HKFC HONING IN AHEAD OF KOWLOON CLASH IN KPMG PREMIERSHIP

New HKRU TV app becomes exclusive home of KPMG Premiership viewing

20th Nov 2020


Natixis HKFC Ice take on DAC Kowloon Rugby Ladies in this week’s KPMG Premiership Round 3 on Saturday at 18.15 at Hong Kong Football Club.

 

In Saturday’s other games, Societe Generale Valley face another test after losing to Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers last week - their first defeat in 15 games including all of last season, as they ready for Gai Wu Falcons (17.00 at So Kon Po). SCAA Causeway Bay Phoenix are away to Tigers at King’s Park at 18.00.

 

Ice will be looking to put together back to back home wins after an offensive explosion against Phoenix in round two, with three players scoring braces, including two of the team’s arrivals from overseas this season in Georgia Cutt and Caitlin Morrell, whose scores secured an early bonus point for Club.

 

That result, combined with Valley’s loss, put Gai Wu and Tigers clear at the top of the table with ten points each while Valley and Club are tied third on five, followed by Kowloon and Causeway Bay who have yet to secure a point.

 

With this weekend already passing the quarter post of a ten-round competition, the pressure is on all of the clubs to make a move. That pressure is keenly felt at Kowloon, still searching for their first win of the year.

 

Kowloon has yet to fire in both attack and defence, and enter this weekend’s game with the league’s worst points differential (-76). The attack will need to find its footing after producing just ten points across two games.

 

Coach Terry Sibanda believes that the turnaround will start in the right mind-set and a commitment to defence.

 

“Our goal is simply to perform better than we did in the last game and come away with a win.

 

“The key is to put in a solid defensive shift and try and shut out teams from scoring. Whilst putting points on the board is important, our defence has to be absolutely sound to improve our point difference.

 

“We have players capable of competing against any team in the Premiership, but we must have the right mind-set and play for 80 minutes.”

 

At HKFC, coach Peter Ayres is also stressing the need for consistency, despite a high-scoring win last week.

 

“The primary goal is to clean up the areas we were poor at against Causeway Bay.

“Our ‘A’ channel defence has been worked on and our work on the ground. If we clean up those we should limit the points opponents can put on us.

 

“Ultimately though, we want to take another win and move up the table.

 

Ayres is also hoping for more out of the new faces at Sports Road.

 

“The new signings are certainly making a difference. They’re pretty integrated into the team now - they understand the way we want to play and how we want to move forward. They are all adjusting well to the pace & intensity of the game.”

 

Now having seen his team’s offensive capabilities, Ayres wants to make sure the defence is as potent.

 

“We’ve seen a few areas in our defence where we needed to work harder, so that’s been integrated into training straight away,” he said.

 

“In attack, we are after breaking the gain-line and getting support there to score tries or at a minimum retain the ball. We’ve also had a chance to use several different player combos so far, now we have to pick our best squad and drive the level of performance at training and in the games.”

 

For Sibanda, the increasing fluidity in Club’s attack is an area to address on Saturday, but as ever the focus is on their own performance on Saturday.

 

“We have seen some positive passages of play emerging from the last two games that we can build on this week. The players are hungry for a win, and will be expecting a tough encounter this weekend.”

 

HKRUTV APP debuts

This weekend marks the debut of the new HKRU TV app, where fans from around the world and around the corner can watch KPMG Premiership Game of the Week action live for free. Games will be streamed live and as video on demand. The app will also offer exclusive rugby content for those looking to delve deeper into the world of the Hong Kong Rugby Premiership. Starting this weekend, KPMG Premiership Rugby can be viewed both on the HKRU TV app and as always, on HKRU Facebook.

 

Download for free today at:

IOS: https://apps.apple.com/hk/app/hkru-tv/id1539578339?l=en

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hkru.hkrutv

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