Societe Generale Valley will face the Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers in the Hong Kong Rugby Union Men’s Premiership Grand Final after two tight semi-finals on Saturday.

Tigers wore down Kowloon to win 18-10, while Valley held on to defeat Natixis HKFC 29-28 in another of the thrilling finishes that have characterised the homestretch of the HKRU Old Mutual International Premiership.

“I totally commend the boys for the heart they put in, they are unbelievable,” Valley coach Andrew Kelly said.

“Our forwards were fantastic. Apart from a few line-outs that went awry in the first half, they were absolutely fantastic; the carries off nine were good; scrummaging was good. They had a good day out.”

It was a see-sawing match in which Football Club broke through first, with winger Josh Birch giving the home side the early momentum with a sharp try.

It didn’t take long for Valley to hit back and ultimately take the lead, with second rower Martin Muller finding the line and the ever-reliable Ben Rimene making no mistake from the tee as the score moved to 7-5.

HKFC fly half Glyn Hughes was on target from a penalty kick soon after to put his side back in front in an absorbing opening half.

Valley’s scrum was on top but they were a little off in the line-out, not that it effected them too much, as they opened up a mini-break, with Rimene splitting the sticks before speedy winger Leroy van Dam crossed to give the visitors a 15-8 lead.

HKFC nibbled away at the margin either side of half-time, forcing Valley into errors that allowed Hughes to add six more points and bring the score to 15-14.

A yellow card to Football Club prop Ronan Donnelly proved telling, with the Valley scrum putting their opposing pack under immense sustained pressure on the five-metre line.

The result was a penalty try and when Tiger Bax busted open the HKFC defence to cross minutes later, the Valley machine was in motion and the crowd was in raptures.

At 29-14 and with the momentum all against them, the hosts needed a miracle to extend their season.

Their lifeline came in the form of a try from their own half, with a Ben Axten-Burrett break setting off a chain of sublime passing that saw Max Denmark find the line, with Hughes’ conversion reducing the margin to eight points with 14 minutes to play.

All of a sudden what was shaping as a blowout was anything but, and although Hughes missed a simple enough penalty, HKFC kept coming and Denmark produced again with a 72^nd-minute try.

Hughes refocused his radar to slot a difficult conversion attempt from near the sideline and it was a one-point game with time ticking away.

A Football Club fumble from the restart gave Valley the ball in deep in the hosts’ 22 and it never left, with the five-time reigning grand champions attacking relentlessly and defending well when needed.

For Kelly, there is still plenty to work on this week: “For 65 minutes we did exactly what we were after but then when were getting the ball on the 22 we were losing composure and losing composure in defence as well,” he said.

“It’s something we will have to address before the final because I’m guessing it’s going to be another game with one score in it.” 

Kowloon pushed Tigers all the way at King’s Park, with scores level at 10-10 late in proceedings.

Kowloon skipped out to a 7-0 lead thanks to a converted Ed Styles try, before Tigers drew level through an Alex Woodburn try and a Robbie Keith conversion.

It was a Keith penalty that gave the Tigers the lead in the final quarter of the match, before a try to Sam Purvis sealed the deal for the league champions.

In the Old Mutual International Championship, Vistra Typhoons - already sure of the league title - took a 45-5 win over RB-SRK Tin Shui Wai, to retain the Old Mutual International Championship Challenge Cup they won last week from Natixis HKFC Scorpions. Next week, in the final weekend of the season, they defend the Cup against fourth-placed ECO Gai Wu Rebels.