The second five-match block of the Old Mutual International Men’s Premiership kicks off this week, with round six headlined by Bloomberg HK Scottish and Herbert Smith Freehills HKCC locking horns in the game of the week at 4.30pm on Saturday at Shek Kip Mei.

The round actually kicks off on tonight, with Societe Generale Valley hosting Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers at Happy Valley (7.45pm), while the final match sees Kowloon tackle Natixis HKFC at King’s Park at 4.30pm on Saturday.

Scottish and HKCC currently fill the bottom two rungs of the table and both are in desperate need of a victory, with HKCC coach Brett Wilkinson readying to setting his side loose on the wide expanses at The Rock.

“We’ll look to play and move the ball around, so it’ll be good to have those wide open spaces,” he said.

“Our defence has been a massive issue, we have leaked far too many points. We are scoring points but we are giving away more.

“Our defence has been a big work-on for us over the last two weeks, especially this past week, and we are really looking to tighten up that area of our game.”

Mark Prior looks set to miss out for the Cricketers with a broken nose, while Matt Arvier and Robbie MacDonald are struggling with groin injuries.

To add to their single win so far this season, Wilkinson knows HKCC will have to be ready to absorb plenty of pressure come Saturday.

“They are incredibly physical, they play with a high tempo but they are also very good defensively, they rush up pretty hard. On their carries they look to get through you and bully you so we’re expecting a physical contest,” he said about Scottish.

HKFC are looking to halt a two-match losing streak against Kowloon, with Phil Bailey seeing his side slide to third on the table after winning their opening three games.

“We stumbled a bit, we were patchy but we got the wins [the first three games], but it has just flipped around now and we are not getting those wins,” he said.

“We are making way too many errors, we were making those sort of errors but the other team were making just as many and we were getting away with it, but now it’s come back to bite us so we have got to fix that.”

Football Club will be without youngsters Max Denmark, Jack Abbott and Liam Herbert this week, who are off to play for Hong Kong in the Singapore Cricket Club Sevens.

“They will be missed, they bring enthusiasm and a bit of that youthful exuberance that we’re always looking for,” Bailey said.

As for Kowloon, Bailey knows what to expect and will be focused on ensuring his side have their house in order ahead of a two-week break for the Cup of Nations.

“There’s two weeks to mull on this game if you don’t get it right and everyone is aware of that,” he said.

“When we are making errors and getting off to slow starts, that’s all us. Once we rectify that we can start concentrating on how to dissect other teams, but at the moment we’re not at that stage.”

The early clash between Tigers and Valley sees the top two sides on the table – the two in-form teams in the competition – duke it out in a battle to head into the international break sitting top.

“It’s a bit of a change up, but being before the two-week break it doesn’t disrupt our processes too much,” Tigers coach Sam Hocking said about tonight’s game.

“It can be seen as a top-of-the-table clash but at the end of the day it’s quite early on in the season, it’s the first time we get the opportunity to play against someone for the second time, so hopefully we’ve learned from our mistakes in the first game against Valley.”

Casey Stone is touch and go for Tigers as he looks to return from a back injury, but on the whole Hocking expects to have a relatively full roster to work with.