NEW STARS OF SAXO PREMIERSHIP SHINE IN SHEK KIP MEI

16th Sep 2019

Some new stars of the upcoming Saxo Markets Premiership season shone in an entertaining Challenge Trophy clash between Bloomberg Hong Kong Scottish and Societe Generale Valley today at Shek Kip Mei. Sixty-one points were scored as Scottish defended its turf with a taut 32-29 win.

 

Herbert Smith Freehills HKU Sandy Bay beat Kerry Hotel Kowloon 28-13 while Natixis HKFC pitched a shutout, 42-0, against Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers in today’s other Challenge Trophy matches. Club is the leader on the table and has 10 points as the only undefeated side in the competition after two impressive wins; Valley cling to second after today’s loss, on seven points, ahead of Scottish (6), Sandy Bay (5), Kowloon (4) and Tigers (0).

 

The action and intensity was at Premiership levels already in Shek Kip Mei as Scottish and Valley arm-wrestled in the first half with the visitors taking the edge after forty minutes up 15-10.  Valley’s red machine scored first from a rolling maul with hooker Hunter Prescott the beneficiary. Winger Kevin Field, returning to Premiership rugby after a lengthy injury, was wide on the conversion as the visitors led 5-0.

 

Scottish showed that they will be a force to reckon with in the Premiership as its new imports sparkled alongside key cogs from last season in fly half Gregor McNeish and fullback Sean Taylor, and U25 talent like James Christie. 

 

Taylor picked up where he left off last season with a jail-break run out of his 22-metres to help create Scottish’s first points, after the forwards rumbled further up field to force a Valley infringement at the breakdown. McNeish’s penalty was good, closing the gap to 5-3.

 

Premiership fans will be salivating at the skills on display from some of the new imports with Scottish’s player-coach Peter Jercevich a revelation at scrumhalf, repeatedly causing trouble for the defence with his vision and quick-fire ability to change the direction of the attack.

 

The ex-Scotland Sevens player showed his class in managing a frequently retreating Scottish scrum, which was heavily outweighed by the Valley pack this afternoon - turning one such occasion into points, after backpedalling away with the ball and finding wing Jarrod Mongston outside. Mongston put the ball to boot immediately with a chip ahead that Jercevich chased down for the try, putting Scottish ahead, 10-5.

 

Scottish’s freewheeling attack was well met by a stubborn defensive effort from Valley, but Carl Marks was adjudged to have taken it too far and was sin-binned for a swinging arm tackle in the first half, further tilting the advantage Scottish’s way.

 

True to a game marked by a mix of mid-season individual form and pre-season level team cohesion, Scottish could not come away with points, as they pressed in attack too much and suffered an untimely string of poor line-outs that kept them from capitalizing on their numerical advantage. 

 

Ultimately it was Valley that scored next, after Field kept them in range with a penalty on the 20-minute marker to close the gap to 10-8.

 

It was then the turn of Valley import Whiria Meltzer to wow the crowd and the centre proved an excitement machine late in the half. Like Jercevich before him he went on a ten-minute run where he was the focus of play as he ignited his side’s attack with some great individual skills.

 

Valley’s opening grew after Scottish No.8 Nathan Tweedy came off, leaving the pack that much lighter. Flanker Zach Suisala was magnificent in shoring up the scrum, after moving to No.8, as Scottish hung on by a thread before half time.

 

It looked like they had withstood the late pressure when Suisala managed to make 20-metres off a picked and run from the base of the scrum. The space gave McNeish a chance to clear the lines with a high touch finder that was initially bobbled by Valley’s Hugo Chui, who mistimed it but collected after a fortunate bounce.

 

Chui’s pass inside found fullback Scott Davidson and the Scottish defence as the ball dribbled out into midfield, only for Field to take the bouncing ball beautifully at pace and nearly take it to the house before being stopped by Taylor. Davidson was the recipient o the recycled ball, touching down in the far corner to see Valley reclaim the lead, 15-10, at the break.

 

Fittingly for the Challenge Trophy in the second half, it was the young heads that made the difference, the first came with an outrageous mullet attached, as James Christie came on for Scottish at nine, pushing Jercevich out wide. The attack did not skip a beat as the Hong Kong sevens squad hopeful paced an opening three-minute attack that produced patches of play that looked more like the Harlem Globetrotters than a rugby match, with no look passes inside and out as Scottish pressed deeper into Valley’s half.

 

Christie eventually capped the frenzied start with his own score, after a tidy give-and-get pass with new centre Mike Green, whose sharp running angles bashed the Valley defence all day. McNeish’s conversion was good as Scottish reclaimed the lead at 17-15.

 

Taylor came up big again shortly after, first in defence, when he turned over his counterpart Davidson in the tackle to squelch a dangerous attack, and then on offence with some key carries to help perch Scottish on the line, before finishing the play with the try. McNeish slotted the extras and added a penalty minutes later as Scottish pushed the margin to 27-15.

 

Scottish rang the changes with five subs coming on, allowing Valley to regain the momentum. This time it was a Valley scrumhalf that stood out, with Katsuya Fukunaga coming on to similar effect as Christie. Fukunaga marshalled his pack well and set up a try with a screaming run off the base of the scrum before delivering the perfect offload to the onrushing Marks whose score pulled the visitors ahead 27-22.

 

Scottish reserve wing Jack Morris put paid to the comeback nearly immediately, with a fortunate try that was started by a chip from Jercevich, and then aided by some lucky bounces and rolls before Morris tapped down across the line to extend the lead to 32-22.  Marks nearly undid all of Scottish’s hard work when he cored his hat trick off of a wheeling maul from the line-out, bringing the score to 32-29 in the 75th minute, but Scottish harried well from the re-start to keep Valley penned in its own half as time expired.

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