Kowloon Ladies nearly upended the HKRU’s KPMG Women’s Premiership formbook in round three - falling short in a 22-17 loss to Natixis HKFC Ice. In other Premiership action, Societe Generale Valley outclassed Comvita Sparkle City 51-0, while USRC Borrelli Walsh Tigers beat SCAA First Pacific Causeway Bay Phoenix 32-0 at Kings Park.

Football Club scored three times in the opening forty minutes with Crystal Wray and Sophie Short both crossing the line before Kowloon put its first points on the board with an unconverted try. Club scored a third before the hooter to take what seemed a comfortable 17-5 lead into half time.

Kowloon fought back with two tries in the second half the last coming in the 75th minute to pull level at 17-17. Despite a rash of six injuries in the second half, it was Club who used the clock best, scoring in the dying seconds to secure the 22-17 win.

“We lost in the last minute because we lacked a bit of control late. We didn’t have to rush things as much as we did, but the performance in the second half was exactly what I was looking for,” said Kowloon coach Jonathan Ho.

“Scoring in the first half gave us some belief and the second half was a huge improvement. Just a tiny bit more and the game could have been ours. We can now look ahead confidently to Tigers next week,” Ho added.

“It was a tough day at the office and we were glad to come through,” said HKFC coach David Wigley.

“We expect every game to be tough and today shows why. At half time we thought we were in a comfortable position: our lineouts were going well, and even though our scrums were problematic in places, we felt well ahead. We let them start the second half better and fair play to them, they turned the screw quite well,” Wigley said.

“We had six injuries in the second half so we had to do a lot of adjusting. We were successful in reshaping and that was pleasing to see,” said Wigley.

Valley ran out easy winners against City, improving their record to 3-0 on the season. Valley led 26-0 at halftime and closely mirrored that strike rate in the second half, a remarkable output considering they spent stretches with 13 on the pitch after having two players sin-binned for repeat infringements.

“It was a good game and a good result. It was quite difficult and feisty in places,” said Valley coach James Elliot. “They were a bit physical and our girls couldn’t get the fast ball that they wanted.”

Tigers beat Causeway Bay 34-0 but coach Liu Kwok-leung seemed pleased to have come through with any type of win at all:

“It was a very hard game. In the first half we played great and everything was going according to plan. In the second half we got some injuries, and had to bring on some younger players. That was when we lost our concentration. We lost momentum and focus, and made a lot of errors. They put us under pressure, but we worked hard in defence,” said Liu

It was another tough blow for Phoenix, who have faced the stiffest schedule in the early going - meeting the season’s top three finishers in succession to start the year.

“In the end, we were very strong in our attack, but the players were not ready,” said a disappointed Causeway Bay coach Ocean Chow.

“We weren’t mentally ready in the first half. We raised our game and created some opportunities to score in the second, but we failed to follow through. We didn’t play as well as we did last week against Gai Wu. If we had, then the scores would have been closer, or it could have even been a win.”