Herbert Smith Freehills HKU Sandy Bay will look to continue their come-from-behind Saxo Capital Markets Premiership season when they face off with league champions Natixis HKFC at Club in the Grand Championship play-offs at 1500 tomorrow.  Bloomberg Hong Kong Scottish will host Societe Generale Valley in the other play-off match at the same time at Shek Kip Mei.

After languishing at the bottom of the table for the first half of the season, Sandy Bay have strung together five wins on the trot, including back to back scalps against Valley and Scottish, to clinch fourth place in the league standings and claim the final spot in the Grand Championship play-offs.

Sandy Bay’s unbeaten streak trails only their opponents HKFC, who posted six wins in a row before coming from behind to draw with Valley at the hooter last weekend.

Sandy Bay will be hoping their dream run continues, but face the toughest match-up on paper iin this weekend play-off, no small statement with what is sure to be an arm wrestle between Valley and Scottish on the cards at the Rock.

“They have so many threats,” Sandy Bay coach Brett Wilkinson said when asked how to stop HKFC.

“Who will win on the night will come down to who handles the pressure better. It’s cup final rugby, so it comes down to discipline and giving nothing away cheaply.

“The physicality in the game and in those one-on-one battles will be important; I think it will really be won or lost on those individual exchanges. It’s cup rugby so you may only get one or two chances, whoever takes them best will come out on the day,” said

Wilkinson remains upbeat about Sandy Bay’s chances saying, “We are obviously desperate to keep that [their come-from-behind run] going and are definitely looking forward to tomorrow.

“Training has been really good this week. Last week we had a few niggles, some bumps and bruises, but the guys have had time to recover and we trained fully this week. We will be running out the strongest side available to us at the moment.”

As will Football Club who field numerous current and former internationals as well as the league’s top points scorer in fly-half Glyn Hughes, who has already notched 201 points in the campaign this season.