In a day of upsets in the HKRU Men’s Premiership formbook, Sabre Kowloon beat Natixis Hong Kong Football Club 18-12 and Bloomberg Hong Kong Scottish edged Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers 23-20 in extra time to advance to next weekend’s Grand Championship semi finals against Leighton Asia Hong Kong Cricket Club and Societe Generale Valley respectively.

Scottish picked up their second win over Tigers, (who finished one spot ahead of them on the league table in fourth), in as many weeks to advance to the semi finals, where they will face league champions Societe Generale Valley.

Despite jumping out to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter at King’s Park, Scottish got off to a rocky start, conceding four penalties in the first seven minutes. Tigers couldn’t capitalise on their opponents struggles however as they also suffered from some early nerves - putting the opening kick-off into touch and missing a straightforward penalty chance in the sixth minute.

The early Scottish lead was fortuitous with their first 12 points coming against the run of play. Scottish’s first try came off a charged down Tigers clearance kick deep in their own half. The ball bounced perfectly for winger Sean Cowley who collected well before dotting down in the left corner giving Scottish a 5-0 lead after nine minutes. Three minutes later, Scottish’s other winger, Alessandro Nardoni, caught the Tigers defence flat-footed after corralling an errant up and under from his fullback Ben Tyler. Nardoni raced 30 metres for the try as the Tigers frantically tried to re-shuffle their defense out wide. Scrumhalf Charles Cheung’s conversion was good, with help from the posts, giving Scottish a 12-0 lead.

With momentum behind them, Scottish redoubled their efforts and were rewarded with a third try in the opening quarter, this time coming off a scrum in Tigers territory. Cheung moved the ball quickly from the base of the scrum to Tyler, whose long, looping pass found Nardoni again. The young winger capitalized on some poor defensive coverage to score untouched. Cheung’s conversion was wide leaving Scottish sitting on a 17-0 lead.

From that point onwards it was the Tigers who would enjoy the run of the attacking opportunities as Scottish tried to defend their lead. The Scottish defence was ruthless in the first half as they regularly snuffed out the Tigers attacks with some impressive gang tackling keeping the Tigers sizeable forwards from crossing the gainline.

In the 28th minute, Scottish fullback Tyler was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle and the Tigers redoubled their offensive effort. Eventually the man advantage forced Scottish into conceding a penalty 24 metres out from the posts. This time Tigers’ centre Liam Gallagher’s kick was true, giving the hosts their first points at 17-3 as the hooter sounded for half-time.

Tigers came roaring out of the blocks in the second half again forcing Scottish into a series of early penalties. Good tactical adjustments for the hosts at the break saw them making more use of the boot in open play as flyhalf Matt Price and fullback Casey Stone regularly turned the Scottish defence with an assortment of long touch finders and grubbers that kept the Scottish off-balance. Tigers also stationed towering lock Henjo van Niekirk in the centres where he took the ball forward in a series of titanic contests that quickly wore down the tiring Scottish midfield defence.

Scottish conceded a penalty in front of their posts in the 46th minute with Gallagher’s kick narrowing the lead to 17-6. Scottish replied with a penalty of their own, with Cheung striking from 22 metres out to push the lead to 14 points (20-6) with 30 minutes remaining.

The momentum shifted rapidly for the remainder of what was a thrilling second half as both sides tested each other’s defence across the park. The Tigers’ tactic of putting the ball deep paid dividends after fullback Stone pinned Scottish with a lineout in the corner. Scottish retained possession from their put-in but conceded the scrum in front of the posts. Tigers won their put-in and worked the ball through a quick series of phases, recycling quickly before getting the ball to flanker Calvin Hunter who dove over the line. A clutch conversion from Gallagher narrowed the Tigers deficit to just seven points, 20-13, with twenty minutes remaining.

The Tigers momentum continued to build with the tiring Scottish defence clinging to the lead. Struggling for numbers even before kick-off, Scottish had used its bench sparingly and key players like Jack Parfitt, Luke Davey and Lex Kaleca all battled injuries to stay on the park deep into the match.

Tigers pressure paid off again in the 75th minute as another deep touch-finder from Matt Price again put Scottish on the defence. Tigers retained possession at the lineout and tested the fringes without success before releasing the ball to the backs. A good eight-man shove saw Tigers win its own scrum in mid-field. Scrumhalf Lee Ka To took the ball from the base of the scrum cleanly before finding centre Sam Purvis charging down the blind side. The Scottish defence closed the gap bringing Purvis down short of the line but the Tigers recycled the ball quickly with lock Craig Lodge popping up in possession to muscle over for the try in the 79th minute.

Tigers trailed 20-18 as flyhalf Matt Price slotted a beautiful conversion under pressure to close the gap in the 80th minute and send the match into extra-time.

Extra-time was as tight as the preceding 80 minutes with nine minutes elapsing before the golden point was recorded. Tigers had the first chance to complete a memorable comeback in the 83rd minute but Price’s drop goal attempt from 30 metres drifted wide.

Neither side could find an edge but it was Scottish who were enjoying better territorial advantage with a series of long kicks from hand keeping Tigers penned deep in their own half. The Tigers forwards collected the ball cleanly from a series of defensive lineouts but the clearance kicks from behind the line were repeatedly failing to find touch, instead drifting into dangerous ground in the middle of the pitch.

It was a poorly judged clearance kick that would eventually spell the end of the Tigers comeback as the ball drifted to Scottish fullback Ben Tyler around halfway. In space, Tyler collected the ball and lined up for the drop goal. His effort in the ninth minute of extra time was good, giving Scottish the 23-20 win in and sending them through to the semi finals.

“It was an emotional win, said Scottish coach Craig Hammond. “We knew it was going to be tough and Tigers brought a lot of energy and a lot of attitude to draw level at the end. A lot of credit needs to go to a few of our guys who had niggles but really stepped up. There were probably three or four guys on that pitch at the end that shouldn’t have been out there through injury but they manned up - through extra time as well.

“Before the game we knew we had to start well. We started well against them last week and again today so that gave us a bit of a cushion. When we were 17-nil up I was worried that we’d take our foot off the gas and that they would come back into it, which they did. They scored a good try at the end to bring it back level and Matt Price slotted a great kick to draw it at 20-all,” said Hammond.

After ninety minutes of exhausting play-off rugby, Hammond understood the importance of re-focusing on next week’s match against league champions Valley saying:

“Valley have had a week off now, so they will be fresh. We respect them as players and what they are about, so we know we’re up against it. But we’ve got nothing to lose. It’s play-off footy and can go either way. Just look at today, it can all come down to a drop goal in extra time, so you never know. We’ll go out there and throw the kitchen sink at them,” added Hammond.

Continuing the trend of upsets this afternoon, Kowloon, who finished at the bottom of the league table this season, handed third-placed Hong Kong Football Club their first loss since Christmas 18-12 to advance to the next week’s semi-final against HKCC.

Kowloon, who have been showing signs of steady improvement in tough ties against Valley and Cricket Club the last few weeks, had another solid start this afternoon, scoring an early try through prop Angus Dixon for a 5-0 lead. Football Club soon leveled the scores but Kowloon replied almost instantaneously with a try to centre Richard Lankshear giving them a 12-5 lead at halftime.

The visitors took full advantage of an early second half sin binning of Football Club centre Tom McColl, adding two penalties through flyhalf Jack Neville to extend their lead to 18-5. Club clawed back a consolation try late in the match with Jamie Hood’s conversion bringing Football Club to within a try of the win, but time finally ran out on Club’s season sending Kowloon through to complete some surprising semi-finals brackets.

Form held steady in the HKRU Women’s Grand Championship quarter-finals as second-ranked USRC Tigers beat Tai Po Dragon Ladies, 62-0, while third placed CPM Gai Wu Falcons beat Sabre Kowloon, 76-0. Fourth placed Natixis HKFC beat fifth-ranked SCAA First Pacific Causeway Bay 29-12 to keep their debut Premiership season alive but will now advance to the semi-finals against title holders Societe Generale Valley Black Ladies who had a first round bye.

Tigers will host Falcons in the other semi-finals bracket, pitting the second and third-ranked teams this season in a battle that could determine a new challenger to Valley’s dominance. Gai Wu and Tigers split their matches this season with Tigers winning 24-5 in Round 10 and Gai Wu winning 22-0 in round 5.