The Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers will look to continue their hot run when they take on Kowloon in the match of the week in the Old Mutual International Men’s Premiership this Saturday. The King’s Park rivals lock horns at the home of Hong Kong rugby at 4.30pm, while Bloomberg HK Scottish welcome Societe Generale Valley to Shek Kip Mei, also at 4.30pm, and Natixis HKFC tackle Herbert Smith Freehills HKCC at Football Club at 6.00pm.

With only four rounds remaining in the regular season, a Tigers victory will leave them one step closer to securing the league championship in what has been a brilliant season for the perennial battlers.

It was Kowloon who put an end to Tigers’ barnstorming play-off run in last season’s semi-finals and the ledger is square at one apiece this season. After Tigers edged ‘Loon 13-10 in their opening encounter, Kowloon hit back to inflict one of the Tigers’ three defeats on the season last time they met in December. The margin was only five points on that occasion, suggesting a ding-dong battle is again in store.

The Valley-Scottish game will have plenty of spice, with Valley desperate to get back on the winners list after falling to Tigers last weekend and Scottish looking to string two wins together for the first time this season.

“It’s a massive test, we have put in some really good performances this season then we turn around the week afterwards and don’t put in the work we need to,” Scottish coach Craig Hammond said. “Valley will be wounded from being beaten by Tigers and we know what is coming at us.”

Despite their up-and-down season a bonus-point win could put Scottish level on points with Valley in what is a stacked top four, but Hammond knows his team will have to pull out all the stops.

“Valley is a team where if you give them opportunities, they have got probably the strongest set piece in the league, their set piece is dominating teams all over the show,” he said.

“They score from a lot of line-out drives and they have got a lot of guys that can score from all over the park. It is about us having really good discipline and keeping them out of those key scoring areas.”

HKCC’s tough season is showing no signs of abating, with coach Brett Wilkinson dealing with a number of new injuries. Second rowers Jack Delaforce and Adrian Griffiths and centre Gair Currie are all racing the clock, while the Cricketers lack of depth will ensure they suffer more than most from the absence of a host of stars due to the Coral Coast Sevens in Fiji.

“It’s about pride in each other, pride in the jersey and the team. I’m just going back to process, guys just doing their jobs,” Wilkinson said about what his team needs to do to be competitive against HKFC.

“We missed a lot of tackles against Scottish [last week] so it’s something we addressed this week and also in attack just holding onto the ball. It’s about stripping it back to the real basics and trying to build a bit of pressure.”

Despite a number of big losses this season, Wilkinson is encouraging his players not to go into their shell to avoid giving up points but rather to continue to play positive rugby.

“We’ll look to go and play but we are going to have to be on top of our game to be thereabouts. Obviously Footy Club are on a good run at the minute so we are going to need everyone firing,” he said.

“They will be physical, they will be direct, so for us to be in with a chance we are going to have to do those basics really well and have everyone giving everything and really getting stuck in physically.”