Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers kept their unbeaten streak intact with a 27-21 win over Gai Wu Falcons in the KPMG Premiership game of the week. 

The taut battle between one and two was in contrast to heavy wins in the other two matches with DAC Kowloon picking up a second ‘w’ on the trot with a 37-0 win over SCAA Causeway Bay, while third-ranked Societe Generale Valley blanked Natixis HKFC 34-0.

“This win was really important as we continued our winning streak, and managed to beat one of our rivals, Gai Wu. They are a very strong side and definitely brought their ‘A’ game, but our defence was solid,” said captain Lindsay Varty.

For Falcons, a second close loss in a row at the hands of a fellow top three side, (they lost 17-10 to Valley last week), continues to instil self-belief, especially considering the fight back they showed tonight after trailing 19-7 at half-time, a deficit that grew to 24-7 shortly after the restart.

That comeback was assisted by sin binning’s against Tigers’ Vivian Poon and Charline Shea in the second.

“We need to be more disciplined and not give away silly penalties,” said Varty.

“Losing two people puts a lot of stress on the team, but we managed to keep our cool and play slower and smarter to control the game. Nam Ka-man really took charge of the backs and stepped up into the 10 at that moment; it is great to have multiple leaders in the team that can do that.

“But Gai Wu definitely sorted things out at half time and came back strong. Their set piece was stronger and more technical and we struggled against that, so we need to be smarter against them and not give away so many penalties,” Varty added.

“There was a lot of positive chat at half time and the players we brought on made a real impact,” said Falcons’ Pun Wai-yan, pointing to players like Leung Choi-see and Chan Lap-ting. The self-effacing Pun also made it on after the break as Falcons did most of their damage with two tries in the final quarter.

“At half time, we talked about not giving up and playing with some belief and that we were still in the game. We can take a lot of confidence from the fact we showed we can compete with the top two teams.

“We need to back up that performance with another big game against HKFC,” added Pun.

Societe Generale Valley scored a measure of revenge for their men’s side’s last-second loss to HKFC by punishing Ice 34-0 at Football Club.

The veterans stepped to the fore for Valley in the first half as Hong Kong captain Karen So and player-coach Bella Milo scored early tries with Claudia McMeekin adding a penalty and a conversion to put Valley up 15-0 at the break.

Cheryl So scored to start the second with McMeekin converting, before Milo added her second to push Valley ahead 29-0 ahead of the final quarter, with Adrienne Davis adding a final try on full-time to bring the score to 34-0 at the hooter.

Three first half tries from Anjalika Ybema, and a fourth from Shanna Forrest, sealed the bonus point and the win for Kowloon at half time. Ybema added her fourth to start the second stanza with Captain Victoria Wong collecting her second in as many weeks to push the score to 32-0 after Sabay Lynum’s extras. Gabriella Rivers scored the host’ seventh try as Kowloon scored more points this afternoon then it had mustered over the prior three game combined. Today’s results see Tigers pad their lead at the top of the table at 4-0 with 20 points, six ahead of Valley (14) now eight in front of Gai Wu, who slipped to third. Kowloon is fourth on nine points, with HKFC falling to the bottom of the table with six points.