Natixis HKFC brought Kowloon’s four-game winning streak in the RugbyPass.com Premiership to an abrupt halt at Football Club, leading throughout in an impressive 17-11 victory.

With the likes of fly half Nathan De Thierry and centre Charles Higson-Smith leading the way, HKFC produced a performance that puts it back in the mix ahead of the Christmas break.

“It was a tough win and we did it way harder than we needed to,” HKFC coach Phil Bailey said.

“But it was good, the boys ground it out. We’re not very good front runners we know that, but it is like the tighter the game gets the more we get into the action and the boys proved that tonight.”

The opening quarter of the match was all the hosts, with HKFC earning two kickable penalties that allowed De Thierry to open up a 6-0 lead for his side. When lock Richard Melford found the line soon after the home side were sitting pretty at 11-0, before a Jack Neville penalty got Kowloon on the score sheet.

Kowloon worked its way into the game through sustained physicality and an eagerness to charge forward in waves, with its purposeful running rewarded with a try to Chris Kinloch. Neville missed a difficult conversion to leave the score at 11-8, before De Thierry was again on target before the break to give HKFC a six-point lead heading into the second half.

De Thierry was again amongst the points when play resumed, booting his fourth penalty to give HKFC a handy nine-point buffer.

The next 20 minutes were a grind, with the visitors doing the bulk of the attacking without finding a way through the HKFC line. The score remained at 17-8 with 10 minutes remaining, with Kowloon perhaps missing a chance of narrowing the gap after a string of scrums.

It won the ball and spread it wide, before Olly Barkley spilt a Neville pass. But the visitors kept coming, winning a penalty that Neville decided to kick. He duly converted to cut the margin to within a converted try and Kowloon kept charging in a frantic ending to the game, with Bailey pleased to see his side hold out.

“At half time I said ‘lets play it down their end’ and it was exactly the opposite, they played 40 minutes in our end,” he said.

“Defence is a character builder and a test if the guys are on. Our forwards were brilliant; they defended outstandingly and were tough as nails. You want to grind out wins at this time of year.”

In other RugbyPass.com Premiership action, Societe Generale Valley collected a momentum-gaining victory over its nearest threat in the league, Bloomberg Hong Kong Scottish, 25-6. The win sees Valley return to its usual roost at the top of the table.

Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers piled on the misery for Herbert Smith Freehills HKCC when wing Tomos Howells scored a 75^th-minute try to retake the lead after HKCC had climbed back from a 12-8 deficit in the second half.

Flyhalf Liam Gallaher added the conversion and a late penalty to seal the 30-21 win, part of his 15-point haul on the evening. Winger Salom Yiu Kam-shing and fullback Robbie Keith added tries for Tigers as the back three were heavily involved in the action; flyhalf Jason Kjestrup and lock Finlay Field accounted for HKCC’s two trees with fullback James Love accounting for 11 points off three penalties and a conversion.

The loss, HKCC’s sixth of the year, drops last year’s Grand Championship runners-up to fifth on the table, with 15 points, one ahead of sixth-placed Tigers’ 14. Valley have 35 points on the table after completing the early action with an eight-win, two-loss record. Scottish are in second on 29 points with Kowloon in third, a further seven points back (22). HKFC is in fourth place on 21 points.

Rugbypass.com Premiership action will break for the winter holiday with matches resuming on 7 January.