HKRU KICK OFF 64TH SEASON WITH PREMIERSHIP SUPER SATURDAY

23rd Sep 2016


The Hong Kong Rugby Union Premiership kicks off its 64th season this weekend with an action-packed Super Saturday, as all six men’s Premiership teams take to King’s Park looking to stamp their early season credentials.

Bloomberg Hong Kong Scottish take on Herbert Smith Freehills HKCC at 3.00pm, Societe Generale Valley face Natixis HKFC at 4.45pm and Kowloon suit up against Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers at 6.30pm. The triple-header will provide an immediate indication of where each team stands and there will be nowhere to hide as the entire Hong Kong rugby community turn their attention to King’s Park.

The competition promises to be another step up from previous editions, with a raft of recruits eager to impress and the impact of the Elite Rugby Programme (ERP) set to be telling on the standard of play.

“A strong Premiership is essential for what we want to achieve on the national level and for our aspirations to qualify for future Rugby World Cups,” Hong Kong coach Leigh Jones said.

HKCC has stated its intent to go one better over the summer, signing nine new players after going down to Valley in last season’s decider. It will be desperate to get proceedings underway with a win against Scottish and team manager Richard Cooke is confident that will be the case.

“Improved defence is something we are targeting this season,” he said. “We have always been solid in our attacking ability and in our set piece but defence is going to be critical for us.”

Among the nine new players recruited for the season – more than the past two seasons combined – are New Zealand front rower Fai Mika, promising Australian second-rower Sam Reiser, former Valley back rower Ben Davey and goal-kicking fullback James Love. Notable losses for the club include Conor Hartley who has transferred to Scottish and coach Deacon Manu who stepped down in the close season.

“We have a very experienced side and I think we needed a bit of freshening up and a bit of a change in our performance,” Cooke said. “New professional guys coming in will help everyone understand that we need to keep getting better.”

After an injury hit 2015-16 season that yielded only five wins, Scottish has bolstered its playing ranks and looks to be much better placed for a competitive year. Scottish have landed the star signing of ERP player Conor Hartley from Hong Kong Cricket Club and will be looking to talented youngsters like Mark Coebergh – who starred in the Asian Schools Rugby Sevens Championship during the summer – to drive improvement.

“We still don’t have the numbers we’d like, but we’ll be able to select more on performance this season rather than availability,” coach Craig Hammond said. “That should help keep us competitive if we can manage the league breaks well.”

The match between Valley and HKFC will be worth the trip to King’s Park alone as their opponents look to uncover any cracks in Valley’s armour. After an all-conquering season that netted the Premiership League title, the Grand Championship and a long hold on the Broony Quaich, Valley have lost prop Leon Wei Hon-sum and Hong Kong playmaker Salom Yiu Kam-shing, among others.

Valley’s first defence will start on Saturday with the Broony Quaich, Hong Kong Rugby’s Ranfurly Shield style competition, up for grabs at all Super Saturdays.

The addition of new coach Andrew Kelly, a Valley stalwart and former Scotland A player, will ensure some fresh ideas at Valley, whose only loss last year came against HKFC.

HKFC will sense a prime opportunity to get its season off to a flyer, having added Hong Kong-born back- rower Gabriel Carroll to a side that showed solid consistency last season. Carroll has played at national under 20 level in the Junior World Cup for Scotland and will be an imposing force as HKFC look to bridgethe gap between them and Valley.

“We take our responsibility to not only develop Hong Kong qualified players, but also to scour the world looking for qualified players who are capable of playing at Premiership and international level in Hong Kong,” said HKFC Director of Rugby Will Thomas. “Having spoken with Gabriel’s coaches, I’m confident that we’ve found a player who can make an instant and extensive impact in Hong Kong.”

Kowloon is eager to kick its 40 th anniversary season off with a win and have every chance of doing so against a Tigers side that showed marked improvement last year. The addition of former England international Olly Barkley has coach James Scaysbrook salivating but it appears as though Barkley will actin purely a coaching capacity early in the season as he builds fitness.

“Obviously with Olly coming in we are implementing new things so our main focus at the moment is ourselves rather than everybody else,” Scaysbrook said.

Kowloon has added a number of players to its ranks, but Scaysbrook is just as happy that he has been able to retain all but one of his existing squad.

“That continuity is the big thing for us, spending a year together, Hong Kong being quite a transitional place, there are a lot coming and going, so that has helped massively,” he said.

The Tigers have also welcomed a raft of recruits, with the addition of Yiu from Valley one that will give them a much-needed attacking edge.

“The aim was to add depth – especially with guys from a competitive background who are eager to win,” Tigers coach Craig Stewart said. “We’ve ended up with quite a few new faces and it’s nice to have a team I can call my own.”

The six-team Premiership is supported by an elevated National League One competition which will replace last year’s Premiership A. The seven-teams taking part in the NL1 include two sides from Hong Kong Football Club (Scorpions and Dragons), Valley Knights, HKCC Exiles, Kowloon 2’s and Tigers 2. Local pillar club Gai Wu are also kicking off their first season of rugby one grade below Premiership level and will be the only side with no Premiership affiliation in National League One.

18 men’s clubs and 61 teams will contest across eight divisions in this year’s HKRU Men’s Premiership.

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