CPM Gai Wu Falcons beat Kowloon Ladies 47-5 tonight in the only of three planned KPMG Women’s Premiership fixtures to take place after heavy rains washed out the weekend slate. The ties between Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers and Comvita City and Societe Generale Valley and SCAA First Pacific Causeway Bay were both postponed due to the inclement weather.

Falcons started well as they claimed three tries in the opening half before conceding Kowloon’s only points with an unconverted try before the break. As conditions worsened, the game opened up further for Falcons as they poured on 32 points in the final forty minutes to claim their sixth win of the season; last week’s loss to Valley is the only mar on Gai Wu’s record over the first half of the competition.

Despite another comprehensive win – Gai Wu have posted nearly 300 points against their opponents so far – and a firm grasp on second place on the table behind undefeated Valley, coach Lai Yiu-pang is expecting much more from his side. It is a reasonable expectation with Gai Wu producing a significant number of internationals across both sevens and fifteen-a-side for Hong Kong.

Lai was relieved to have gotten the match under his team’s collective belt as Gai Wu will be idle until early 2017, with a bye next week followed by a league-wide break for the Women’s Rugby World Cup qualifiers in December and the winter holidays.

While the club will be out of action in the coming weeks, a large number of Falcons stars are likely to be included in the Hong Kong team that will take on Fiji and Japan in the qualifier next month.

Gai Wu’s current strength and its lofty tradition of supplying the Hong Kong team is part of the reason that Lai is pushing his players so hard.

“We had another win today, but also a sloppy performance and not all of that was because of the conditions,” he said.

“In the first half it was pretty dry. The ball was a bit slippy but we made too many mental errors and mistakes and that continued in the second half. It is something we are going to need to work hard on over the break.

“I want to push the players out of their comfort zone and am challenging them to eliminate those errors and play penalty-free rugby.

“I want them to demand more from themselves and not to make excuses. For us, the score, even against teams like Valley and Tigers, is meaningless if we are not improving.

“During the break we will be going back to basics. We are thinking too much and need to play more by our instinct. I am putting a lot of pressure on them now and that will only increase as we prepare for the second half of the season,” Lai said, giving notice to the rest of the KPMG Premiership of his intentions.

It was a disappointing outing for Kowloon coach Jonathan Ho, who was keen to see his charges extend their momentum after collecting their first win of the season on their previous outing against City.

“We got our first win last time out and that boosted our confidence. It was the payoff for a lot of hard work, but we knew it would be a struggle against Gai Wu, just as other teams have found,” said Ho.

Ahead of the match Ho had stressed the importance of his team’s collective defensive effort, saying, “Our aim is to solidify our defence. Gai Wu are strong in all areas and will likely have most of the ball, so we have to focus on defence. The techniques and tactics we are implementing are not new; it’s a matter of applying what we know and being sharp.”

Ho will once again re-task his side on the future after today’s loss: “I always remind the players that each game starts from zero, and that is how they should think. We are improving and raising our game knowledge. The players now have a clearer understanding of their positioning, which I’m pleased with, as it helps ensure our patterns work and helps to develop other areas of our game.

“We still need to improve our tackling, which takes technique, spirit and confidence. We often face a size deficit against the other teams, it’s true, but I think our players are still not yet confident enough. But I believe they have the ability and deserve to be confident,” Ho concluded.