The KPMG Women’s Premiership kicked off yesterday with a Super Saturday showcase at King’s Park, the home of Hong Kong Rugby.

Six of the seven Premiership contenders were in action, including last year’s League and Grand Champions Societe Generale Valley and the runners-up in both competitions - Grand Championship finalists CPM Gai Wu Falcons and league seconds Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers.

All three looked in convincing form with muscular bonus point wins on the opening weekend.

Valley dispatched SCAA First Pacific CWB Phoenix 45-7 in an impressive eight try performance that was even more outstanding considering the club is entering a re-building year and had three of its top threats away on sevens duty in the Asian series.

The absence of Valley’s large contingent of Hong Kong representatives, combined with a number of retirements in the off-season, has catalysed a youth movement in the Valley with numerous players called up from last year’s second side.

“I’m really pleased with our performance today,” said Sam Feausi, HKRU Women’s Development Manager and long-time Valley star, who is serving as assistant coach for the team this season.

“We showed good structure despite having a few girls missing. We had seven or eight players from last year’s second team in the first side today and it’s good to see the young girls stepping up.”

Their ability to transition to Premiership level will play a decisive factor in Valley’s ability to defend its two-season long unbeaten streak once the top sides face each other.

“We are confident, but this season is going to be much more competitive. Everybody is pretty strong. All of the teams are missing their sevens girls but the results are still really convincing,” Feausi added.

CPM Gai Wu Falcons soared to the highest start of the season after dispatching Kowloon 56-0 despite lacking four of their sevens stars including Hong Kong captain Christy Cheng Ka-chi.

In the final match of the day, Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers withstood a fierce early charge from Comvita City before overpowering the Premiership debutants 45 – 3.

Tigers coach Liu Kwok-leung said City’s intensity troubled his side early on:

“They put us under a lot of pressure and it took us a while to get settled in and switched on. Their defensive line speed is good and stopped us from organising. They have good potential to compete this season.

“But eventually we settled a bit and I was pleased that we kept our structure and performed what we have been training,” Kwok added.

City coach Fung Kai-hang said, “Tigers are one of the top teams and they played well. We have set some goals for the league this season. There are games we target to win, games we target to compete in and games that we can use as a learning curve.

“This was our first Premiership match and the girls really felt the difference in intensity. It’s more confrontational and the speed and strength of the game is much better at this level, but we learned a lot today.

“We need to keep working on our set piece and the contact area. We play Football Club next and they have a big pack and will be similar to Tigers. But the girls are really positive. We gave up a lot of tries tonight but they kept working hard and going forward,” said

All KPMG Women’s Premiership clubs are on a bye next week for the national holiday before returning on 8 October.