Societe Generale Valley survived a scare from Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers this afternoon, winning 20-19 to keep their undefeated streak alive. Natixis HKFC and Leighton Asia Hong Kong Cricket Club picked up crucial wins over Sabre Kowloon and Bloomberg Hong Kong Scottish to advance up the league table.

Valley kept their perfect record intact through the eleventh round of the HKRU Premiership after scrumhalf Ben Rimene converted a game-winning penalty attempt in the 73rd minute to give his side a one-point win over a tenacious Tigers XV.

Valley leapt out to an early lead after Rimene slotted his first penalty attempt in the 10th minute. The league leaders benefited from more Tigers infractions in the opening half, including consecutive yellow cards to winger Eric Kwok and lock Craig Lodge.

Brave defence saw the Tigers hold off Valley through Kwok’s sin-binning and nearly all of Lodge’s before flyhalf Nicholas Holton found a gap from an attacking Valley scrum to cross over for the first try of the match on the stroke of half-time. Rimene’s conversion gave Valley a 10-0 lead at the break.

Tigers were bolstered by an outstanding performance from fullback Casey Stone, who was named man of the match for his efforts. Stone was rewarded for his incisive attacking play with a try at the beginning of the second half, giving his side some crucial early momentum. Stone’s try was converted by flyhalf Liam Gallaher, bringing Tigers to within three points of Valley at 10-7.

It was Valley’s turn to keep the naughty chair warm in the second half as forwards Adam Campbell and Toby Fenn were both shown the yellow card. Tigers capitalized on their numerical advantage with their second try of the half coming off of a rollicking forwards effort on the line with Daly Meiklejohn crashing over against the depleted Valley eight. Gallaher’s conversion gave the Tigers their first lead at 14-10 with 20 minutes remaining.

Valley re-gained the offensive shortly after Campbell’s return to the field, gaining good territorial advantage on the Tigers. Valley pressure eventually saw Tigers buckle under a series of defensive scrums beneath the posts and they conceded a penalty try. Rimene’s conversion gave Valley back the lead at 17-14.

But the Tigers refused to yield and moments later they collected their third try off of a fantastic finish from winger Chester Mbekela. Gallaher’s conversion was wide, but Tigers retook the lead at 19-17 with 10 minutes remaining.

Valley’s 10-match perfect streak was in dire straits before Rimene let his side off the hook with a penalty in the 77th minute giving Valley a 20-19 win as time expired. Valley coach Jack Isaacs lamented his side’s error-strewn performance saying, “Tigers probably deserved to win that game. They took it to us and were the more aggressive side. What let us down the most were the basic errors we made, right from the opening kick-off when we knocked the ball on. That set the tone for the rest of the game and when you make fundamental errors like we did, it’s just so hard to win games.”

Isaacs credited his team’s winning streak as the difference maker in what was a taut affair: “At the end of the day, we have a bit of a winning mentality and that’s helped us. We haven’t dropped a game this year and that mentality just got us across the line in the end. We showed a bit of character despite not playing well by any stretch of the imagination. The boys stuck in there and battled to the end to graft a win by a point, which is obviously a positive.”

Tigers coach Craig Stewart was disappointed after the game saying, “The result was disappointing but I’m really proud of our performance today. It’s frustrating because we gave ourselves a great chance of winning and put a game plan together that worked.

“I think there were some calls there that went against us, that on review were potentially the wrong decisions, but we also made errors that allowed Valley to get their momentum back and control the game. Those areas are our controllables in a game like this and we didn’t manage it. It’s frustrating when you show the endeavor and work hard enough to win but some things you can’t control go against you.

“It was a positive performance but it's still a loss. We’re building a mentality where losing isn’t good enough, and we made a few errors that ultimately allowed Valley to get the momentum back at the end of the game,” Stewart said.

Leighton Asia HKCC were also made to work hard by Bloomberg Hong Kong Scottish before strengthening their grip on second place on the league table with a 34-19 win.

Scottish started the match stronger, taking a 10-0 lead in the first quarter after a try from winger Austin Robertshaw and a conversion and penalty from scrumhalf Charles Cheung, but a 14-point flurry by HKCC in five minutes helped put the game out of touch. No. 8 Marcus Slade started the deluge after touching down a pushover try, followed by wing Jonathan Patterson who scored from the re-start. Both tries were converted by flyhalf Jason Kjestrup giving HKCC a 14-10 lead in the 30th minute.

Scrumhalf Charles Cheung knocked over two more penalties late in the half to give Scottish a 16-14 lead at the break but HKCC came back strong in the second half. Winger Rowan Varty dropped Scottish heads with a try shortly after the resumption of play; Kjestrup’s conversion pushing the Cricketers out to a 21-16 lead, which they wouldn’t relinquish.

Scottish fullback Ben Tyler closed the gap to 21-19 after a penalty in the 65th minute but HKCC’s deeper bench proved to be the decisive advantage as they gathered momentum late. Fullback Alex McQueen added two late penalties and converted Matt Lamming’s bonus point try as HKCC eased away for the 34-19 win.

HKCC coach Deacon Manu kept his charges firmly grounded after the match, saying, “Both teams were hit hard by injuries so it was even right up to the last ten minutes. I think the final score flattered us a little bit and we still have a lot of things to work on that’s for sure.”

HKCC have now won four of their last five, which is in line with Manu’s goal to get off to a stronger start in the second half of the season. “We’ve added some strength over the break with the arrival of players like front rower Sam Sturgess from Otago where he was playing in the ITM Cup, so we want to get off to a good start in 2016. Now it’s about looking after ourselves week in and week out in terms of managing our performance and our recovery to make a push for the end of the season,” added Manu.

In the finale of this season’s last Super Saturday, hosts Natixis Hong Kong Football Club pulled out a 13-10 win over Sabre Kowloon. It was the third close-run affair of the afternoon as Club came back from a 10-0 deficit at half to score 13 unanswered points and defend its home turf.

Fullback Kenzo Pannell opened the scoring for Football Club with a try in the opening minute of the second half, converted by Jamie Hood, to close the gap to three points with Club trailing 10-7. From that moment onwards, Club gathered momentum while Kowloon struggled to maintain the pace of the game. Hood added a second penalty in the 63rd minute to level the match at 10-all. Club threatened to score more but the Kowloon defence held them throughout the final stages. The game was looking like it would finish as a draw before flyhalf Niall Rowark knocked over a game-winning penalty in the 78th minute.

Valley’s win sees them extend their perfect streak to 11 games widening their lead at the top of the table to 48 points, ahead of HKCC on 27 points after their bonus point win, and Football Club on 23 points. Tigers slip to fourth place on 21 points, followed by Scottish on 20 and Kowloon on 12. Kowloon and HKCC have a game in hand on the rest of the field after their pre-Christmas tie was rained out.

In HKRU Women’s Premiership action, Societe Generale Valley Black Ladies kept pace with their men’s counterparts in extending their unbeaten streak to 8-0 after beating SCAA First Pacific CWB Phoenix 87-0. Second-placed CPM Gai Wu Falcons suffered only their second defeat of the season after losing to an inspired Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers outfit 24-5 this afternoon.

Today’s results will give Valley additional breathing room at the top of the table as they move to 38 points ahead of Gai Wu on 32. Tigers rise to 26 points and maintain their third place spot on the log, followed by fourth placed Natixis HKFC Ice (22 points) who beat Transact 24 Tai Po Dragon Ladies 10-0 this afternoon. Causeway Bay are in fifth place with 10 points followed by Tai Po Dragon Ladies (0 points) and Sabre Kowloon Ladies (0 points) who were on bye this weekend.