An injury time try from winger Casey Stone gave USRC Borrelli Walsh Tigers a 20-16 win tonight over Kowloon in the battle of King’s Park. Societe Generale Valley held off Bloomberg HK Scottish 25-22 at Shek Kip Mei while Natixis HKFC beat Herbert Smith Freehills HKCC 50-7 in today’s other HKRU Old Mutual International Premiership action.

The battle for bragging rights between the two local clubs resident at King’s Park was a workmanlike affair for the majority of the match with Kowloon leading Tigers 10-3 atthe halftime break.

An exchange of penalties from Kowloon flyhalf Scott Sneddon and his counterpart at Tigers, Robbie Keith, had both teams level approaching halftime before Kowloon crossed over for their only try of the match in the 38th minute after winger and former Scotland sevens star Thomas Bury picked the perfect running line to finish off a Kowloon charge from in-close. Sneddon’s conversion of Bury’s try left the score at 10-3 at the break.

Kowloon, who had enjoyed the lion’s share of territory in the first forty minutes, picked up the second half as they had ended the first putting pressure on the Tigers defence through some solid graft from the forward pack hitched onto some unerring accuracy from Sneddon’s kicks from hand.

Despite the territorial advantage it was Tigers who struck first after the resumption of play when Robbie Keith converted a penaltyopportunity in the 52nd minute to edge his side back into contention trailing 10-6.

Things went off the rails for Kowloon mid-way through the half when hooker Alex Harris was shown a yellow card in the 67thminute. The numerical advantage freed up the Tigers attack while Kowloon’s bench depth was proved wanting down the stretch.

Josh Walden scored Tigers first try of the match moments later, completing a methodical build-up that featured numerous phases before the nippy scrumhalf backed himself through the half-gap on a quick tap and go penalty to score. Keith’s conversion gave Tigers their first lead, 13-10, with 12 minutes remaining as the game came to life in the dying stages.

Tigers continued to up the pressure but it was Sneddon who calmly helped keep Kowloon in the match when he slotted a 40-metre penalty through the posts to level the scores at 13-all with ten minutes remaining.

Sneddon added a second long-range conversion in the 77th minute to edge Kowloon further ahead at 16-13 but some confusion at the re-start ended up giving possession back to Tigers who once again marshalled the ball through the forwards into striking range of Kowloon’s try line.

Back to full strength, Kowloon were dogged in defence of their try line but Tigers eventually created the overlap out wide for winger Casey Stone who collected Walden’s outlet pass from the ruck near the posts to crash over for the game winner in the 81st minute. Keith’s long-range conversion found the mark as Tigers escaped with a 20-16 win.

Valley flyhalf Matt Rosslee accounted for 10 points with the boot in a dramatic 25-22 win over Scottish at Shek Kip Mei. Dayne Jans and Rob Lennox added first half tries for Valley as they led 17-8 at halftime.

Tries from Valley No.8 Thomas Lamboley and a Rosslee penalty moved the gap to 25-8 in the third quarter before flanker Alessandro Nardoni scored for Scottish in the 55th minute. McNeish’s conversion narrowed Valley’s lead to ten points with 20 minutes remaining when Valley flanker Carl Marks was sent to the sin-bin.

A late try from Scottish prop Jack Parfitt, his second of the game, and the ensuing conversion from McNeish nearly cemented the comeback and Scottish’s first back-to-back wins on the season, but the home side’s charge ran out steam after Valley returned to full strength to run out the clock with three minutes remaining.

The Football Club backline ran rampant against a struggling HKCC side this afternoon with fullback Glyn Hughes accounting for 25 of Club’s 50 points after a brace of tries, a penalty and six conversions. Hughes effort complimented a hat-trick from Josh Birch and tries from scrumhalf Jamie Lauder and wing Charles Higson-Smith as Club turned a 24-0 lead at the break into a 50-7 rout by the final hooter. HKCC scored a consolation try in injury time through Gus Cameron with Jack Metters adding the conversion.

HKFC’s bonus point thumping of HKCC gave the club a share of first place in the Old Mutual International Premiership. HKFC are now tied with Tigers on 43 points, with Valley in third place on 38 points, followed by Scottish (30), Kowloon (23) and HKCC (7) with three rounds remaining in the season.