The second round of the HKRU KPMG Women’s Premiership saw Societe Generale Valley and CPM Gai Wu Falcons stubbornly cling to their positions atop the table after convincing wins over Kowloon Ladies and SCAA First Pacific Causeway Bay Phoenix this afternoon.

The two top sides in the women’s game continue to battle neck and neck with Valley’s 56-0 win over Kowloon Ladies equalling Gai Wu’s margin over the same opponents on the opening weekend – seeing them both level on ten points at the top of the Premiership table.

Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers, who were on a bye this weekend, are tied third with Natixis HKFC Ice who got their campaign off to a solid start with a win over a battling Comvita City XV, 39-17. Tigers and Ice both have five points on the table, while the remaining sides are yet to figure in the point stakes.

In a battle between two of Hong Kong’s historic women’s sides, Gai Wu cruised past SCAA First Pacific Causeway Bay 31-0 with an injection of Hong Kong’s women’s sevens players – who missed the opening round on Asian Sevens Series duty, lengthening the margin from 14-0 at half time to 31-0 by the final whistle.

“Causeway Bay were really competitive in the first half, they put us under a lot of pressure in both defence and attack. Their attitude was positive and they got right on to us. I thought we took a long time to get on top of things but then we got a bit of confidence in the final quarter,” said Lai.

“We can take a lot of positives from the game but we made a lot of errors in basic skills too, which we’ll need to address for the next game,” Lai added.

Despite the heavy loss, SCAA First Pacific CWB Phoenix coach Ocean Chow was confident. “I was very pleased with our performance. This game built our team spirit and I think the players enjoyed the game.”

Causeway Bay got off to a torrid start putting the Falcons under significant pressure right up to the final quarter when Falcons brought on their reserves of Hong Kong sevens stars.

At half-time Phoenix trailed by only two tries, forgoing several chances to get on the board.

“Gai Wu scored two tries in the first half while we had a very good chance that we did not take. In the second half, it was the same story as last week: not enough fitness, so our performance is not yet stable,” said Chow.

Chow was pleased with the efforts of his forwards this afternoon. “Our scrum was stronger than previously – we were probably 50:50 against Gai Wu [in this area] and our driving was also good, but it was not enough.”