Tomorrow marks the kick-off of the KPMG HKRU Premiership domestic season as eight of Hong Kong’s top women’s rugby teams embark on a pivotal campaign marked by November’s Olympic Sevens qualifier for Asia, and the upcoming qualification cycle for the 2021 Rugby World Cup.

Changes to last season’s league structure added new parity and competitiveness to the competition that saw a three-way race for much of the season between eventual league champions Societe Generale Valley, Gai Wu Falcons, and Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers, Cinderella grand champions on the season.

“With the stakes so high - and the spots so limited - the intensity of the KPMG Premiership is set to skyrocket as Hong Kong’s top players press their claims for domestic and international honours.

“As every season proves, they will be cheered on by the countless dedicated fans and supporters, of every age and gender, that make up Hong Kong’s thriving women’s rugby community.

“The inspiring growth we continue to see in the women’s game would not have been possible without the support of our long-time partners, KPMG, who have proven time and again that their commitment transcends simply nurturing the game - but is extended to supporting players both on and off the pitch.”

All eyes will be on Bloomberg Hong Kong Scottish this season as the new entry in the Premiership competition, having been promoted to the top flight as National League One champions last season. Scottish have kept most of the group intact from last season, while adding some characteristic Celtic flair with Scotland’s Tennent's Women's Premier League player Kat Roszynski coming in for the team’s debut Premiership tilt.

Defending Grand Champions Tigers did it the hard way, as they continue to celebrate the emergence of a mass of age grade players making their mark in senior domestic and international rugby. 

With those players now spending more and more time in the national set-up, the Tigers have gone further afield in 2019 bringing in Tyler Botha, centre with the South Africa sevens team, and Emily Underwood, ex-England U20s, Cardiff Met WRFC, and Bucs Women’s star.

The tide of emerging players drawn from National Age Grade ranks can be seen around the league with nearly 20 new players drawn from the U20s ranks for the season ahead across the eight clubs. Kerry Hotels Kowloon lead the ranks with a healthy crop of fresh legs as new coach Terry Sibanda brings in a group of talent he has been nurturing in Sai Kung and Discovery Bay.

Included in Kowloon’s incoming players for the season is Florence Symonds who had an electric senior sevens debut earlier this month when she scored a hat-trick in the bronze medal win over Kazakhstan.

Perennial contenders Societe Generale Valley are standing on their merits with influential former New Zealand black Fern Olivia Cody moving into the front row to shore up Valley’s push this season.  Claudia McMeekin, a new arrival that was playing club rugby in Belgium joins Valley this season along with Hana Lane who has come through Hong Kong’s U18s and U20s sevens programmes.

Gai Wu Falcons are also focusing on developing from within, after a wave of off-season retirements has complicated availability for the season ahead, a consistent problem for the club who boast a number of players doing double duty for Hong Kong.  As a result the club, with a history of success matched only by Valley in the women’s game, has called up a number of players from last season’s National League One outfit as they make a bid to return to their customary Grand Final appearance, after coming up empty in the hunt for silverware last season.

It all points to another compelling season of elite women’s rugby in Hong Kong, starting on Saturday when all eight sides kick off the action. The initial all-eight Premiership will run to November 2^nd when the top and bottom four teams on the table will split into major and minor Premierships for the stretch run through the Grand Finals.

The action kicks off from six p.m. tomorrow night when Bloomberg Hong Kong Scottish host Gai Wu at Shek Kip Mei. Tai Po Dragons play Kerry Hotel Kowloon at So Kon Po at the same time, while Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers face off with SCAA First Pacific Causeway Bay Phoenix (1815 at Kings Park) and Natixis HKFC are home to Valley (also at 18.15).