This week’s HKRU Premiership action features a top of the table clash between undefeated Societe Generale Valley and second-ranked Leighton Asia Hong Kong Cricket Club at Sandy Bay at 16.30. In other men’s Premiership action, Bloomberg Hong Kong Scottish will host Natixis Hong Kong Football Club at Shek Kip Mei (16.30) and Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers face off with Sabre Kowloon at King’s Park (16.30).

Valley will put their perfect record, now at 11 wins, on the line against an HKCC side entering the weekend with a winning streak of its own, albeit at a more modest three matches, dating back to November. HKCC’s last loss came at the hands of Valley, 21-16, in a match where they lost flyhalf Angus Cameron and winger Tom McQueen to lengthy injuries.

Richard Cooke, HKCC’s first team manager said, “If Valley can field their full side then I expect we are going to be in for a battle. They deserve to be in the position they are as they have tremendous strength in depth and a very experienced side.”

The challenge of upending Valley was further complicated by the loss of flyhalf Jason Kjestrup to injury last weekend. Kjestrup had already made a positional change earlier in the season moving up from fullback after Gus Cameron, who started the season in the no. 10 jersey, was injured against Valley in November. Mak Stowers earns the start at flyhalf against the league leaders.

HKCC captain Ben Roberts has been handed a two-match suspension and the club will look to newly arrived front row forward Sam Sturgess to fill in for Roberts’ at hooker tomorrow. “This will be Sam’s first full start since he’s arrived and we’re looking forward to seeing him in action,” said Cooke.

Sturgess, who was playing for Otago in the New Zealand provincial championship earlier this season, has already been singled out by HKCC coach Deacon Manu for his leadership abilities and will be an important factor in success against the impressive Valley forward pack.

Sturgess’s arrival and the return of prop Jack Nielsen from New Zealand over the break will help keep HKCC on par with Valley’s forwards. “If we can keep up with them up front and win that first phase ball, we can more than match them in the backs,” said Cooke.

Buoyed by their steady climb in the standings, Cooke said that HKCC have nothing to lose on Saturday. “We have got to go out and have a go against them. We’ve battled all year - at one point we were in fifth place and staring down the barrel of a losing season, but we’ve fought back to second in the standings and this weekend will be a massive test for us going forward.”

Tigers, who came the closest this season to unseating Valley in a one-point loss last weekend, will hope to take some moral momentum into their match against Kowloon. For Tigers coach Craig Stewart the Valley game showed that, “when we apply ourselves we can put in a good performance. Now it’s very important that we back last week’s game up with a good performance. We have a lot of respect for Kowloon – they’re a similar outfit to us and are a good team. We’ll find out on Saturday whether our strong showing last week was just a blip. I very much hope it’s more than that.”

A welcome return from injury for sevens stars Jack Capon and Calvin Hunter as well as centre Braam Gerber, all of whom should be fit to play this weekend, will strengthen Tigers as they look to solidify their spot in the top four.

Hong Kong Scottish will be looking for some divine inspiration in their bid to rebound against HKFC on Saturday, St. Andrew’s Day. After falling off the pace last weekend against HKCC, coach Craig Hammond is intent on ensuring another late collapse doesn’t damage his side’s hopes saying: “We had a good win at Tigers two weeks ago, and last week we played 60 minutes of good rugby only to lose in the final quarter. That was frustrating, but the boys are working hard and we aim to finish as high in the table as possible.”

Injuries have forced some changes to the starting XV with Mark Coeberg earning his first start at flyhalf in place of the injured Mike Moeahu, while Austin Smith and Alessandro Nardoni both return to the starting line up in the back row. Jonny Healy shifts to the bench after an impressive performance last week while Harris Grant moves from the back row to the second row. Frazer Wilford will start at hooker with John Aikman moving back to loosehead prop.

Hammond knows that his side has its work cut out for it, saying, “This week is not going to be an easy game. They’re a good side and while we’ve got a small squad, with a few niggling injuries, we can field a strong side and hopefully put in a good performance by focusing on what we do and not on the opposition.”

Scottish slipped to fifth in the standings after last weekend’s defeat and are now three points behind third-ranked Hong Kong Football Club, who are looking to turn the corner after suffering three straight defeats prior to last Saturday’s successful showing at home.

“Last week was ugly but it was a win. We showed character to rebound after losing three on the bounce. We're back to running hard and tackling hard and that’s what we have to keep up now,” said Will Thomas, HKFC Director of Rugby, adding that, “We expect an emotional performance from Scottish on St Andrew’s Day but we’ve got to go there and do a job,” Thomas added.

The loss of lock Josh Afu to injury, after last week’s man of the match performance, adds to HKFC’s injury woes in the forward pack with nine players unavailable for selection.

In the Women’s Premiership, CPM Gai Wu Falcons (7-2 with 32 points on the table) will be hunting for a bonus point win over Sabre Kowloon Ladies at Happy Valley 8 to bolster their lead over a fast-rising Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers in third place (6-3, 27 points). Tigers handed the Falcons a surprising second loss on the season last weekend but are on bye this weekend.

Fifth placed SCAA First Pacific CWB Phoenix CWB (2-6, 10 points) will be out to take points off of Transact 24 Tai Po Dragon Ladies during their match at So Kon Po as they look to close the gap on fourth ranked Natixis HKFC Ice (5-4, 22 points). Ice meanwhile will have to dig deep at home if they are to hold back rampant Societe Generale Valley Black Ladies who top the table with a perfect 8-0 record and 38 points, six ahead of Falcons. All games kick off at 6pm.