead at 20-8 after the conversion.

A few costly miscues for Valley after the re-start eased the path for Club’s Tom Isaacs to score in the 61st minute as the hosts came within a converted try of the lead for a second time in the half, trailing 15-20.  

The two sides traded errors - and tries – over the next ten minutes with Valley’s Tuitakau Kioa’s 71st minute score seemingly the difference maker as Valley eased ahead 27-20 with little time left on the clock.  But Valley were on the wrong side of the referee’s whistle on Club’s final charge, getting pinged for off-sides after the re-start and again on their own try-line as Club were awarded an attacking scrum five-metres from the Valley line inside the final minute.

A good second-shove on the ball broke the early impasse at the coalface, and scrumhalf Jamie Lauder did well to penetrate deeper with an acrobatic run to the line. Lauder was eventually felled but managed to push the ball out wide to that man Hill again and he promptly buried it over the line.  Hughes coolly slotted the final penalty into a packed Sportsman’s Bar as Club drew level right on the final whistle.

Wiggins was pleased with his side’s ability to come back and believes Club still have more to give next week when they face Sandy Bay in the Grand Championship play-off.

“To nick the draw in the end is, I think, a fair result of how the game went. It’s nice, but we don’t want to just win the league, we want to win the Grand Championship as well. We’ll have a beer tonight, then start preparing for a huge game against Sandy Bay next week.”

Herbert Smith Freehills HKU Sandy Bay were involved in another of their trademark close-run affairs today, beating Kerry Hotels Kowloon 29-28.

Kowloon scrumhalf Bryn Phillips opened the scoring after finishing a positive driving maul from his forwards with a dummy run to score untouched. Sandy Bay replied moments later with a good barracking effort from its forwards on the Kowloon try-line which eventually deposited lock Lawrence Babe across the line. Gair Currie’s conversion leveled matters at 7-7.

Sandy Bay took the lead for the first time off of a beautiful 50-metre try that saw eight pairs of hands involved in a break started by Hong Kong sevens international Seb Brien. Moses Bailey capped off the long-range effort at the other end for a 12-7 lead.

Kowloon replied with a try off of a deep line-out after Sandy Bay were pinged for offsides. Kowloon went back to the driving maul to devastating effect with hooker Jamie Tsang controlling masterfully at the back for the score. The conversion saw Kowloon re-claim the lead 14-12.

Sandy Bay dug into its bag of tricks again to start the second half with scrumhalf Jack Metters freeing the line with a slick reverse pass from a ruck at midfield. The ball went through five pairs of hands across halfway before Brien blistered the final 50-metres.  The conversion was off the mark but Sandy Bay led 19-14.

They soon pushed their lead to 24-14, after employing their own driving maul to devastating effect close to the line before No.8 Luke van der Smit peeled away to drag two defenders across the line for the try.  

The conversion gave Sandy Bay a 26-14 lead but Kowloon closed the gap again, after another driving maul picked up positive yards in the hosts territory. This time Kowloon used the maul as an effective decoy, switching the attack to the wing for an easy try. The conversion brought the score to 26-21.

Metters added a late penalty to push Sandy Bay further ahead, 29-21, but Kowloon made things interesting with a massive scrum deep where they pushed the Sandy Bay pack off the ball. James Cunningham collected the loose ball and crashed over for a well-deserved try, given his central involvement in each of his side’s driving maul scores in the match.

Kowloon had cut Sandy Bay’s lead to one, 29-28, with seven minutes remaining but they failed to broach the defence any further leaving Sandy Bay coach Brett Wilkinson relieved.

“It was a tough game and pretty scrappy with the rain bucketing down at times, but it was the kind of game that we needed. It was good to get the win again obviously and it’s something we can build on for next week.

“The boys are really confident now, in themselves and in our structures. It’s a wonderful thing once you start winning,” he added.

Bloomberg Hong Kong Scottish escaped with a hard-fought 26-7 victory over Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers at Kings Park.  

Scottish did most of the damage in the first quarter, posting 19 points after a brace of tries from center Andrew Henderson.  

Both tries were set up by some fierce scrummaging from the Scottish pack, who blew up their opponents on the Tigers’ five-metres line early on to set up Henderson’s first - a nice slashing run against the grain of the defence.

A good midfield scrum moments later set up Henderson’s second with another terrific finish in the 10th minute.  

Centurion prop Jamie Pincott added a third try after 27 minutes, finishing off a nice counter-attack from Scottish after a Tigers knock-on.

The teams exchanged tries late in the second half with the Tigers pack getting some revenge after setting a solid platform on Scottish’s five metre line to create good ball and position for wing Sam Purvis who came off his wing for a strong crash ball try.  

Scottish controlled the finish well with fullback Sean Taylor creating space with a nice run in traffic before setting winger Matt McPhillips up for a try to bring the final score to 26-7.