Bloomberg Hong Kong Scottish staved off a rapidly improving Herbert Smith Freehills HKU Sandy Bay, 20-16, today in the Saxo Capital Markets Premiership. Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers handed Societe Generale Valley a 19-13 defeat, while Natixis HKFC suffered their first loss of the year at the hands of Kerry Hotel Kowloon, 23-17.

With the hunt for places in the Hong Kong squad travelling to France for the Rugby World Cup 2019 repechage heating up, the action in Shek Kip Mei was furious as Scottish and Sandy Bay battled for bragging rights and the Broony Quaich in the Saxo Capital Markets Game of the Week.

Hong Kong internationals featured in the Sandy Bay and Scottish squads today, eight of them in the forwards, making the battle up front a compelling storyline as much as it was a deciding factor in the encounter.

Hong Kong captain and hooker Ben Roberts marked his first action of the season for Sandy Bay, lining up alongside fellow national team front rower Dylan Rogers, while the Scottish front row featured Dayne Jans at hooker and Jack Parfitt at tighthead, with Adam Fullgrabe, another Hong Kong prop, on the reserves bench. 

Sandy Bay unveiled a few surprises with Hong Kong sevens and fifteens internationals Tom and Alex McQueen getting their first action of the season, alongside Hong Kong scrumhalf Liam Slatem, who marked his return from injury >span class="s10">.

Scottish had the early advantage, with their forward pack bulling the Sandy Bay eight in the initial encounters.  That pressure up front created the game’s first scoring opportunity as fly half Gregor McNeish’s penalty in the third minute gave Scottish >span class="s10"> early lead. Minutes later they built on that lead beautifully with one of the tries of the season.

Scrumhalf Mark Coebergh started the attack from a cleanly taken lineout at halfway, quickly pushing the ball wide to centre Andrew Henderson, who entered the line at pace and straightened the attack to create space for fullback Sean Taylor. Taylor did well over fifteen metres to lure >span class="s10"> to Conor Hartley for the try. McNeish’s conversion pushed Scottish’s lead to 10-0 after just seven minutes.

Both sides enjoyed plenty of territory in the first half, but it was Sandy Bay >span class="s10"> gathered momentum, as their new arrivals got their rugby legs beneath them. 

Jack Metters, playing on the wing after stints at nine and ten in the previous two weeks, was solid, as always, slotting three straight penalty chances to pull Sandy Bay to within a point, down 10-9.

Prop Jack Parfitt, who had an impressive opening twenty minutes in his bid to book a spot in France, was a tad overeager in the 28>span class="s10"> minute, when he strayed beyond the line at the bottom of the ruck on the Scottish 22-metre line and was sin-binned. 

Sandy Bay’s forwards immediately went to work on the man-down Scottish pack, retaining possession well and exertingsome sustained pressure across multiple attacking phases. Flanker Matt Lamming eventually capitalized, crashing over off of a scrum in close to the line.  Metters’ conversion gave Sandy Bay their first half-time lead of the season at 16-10. 

All looked on track for Sandy Bay at the start >span class="s10">as well, with Tom McQueen nearly scoring from his first touch after dislodging the ball from Scottish captain Josh Dowsingwith a thundering tackle.  With wide-open spaces in front of the Hong Kong flyer, McQueen couldn’t quite corral the ball for the score, but Sandy Bay looked dangerous to add to 

>span class="s10">The tables turned moments later when Hong Kong lock Jamie Pincott continued his impactful start to the season with another massive carry in contact to score Scottish’s second try. McNeish’s conversion reclaimed the lead, 17-16. 

The match hung in the balance until McNeish slotted anotherpenalty to push the lead to 20-16 with eight minutes remaining.  

Sandy Bay had their opportunities in the final stages, twice parking on the Scottish line, but crucial miscues let Scottish off the hook and left Sandy Bay waiting another week for >span class="s10">.

“To come so far again, another week in a row, is bitterly disappointing,” said coach Brett Wilkinson.

“Errors in the second half cost us dearly and put us in the position we were in but on the positive side we created a lot of opportunities, we just couldn’t convert them again.”

With Sandy Bay boasting firepower not seen in several seasons, >span class="s10">league’s newest club looks to be positioning for a move up the table. 

“It is a big boost to have all of the guys back. We just need to be positive, take our lessons from this game and move ahead,” Wilkinson added.

Sandy Bay’s second close finish on the trot gives them anotherbonus point, but Kowloon’s first win over Football Club,conspired to keep Sandy Bay in the cellar for another week.

USRC Tigers erased an early 5-0 deficit to score 16 unanswered points in the first half to lead Valley 16-5 at the break. Fly half Robbie Keith notched >span class="s10">and converted a Casey Stone try in the 19>span class="s10"> minute.  

Valley struck early to start the second half with Toby Fennscoring in the fifth minute, but Keith was omnipresent, making Valley pay with a fourth penalty minutes later to push >span class="s10">gin to 19-10. Flyhalf Matt Rosslee replied with his only penalty of the day for Valley to pull within a converted try with ten minutes remaining, but the comeback fell short.

Kerry Hotels Kowloon handed table leaders Natixis HKFC >span class="s10">  

Fly-half Jack Hughes gave Kowloon the lead off of a penalty in the third minute, with Kowloon stretching the gap to 8-0 after an 18>span class="s10"> minute a try.  Ronan Donnelly replied for Club minutes later, with Glyn Hughes’s conversion shrinking >span class="s10"> Tom Hill gave Club >span class="s10">for the first time at 12-8,with a try in the 28>span class="s10"> minute. 

A try before half-time to darting scrumhalf Bryn Philips further built Kowloon’s confidence as they ushered a 15-12 lead into the break.

Jack Hughes struck another penalty early in the second half to push Kowloon’s lead to 18-12, before Kowloon ran into trouble, when flanker Phil Whitfield was sent to the sin bin.  

Ben Axten-Burrett scored to make Kowloon pay and to pull within one point trailing Kowloon, 17-18, but so close to their first win of the season, Kowloon dug deep across the final 20 minutes and were rewarded with a third try, this one to fullback Iwan Philips, to win 23-17.

Today’s results leave HKFC, Scottish and Tigers in a three-way tie for first place, followed by Valley in fourth, Kowloon in fifth and Sandy Bay in sixth.