Round two of the Rugbypass.com Premiership saw the early contenders put under pressure across the board.

Bloomberg Hong Kong Scottish overturned Natixis HKFC at Sports Road, while Kowloon recorded a last-second try over Herbert Smith Freehills HKCC at King’s Park. Societe Generale Valley remained the only undefeated team after withstanding a fierce challenge from USRC Borrelli Walsh Tigers in its home opener in Happy Valley.

Scottish won a torrid encounter against HKFC 19-15 thanks to a sublime kicking performance from Gregor McNeish.

Scottish never trailed in the game, delivering a performance that pleased coach Craig Hammond.

“I think it is the first time in our six-year history that we have won at Football Club,” he said. “Probably the last 20 minutes when they came back at us the boys stood up and I’m very proud. But I think we left a few tries out there, so it’s still a bit frustrating.”

Scottish got proceedings underway through a try to the in-form McNeish, with the fly half busting a couple of HKFC tackles to cross before following up with the conversion.

HKFC hit back through a Charles Higson-Smith try and when Niall Rowark successfully converted the scores were deadlocked at 7-7. Penalties to McNeish – who scored all of Scottish’s points – and Rowark rounded out the first half, leaving the at 10-all at the break.

The second half was a grind with McNeish booting three penalties to ensure his side always had the upper hand. Mat Lamont scored a try for HKFC to set up a tense finish, but the Scottish defence held up at they registered their first win of the season.

“We gifted them possession and they made us pay,” HKFC coach Phil Bailey said. “Every time they got down our end through our own fault they scored points.”

In Happy Valley, Tigers put double champions Valley under pressure trailing 13-12 in the second half before Valley pulled off another come-from-behind rally to win 26-15.

The hosts got off to a comfortable start with Matt Rosslee staking his side to a 6-0 lead with two early penalties, before Dayne Jans’ try extended the score to 13-0 after Rosslee’s conversion.

Tigers struck back on either side of the half with centre Tyler Spitz crossing over for a try, which Sam Ellis converted, to bring the score to 13-7 at the break. Scrumhalf Cado Lee Ka-to then opened the scoring early in the second half with a try to claw Tigers to within a point at 13-12 with nearly 40 minutes remaining.

As usual, Valley regrouped when it mattered to put centre Ally Maclay over for his first try of the season as the defending league winners pulled ahead 20-12. The sides then exchanged penalties with Rosslee bookending Ellis’s effort with his fourth penalty of the match to close out the scoring at 26-15.

Valley coach Andrew Kelly was pleased to emerge victorious but not entirely convinced by his side’s performance: “I’m delighted with the win, but I don’t think we played particularly well. I felt we dropped our intensity at times in the game. Full credit to Tigers, they put us under real pressure and we didn’t cope with it very well, particularly in our 22. They fed off of our mistakes and scored some nice tries.”

Kowloon got on the right side of the win-loss ledger with a dramatic last-second win over Herbert Smith Freehills HKCC, 31-30, at King’s Park. Timely tries were key for Kowloon as they paced themselves perfectly with scores in the opening minutes, on half-time and the game-winner at the hooter.

Kowloon took the lead after five minutes through a try from centre Lewis Warner. Fly half Jack Neville had an impeccable day with the boot as he added the conversion and two penalties to push his side ahead 13-0. A yellow card halted Kowloon’s momentum midway through the half and allowed HKCC to come roaring back with a try and a penalty from fly half Jason Kjestrup bringing the score to 13-8.

Another penalty by Neville extended Kowloon’s lead to 16-8 before No.8 James Sawyer capitalized on an HKCC infringement to barrel over the line from in close. A late penalty from Kjestrup kept Cricket Club in striking distance with Kowloon leading 23-11 at half-time.

HKCC were awarded a penalty try shortly after play resumed and Kjestrup’s conversion narrowed the gap to 23-18. Neville continued to make HKCC pay for every misstep, adding a fourth penalty in reply to push Kowloon’s margin to a more comfortable 26-18 inside the last ten minutes.

Winger Brad Raper continued his hot hand at the start the season, scoring his second and third tries of the year in lightning succession to give HKCC a shock 30-26 lead after James Love’s conversion with only three minutes remaining.

From the re-start Kowloon put the ball deep into HKCC territory with a frenzied chase putting the defence under pressure and leading to a hasty clearance by HKCC that failed to reach touch as Kowloon cued up on the counter-attack. The ball eventually reached Sawyer with a defensive mismatch out wide, leading to his second try at the hooter and a dramatic 31-30 win.

“I was pleased with the way the lads came through in the end,” said Kowloon coach James Scaysbrook. “It was a vastly different team than the one that went out last week and we got back to business. Our mental approach was stronger coming in and it showed in our performance. We still need to work on cutting out our errors, but now that we have our proper mental approach back, we can start to focus on those and eliminate them,” Scaysbrook added.

Today’s results see Valley standing at the top of the table as the only undefeated side with eight points, followed by HKCC who added two bonus points for a loss within seven and scoring four tries. Scottish’s victory sees them in sole possession of third place with five points, while Tigers and Kowloon are level on four points, trailed by HKFC with a single bonus point for a loss within seven this afternoon.