Last season’s top three KPMG Premiership sides: league winners Societe Generale Valley, grand champions Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers and top contenders Gai Wu Falcons, all got their campaigns off to successful starts with wins in their season openers yesterday.

Tigers had the heaviest win, over the fourth historic pillar of the women’s game in SCAA Causeway Bay Phoenix, 61-0, while defending KPMG Premiership league champions Valley handed Hong Kong Football Club a 37-0 defeat at Sports Road.  

The KPMG Premiership game of the week between Kerry Hotel Kowloon and Transact24 Tai Po Dragons was fittingly the closest tie of the weekend, with a tight 12-10 match breaking late for Dragons in the final minute for a 17-10 win.

Bookend tries in the first half from centre Chan Hiu-tung and prop Leung Wing-yi gave Tai Po a slim margin, 12-5, at the break after Victoria Hei’s try in the 25th minute clawed Kowloon to within two points of the lead at 7-5 down.

In the 65th minute, Kowloon prop Chan Hiu-tung closed the gap to two points, 12-10, with 15 minutes remaining, but it was Tai Po that finished strongest with Kim Lee flashing away for a try that sealed the win in the 79th minute.

Gai Wu were handed an early test against Premiership newcomers Bloomberg HK Scottish Kukris, who turned in an eminently respectable 20-nil loss against one of Hong Kong’s most fearsome contenders.

It took the Falcons the better part of an hour to fully breakdown the newcomers, as they entered half time with a slim 5-0 margin after by an opening try from flanker Chau Man-huen in the third minute.  From there it was a scoreless arm wrestle all the way to the hour marker, when Gai Wu’s deep bench came into play, with Hong Kong prop Lee Ka-shun doubling the lead to ten points with her try.

Scottish faltered down the home stretch, allowing Gai Wu to cross for two more tries in the final ten minutes with another Hong Kong international in Tammy Lau Nga-wun scoring on 70 minutes and Wu Chin-yee adding a fourth five minutes from full time.

The wins leave Valley, Tigers and Falcons tied first on five points each, with Tai Po in fourth overall after its no-bonus point win. Kerry Hotel Kowloon salvaged a bonus point for their loss within seven to figure in fifth place on one point with Scottish, HFKC and Causeway Bay yet to score a point.