FOOTBALL CLUB EXTEND STREAK TO THREE IN SAXO MARKETS CHALLENGE TROPHY  

22nd Sep 2019

Natixis HKFC handed Kerry Hotel Kowloon a 47-31 loss his afternoon at Kings Park to extend their unbeaten streak to three matches, and maintain its stranglehold on the Saxo Markets Challenge Trophy.  Societe Generale Valley beat Herbert Smith Freehills HKU Sandy Bay 27-17, while Bloomberg HK Scottish beat Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers, 35-14, in other Challenge Trophy action.

 

With three of five rounds done, HKFC are in first with a perfect three wins and three bonus points to show for their early outings, good for 15 points overall, ahead of Valley in second on 12 and Scottish (11). Sandy Bay and Kowloon are tied fourth on five points while Tigers round out the standings, as the sides round into shape for the Saxo Markets Premiership, which kicks off on October 12.

 

HKFC is in fine fettle ahead of the Premiership proper with its new arrivals slotting in seamlessly once again, as scrumhalf Jonty Wood and centre Eremia Tapsell both notched braces with tries in either half, while wing Jack Wilson added a try of his own on halftime as Club secured the bonus point for scoring four tries before 40 minutes were up.

 

Kowloon were first across the line however, after lock Jonathan Kenny capped a rampaging attack deep into Club territory with a stretching try for a 7-0 lead after fullback Michael Hanning’s conversion.

 

The early line break wouldn’t be Kowloon’s last of the half by far, but it would be the last time they managed to convert their chance, as the hosts repeatedly turned ball over in the first half.  

The gifted ball continued early on in the second half, as Kowloon fell behind 38-14 at one point, before conjuring a 24 point final quarter to make things interesting.

 

Club were poor guests, replying ruthlessly to Kowloon’s hospitality with the ball as they scored seven times, including three 90-metre efforts against the run of play.

 

With all eyes on Club’s international arrivals, it was a local product that proved dangerous early as wing Max Denmark had an outstanding first half with ball in hand, producing three 30-metre plus chunk runs, each of which led to Club scores, before earning a well deserved rest in the second half.

 

Club’s first score came from Nathan De Thierry after 8 minutes with fly half Glyn Hughes converting to draw the match at seven-all.  

 

They put the hosts to the sword with three tries in ten minutes off of Kowloon turnovers, Wood scoring his first, followed by Tapsell and Wilson. Hughes was surprisingly off target for all of the extras, but Club had a comfortable 24-7 lead at the half.

 

They grew that to 38-7 after the first ten minutes of the second, with Wood collecting his brace before fullback Charles Cheung crossed for his first try of the year. Given the seemingly comfortable buffer, coach Jack Wiggins emptied his bench. The resulting disruption and perhaps some complacency from Club gave Kowloon a chance to come back into it in the final quarter.

 

The comeback was started by a try from winger Jonathan Green, who did well to control a lucky passage of play for the hosts as the bounce of the ball finally fell in their favour.  

 

Green showed some good skill to corral a looping offload from lock David Markham, (who was immense this afternoon in possession, paying a physical price for his solidity with ball in hand), that was tipped by Football Club fingers into Green’s waiting arms. He had to finish the final 20 meters with the heavy attention of Wilson whom he dragged across the line with the ball for the try in the 52nd minute.

 

Moments later Kowloon’s other winger scored from a never-say-die effort, as Huw Alexander chased down a heady kick ahead from fly half Joe Barker. Alexander and the club defence both overran the bouncing ball, but Alexander reacted brilliantly, diving to tap down in the corner.

 

Kowloon had halved the deficit at 17-38 entering the final quarter before Tapsell’s second pushed the lead back to 43-17.

 

Kowloon refused to quit as flanker Adam Best and No.8 Sam Tsoi scored vital tries within five minutes of each other with the hosts clawing back to 43-31 after two Hanning conversions inside the final ten minutes. Club managed to rally to control the ball in the dying moments and squelch any hope of a comeback for the home side.

It was a game of what might have been for Kowloon coach Scott Sneddon considering the three seemingly certain Kowloon scores that came back to the other way this afternoon.

 

“It could have been the other away around, if we had scored those three tries instead of turning them over for length of pitch scores, but ifs and buts don’t help.

 

“I obviously wasn’t happy with our first half; we pretty much gifted Football Club seven tries from turnovers today. They scored within two phases of those turnovers, three of them length of the field tries. We can’t expect to give away ball so cheaply and still win games.

“Full credit to them for finishing those turnovers well. They punished us today, but we made it too easy at times.

 

“It was tough at halftime having made so many unforced errors, but we showed some good resiliency in the second half and I was pleased at that. To score 24 points in the second was promising. It was pleasing to be in it at the end for a second straight game, but we need to understand that we can’t afford to start like that after 30 or 40 minutes.

 

“Our set piece was much better today and we had 14 guys under 25 in the squad, and some came on and made a good impact,” he added.

 

Kowloon will now look to its remaining two Challenge Trophy clashes with Valley and Tigers to close out the Premiership warm-up campaign.

 

“We have a lot to work on and two big games in Tigers and Valley upcoming. We will all be getting guys coming back from the ERP and there are still a lot of points to prove in the next couple of weeks. With our ERP boys coming back in, we will have a fair bit of competition on places, which is positive. Those guys are going to have to raise their games a bit to earn those spots,” Sneddon added.

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