Kowloon and Societe Generale Valley lived to fight another day in the Hong Kong Rugby Union’s Men’s Premiership on Saturday, progressing to the Grand Championships semi-finals after a brutal round of rugby.

The clash between Kowloon and Bloomberg HK Scottish at Shek Kip Mei had it all, with Kowloon progressing after the scores remained square at 32-32 after added time. As both sides were level on four tries scored, Kowloon was deemed the winner as they crossed over first.

It was a battle of attrition throughout between two sides who entered the match missing several key players – and lost more over the course of 80 minutes of Premiership rugby.

Kowloon star Jack Neville was reduced to carrying the drinks and James Scaysbrook’s side lost the ball-carrying ability of James Sawyer just before half-time, while Scottish went in without star centre pairing of Lex Kaleca and Conor Hartley, as well as second rower Kyle Sullivan.

Scottish were the better of the two sides in the first half, building a 20-11 half-time lead on the back of a try to captain Kane Boucaut. Thomas Bury was the lone first-half try scorer for Kowloon.

Kowloon quickly made their intentions clear after the break, with scrum half Bryn Phillips busting through the Scottish defence to dot down as the home side’s lead was reduced to two.

Bustling prop Jack Parfitt crossed soon after to restore the buffer for Scottish, but a double to dynamic centre Lewis Warner saw Kowloon edge in front for the first time in the match.

It looked like Kowloon had done enough to win in regulation time, however a last-gasp try from Scottish winger Ben Cullen tied things up a 32 apiece, giving McNeish the chance to seal the match.

His attempt from the sideline was narrowly missed, setting the scene for two brutal periods of added time in which both sides playerswere out on their feet.

"I think it will definitely impact the training point and how much we do this week," Kowloon coach James Scaysbrook said after the epic clash.

"We need to get everyone assessed and see where we are at come Monday morning. There was great desire from the lads, some of the big guys who had played over 100 minutes of rugby - to show that much desire was a massive credit to them and the boys worked hard when they needed to.

"There are lots of elements in our game we need to improve if we are to look at [going all the way], but there where certainly a lot of good sections of play in there. Now it’s about knitting together as many of those positive actions and positive sets of play and that is the process we will be following."

Valley fell behind early in their match against Herbert Smith Freehills HKCC before taking the ascendancy and racking up 35 consecutive points on their way to a 35-19 victory.

Luke van der Smit got HKCC on the board early, before Valley took control through tries to Josh Gordon and Tom Mahony to lead 20-5 at the break.

Thomas Lamboley also crossed and Gordon dotted down again as the scoreline ballooned to 35-5, before Seb Brien and Angus Cameron found the line for the Cricketers to add some respectability to the final margin.

Kowloon will face league champions Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers next Saturday at Kings Park (18.30) while Valley will face off against its oldest rival, Natixis Hong Kong Football Club at Sports Road at 18.00.

In the Old Mutual International Championship, where the regular season continues, leaders Vistra Typhoons overcame second-placed Natixis HKFC Scorpions 22-19 in a close-fought match that yielded a basketful of riches. Typhoons not only took possession of the Old Mutual International Championship Challenge Cup after its six-match stay at Football Club, but extended their winning streak to 14 and ended the hopes of their only possible challengers for the league title this season.