They have the league championship in the bag and now ECO Gai Wu Falcons have their sights set on the KPMG Women’s Premiership Grand Championships.

It was a 22-15 win over the SocieteGenerale Valley Black Ladies – bringing to an end the three-time reigning league and grand champions’ 51-match winning streak – that set Gai Wu on the path to glory.

Now, after the split into Premiership and Development tiers for the final six rounds, the eight teams are back together for the quarter-finals and the Falcons are aiming high.

“It’s massive, we have had our opportunities in the last couple of years in the Grand Championship finals,” Gai Wu coach ‘Sailo’ Lai Yiu-pang said. “They are just one-off games but winning the league is something that is really difficult because it requires a lot of consistency, not just winning one game, but performing week-in, week-out. It gives us plenty of confidence going into the Grand Championship play-offs.”

Gai Wu face City Sparkle in the quarter-finals and Lai hopes more of what drove his side to the top of the table will ensure they go deep into the play-offs.

“Our strengths are that our players know each other well and they understand what they need to do,” he said. “They are familiar with what their roles and responsibilities are, we don’t rely on one particular player.

“The forward pack will be our key, it’s one of our weapons. If we have a good forward pack, especially line-out and scrum, then our backs will take advantage and hopefully finish the job.”

Prop Lee Ka-shun, flanker Christy Cheng Ka-chi and winger Aggie Poon Pak-yan will be crucial to the Falcons’ push and Lai is eager for his side to be tested from the outset in the play-offs as they look go all the way for the first time since 2014.

“City are quite aggressive in defence so we have to be smart in picking the right attacking options, it is all about patience,” he said.

“That game is a good chance for us to build up the platform but also another chance to see our younger players in action. We want to have a close game rather than a big winning margin so we have positive pressure from the first game building towards the grand championship.”

Valley will be hurting after having their winning streak brought to an end and have a knack of finding that little bit extra when it comes to the crunch, with second rower Toto Cheng, backColleen Tjosvold, fly half KelsieBouttle and coach Bella Milo herself always a handful for opposition.

However their campaign has taken an untesting step forward, as Kowloon have been forced to forfeit this weekend’s scheduled meet-up, so that Valley get a familiar break ahead of their semifinal.

The Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers are the best placed of the chasing pack to have an impact in the latter stages of the year, with Natixis HKFC Ice unlikely to trouble the top sides after failing to win a game after the split.

The Transact 24 Tai Po Dragons were the best of the development tier and SCAA First Pacific Causeway Bay Phoenix also impressed,and their performances this weekend will be a test of the development value of the split of the league into the two four-team units.

At the mid-way turn of the season, Valley coach Bella Milo was among many who expressed support for the innovative schedule, saying, "It’s good to have the closercompetition between the top four teams and it will be a good opportunity for other teams to try to bridge the gap."

Indeed, Tigers’ 38-20 loss to Valley in the final minor round showed coach Fan Shun-kei the competition’s long-time benchmark are by no means bulletproof.

“We saw in the last game against Valley that they are totally beatable. Hopefully we can beat them in the semi-finals. I think mainly our tackling needs to improve,” he said, highlighting playmaking fly half Lara Schats as a player to watch.

“The quarter-final against Phoenix will be a tough game, they will throw everything at us, but hopefully we can use it as a rehearsal for the semi-final against Valley.”

The final quarter-final sees HKFC take on Tai Po, with all games in the round taking place on Saturday, 24 February.