The first Super Saturday in this season’s KPMG Women’s Premiership began with a pulsating encounter that saw Natixis HKFC Ice overcome Kowloon RFC 38-31.

Next up, Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers outclawed TRANSACT 24 Tai Po Dragons 56-0 and ECO Gai Wu Falcons flew past SCAA First Pacific CWB Phoenix 44-5. In the final match of this popular single-venue league day at Shek Kip Mei, Societe Generale Valley Black Ladies routed City Sparkle 92-0.

Football Club got off to a well organised start against Kowloon, running in three tries in the opening 11 minutes, including a brace for captain Bobby Wilson, for a 19-0 lead, after Rachel Crothers provided the added points.

Kowloon’s offence also clicked on the day as they managed to pull an early try back, but Club were rolling as Crystal Wray and Crothers each crossed before half-time to take a 31-7 advantage.

After the break, it was all Kowloon, as Cindy Yuen and Chan Yan Ho crossed the line in the opening 10 minutes, to suggest that there was still life in the game, at 31-19, after a conversion by Victoria Wong.

Further tries, from Winnie Cheung on 63 minutes and Amber Tsang on 67 minutes, pulled Kowloon level at 31 apiece heading into the home stretch.As both sides threw everything they had at the result, it was Football Club’s Crothers who crossed again, in the 71stminute, and then converted, to put HKFC across the line at 38-31.

At game end, Kowloon players were visibly emotional over another valiant and well executed effort falling just short. On the other side of the pitch, HKFC were celebrating as the win crucially takes Football Club above Causeway Bay, and into the top half of the table.

After the season break at Christmas, the teams will divide into two groups of four with an upper and lower Premiership, so HKFC coach Royce Chan will be eager to maintain that advantage over a Causeway Bay side that edged them out in the second round of last season.

“It was a dramatic game, but our girls finally got their patterns working, and through the first half they worked hard using those to push the Kowloon girls back,” said Chan.

“Kowloon worked really hard, and were way fitter than we were, which is a warning for us. Through the first ten minutes of the second half we held on, but then we fell off the pace because of our fitness.

“Our set pieces were really good, and in the contact area we were mostly clinical in coming away with the ball, while we were still fresh,” said Chan.

Kowloon coach Jonathan Ho blamed the poor start as the main difference-maker.

“Football Club had a good first half – in the ruck, the maul and the scrums, they won them all. We weren’t switched on.

“At half-time, we talked about needing to stop them immediately, and not let them get running with the ball and be able to offload.The girls applied that and were much better at making some early intercept passes, applying more pressure and forcing them into errors. That tipped the balance really,” said Ho.

“We were the stronger side over the last 25 minutes, and their shape collapsed. Our defence held solid and we seized our opportunities.We scored twice in the first 10 minutes of the second half, getting the ball wide and scoring in the corners, with Cindy Yuen, just backfrom the Asia Sevens Series doing some damage,” Ho said.

Ho will now have to refocus his side after yet another close loss.

Valley coach Bella Milo had her side very focused ahead of Saturday’s 92-0 win over bottom-placed City Sparkle. The result keeps them in clear first place; one ahead of second ranked ECO Gai Wu Falcons, the competition’s only other undefeated side after four rounds.Tigers’ emphatic win over Tai Po kept themcomfortably in the top three on 15 points while Football Club leap-frogged Causeway Bay to claim a tenuous two-point lead on the table over Phoenix. Dragons remain in sixth spot on four points with Kowloon and City both winless in the campaign to date, although Kowloon have claimed three bonus points on the back of their close-run affairs so far.