Societe Generale Valley wrapped up the Hong Kong Rugby Union 2015/16 Premiership league title with three rounds remaining after their seven-try (45-10) rout of Leighton Asia Hong Kong Cricket Club at a frigid and wind-swept Sandy Bay Sports Ground.

In today’s other Premiership action, Natixis Hong Kong Football Club stole a march on Bloomberg Hong Kong Scottish with a 25-15 away win at Shek Kip Mei – on St Andrew’s Day no less, while Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers beat Sabre Kowloon 25-20.

After nearly dropping its first match of the season last weekend against Tigers – a 20-19 victory – Valley turned in its most complete performance of the year as they frustrated Cricket Club at every turn. The victory pushes Valley’s record to 12-0, good for 53 points on the table, while HKCC drop to 5-6 on 27 points.

With three rounds remaining, Valley’s lead is now mathematically unassailable, giving the club its first HKRU Premiership league title since the 2009/10 season.

“Winning the league was one of our goals this season and it was a great way to do it with a performance like that against Cricket Club,” said coach Jack Isaac.

“We knew we had that type of performance in us, but it has been a long time coming. We ticked a lot of boxes out there. There were some nice tries and it was a very positive performance. Everything just seemed to click for us today,” Isaac added.

The scoreboard was also clicking for Valley as the visitors scored their first try after just 52 seconds when a silky run from centre Liam Bax opened a giant seam in the HKCC midfield off the kick-off. Bax picked up 30 metres before offloading the ball with quick hands in the Valley backline moving the back out to winger Ryan Mecheam who crossed over in the corner. Flyhalf Nicholas Holton’s conversion was good as Valley took a 7-0 lead.

Bax’s run was the first of several for the slippery centre - and his backline cohorts - as Valley continuously picked up yardage in huge chunks this afternoon, calling HKCC’s tackling into question.

After the early breakdown, HKCC regained its composure and exerted good control of the ball for long passages of play, perching on Valley’s 22-metre line on numerous occasions. But the Valley defence held strong, allowing HKCC only a single penalty attempt in the first half, which was converted by fullback Alex McQueen in the 20^th minute.

Despite HKCC enjoying a strong share of possession and territory, Valley’s counter-attacks were menacing as wingers Mecheam and Max Woodward and Bax repeatedly broke long runs, which HKCC struggled to contain.

Valley’s second try came in the 28^th minute after a clever line-break from scrumhalf Kirk Munro, whose darting runs along the sides of the set piece were a persistent problem for the Cricketers. Hooker Dayne Jans collected the last pass to crash over in the corner pushing Valley’s lead to 12-3 at the break.

Valley scored after just two minutes in the second half when fullback Ed Rolston showed some clever footwork and good power to crash over from five metres off an attacking Valley line-out. Rolston’s tally was followed by another Valley scoring spurt as the visitors posted three tries within the next ten minutes to blow the game open.

Reserve prop Tony Wong started the scoring when he intercepted an errant pass in his own half and showed surprising pace, sprinting 70m through the heart of the HKCC defence before swan diving in for the try.

Three minutes later, Salom Yiu Kam Shing scored on his first touch of the ball after coming on as a reserve, followed by Mecheam’s second try ninety seconds later. Holton slotted all three conversions to give Valley a 38-3 lead. That margin would stand until the 70^th minute when HKCC prop James Cooper pushed over from in close for HKCC’s only try of the game. McQueen’s conversion was good bringing the score to 38-10.

Valley would ultimately even deprive HKCC of the consolation try as Woodward, who had made ground on the HKCC defence with nearly every touch today, took the ball at pace before cleverly turning inside to wrong-foot the defence and score Valley’s seventh try beneath the posts in the 39^th minute. Holton’s fifth conversion of the afternoon closed out the scoring as Valley romped home 45-10.

“We’re hugely disappointed,” said HKCC coach Deacon Manu after the match. “We did our homework for this game but we didn’t execute. We’ve been saying all week that we needed to win that first 30 minutes. It was a focus for us in training, so to go out today and let in those early tries in both halves was very frustrating.

“Valley prevented us from playing our game today. We didn’t get clean ball. We didn’t get any opportunities to put our game plan in place and I think our hunger to make tackles today was a question mark that the players are going to have to answer,” said Manu.

Isaac was as pleased as Manu was disappointed after watching his team put together what in his estimation was their first complete performance of the season – despite their unbeaten record.

“It was a good performance, but it’s only good if we can make it last for more than one week. Now that we have proof that we have that kind of performance in us the most important thing for us is to build on that performance or equal it if we can, and certainly not to fall back into the pattern of some of the performances we’ve put in this year.

“We need to keep setting the bar high for the rest of the season,” said Isaac.

It’s an ominous warning for the rest of the league as Valley starts preparing to defend its Grand Championship title defence for a fourth consecutive season with the double now in reach.

Valley now top the table on 53 points ahead of HKFC who leveled with Cricket Club in tied-second on the table after their win today in Shek Kip Mei, although HKCC still have a game in hand. Tigers are in fourth on 25 points with six wins and six losses while Scottish fall to fifth place on 20 points and four wins and eight losses. Kowloon are in sixth place with 13 points after collecting the bonus point for a loss within seven points today.