The race for spots in the HKRU Grand Championship final gets underway tomorrow with the start of the quarter-finals. The men’s quarter-finals pit Natixis Hong Kong Football Club versus Sabre Kowloon (HKFC, 16.30), while Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers play Bloomberg Hong Kong Scottish (King’s Park, 16.30). League champions Societe Generale Valley and Leighton Asia Hong Kong Cricket Club both earned first-round byes.

The seven-team women’s competition sees HKFC Ice play SCAA First Pacific CWB Phoenix (HKFC, 18.00), while CPM Gai Wu Falcons play Kowloon (Happy Valley, 16.30) and Tigers play Transact24 Tai Po Dragons (King’s Park, 18.00). The winners will advance to the semi-finals where undefeated League champions Valley Black Ladies are waiting in the wings after securing the first round bye.

The men’s game of the week sees Tigers face Scottish for a second consecutive tie after dropping their last match 24-19 at Shek Kip Mei. Undaunted by the prospect of a re-match, Tigers coach Craig Stewart believes the game will come down to who can handle the pressure of the play-offs best.

“It doesn’t matter who we lost to [last week], it’s that we lost. We’re not keen to lose again. Scottish carry the ball a lot. They have a quality set piece and good forwards who give them momentum. In this league, everyone knows everyone pretty well, so it’s more about who can handle the pressure now,” Stewart said.

“We’d consider reaching the semi-finals a pretty fair reflection of our season,” says Stewart. “We’ve put a bit of pressure on ourselves - we’ve gone from being happy to win occasionally to now being disappointed if we don’t win all the time,” Stewart added.

Scottish coach Craig Hammond accepts the challenges of repeating last weekend’s result: “Both teams have an advantage. We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Last week we tripped them up in the end but tomorrow will be completely different. It’s quarter-finals footy and the intensity will be up a level from a league match, especially with them being at home.

“We’ve struggled to put back-to-back wins together this season, so tomorrow we need to focus on our own performance. We need to get our set piece right and give our backs quality ball. Tigers are playing good footy. They throw the ball around in attack and have a good backline and a quality set piece, so it’s going to be a real challenge. We haven’t had the most successful season but we have an opportunity to put it right with a good performance tomorrow.

“Our numbers are pretty light as they have been all season, but we have a lot of veteran leaders in the side who make my life as a coach much easier. We’ve been working really hard this week, which is all you can ask. Our leaders will need to step up again tomorrow. If they do, then I think we can come away with the win,” Hammond concluded.

In the other quarter-final, HKFC will be gunning for their fifth straight win with Kowloon up next in its sights. Kowloon finished at the bottom of the league table but coach James Scaysbrook knows that previous form is not a factor in the winner-take-all stages.

“In a knock-out, you don’t plan too far ahead,” says Scaysbrook, who believes his side is building its own momentum. “The season breaks came at the wrong time for us, just as we were hitting a bit of form. We put in some good performances, but we feel it’s really starting to click now.”

Scaysbrook knows that HKFC are on a roll and could have a chip on their shoulder after missing out on second place, and the first-round bye, on points differential, despite having a better win-loss record then eventual runners-up HKCC.

“It’s going to be tough: Football Club are doing well. They have some good new guys and have been getting results since Christmas. They’re a physical team and we’re going to have to match that physicality to get anywhere near winning,” Scaysbrook added.

“The pressure is definitely on us now,” acknowledges HKFC Director of Rugby Will Thomas. “In our big games against Cricket Club and Valley, they had all the pressure, which helped us. This time Kowloon will be able to play at 100%, with no pressure. We were excellent last Saturday and I feel like we came second in the league. We won more games than HKCC.”

Thomas and coach Phil Bailey have their charges well prepared, “We’ve spent a lot of time studying Kowloon. Our preparation has been both technical and tactical - especially making sure that our players are not complacent. We need treat this game like a Valley or Cricket Club. If we turn up with the right attitude, and start well, we will win,” said Thomas.

As they have done for most of the season, HKFC will again juggle the line-up this weekend with Pierce Mackinlay-West being the latest flanker to succumb to the injury bug. “He’s probably been our most regular starter this season,” noted Thomas, “but one or two others are back so we are fairly close to being running out the same side as last weekend,” a 24-20 win over HKCC.

Thomas said a few new players have made an impact in their late-season charge. “Josh Afu [no.8], has not only added great rugby skills and experience, but he’s been the glue that’s got the team functioning together and [hooker] Mitch Andrews, who’s been with us since November, has been excellent.

“We believe we can make the Grand Championship final, as I really feel like we came second in the league. While Valley are obviously the best team in the league, if we can reach the final, we know we can beat them on the day [HKFC handed Valley it’s only loss this year, 20-17, in January],” said Thomas.

Tigers out to claw their way into HKRU Women’s Premiership Grand Championship Final

USRC Tigers leap-frogged perennial front-runners Gai Wu to claim second place for the first time in the Women’s Premiership; the late surge leaves them with the best play-off bracket heading into the Grand Championships as they face bottom-ranked Tai Po.

Captain Nam Ka Man, one of ten senior national team players in the Tigers set-up, said her side is progressing well as the season goes on: “Taking second on the last weekend of the year was a huge momentum boost. We’re more confident now and enter the Grand Championships in good form. It shows we are capable of breaking the Valley-Gai Wu stranglehold on the league.”

Nam credited the way the team has gelled this season as a primary factor behind their success. “At the beginning of the year we talked about trusting each other more and keeping a positive mindset and that has shown in our performances so far but we aren’t looking past Tai Po. Their ranking doesn’t really reflect their performances this year.

“We’ll go out tomorrow to do what we need to do, but also to enjoy the experience. We may try out a few different formations to see how they go and hopefully we’ll continue to perform and reach the final,” Nam concluded.

Gai Wu will look to get some late momentum of their own as they bid for their customary spot in the Grand Championship final. Their path starts with what on paper should be a winnable match against sixth-placed Sabre Kowloon, who collected their first win of the season versus Tai Po last week.

HKRU Women’s National Development Manager Sam Feausi commented on the recently concluded league season saying: “Valley continue to show their dominance, but it has been pleasing to see younger clubs climbing the ranks with Tigers and HKFC being good examples. Tigers finished second, which is a first for them, as the top two spots usually comes down to a battle between Valley and Gai Wu. They have a good mix of youth and experience, which is working well for them and if they continue their current form, they will be strong contenders for the Grand Championship.”

In the other women’s Premiership clashes, fourth-ranked Natixis HKFC Ice take on fifth-placed Causeway Bay Phoenix. In a successful debut Premiership season, HKFC staked a strong claim on the middle of the table and could be an outside chance to advance further, but first they will have to prevent the Phoenix from rising.

“HKFC have shown they belong in the Premiership,” says Feausi. “It will be a tight tussle for HKFC against Causeway Bay but with a couple of important players returning from injury, they could be peaking at the right time. Rose Fong, a key player for both Hong Kong and HKFC, has sat out most of the season with a knee injury, but she will be returning to the field for the Grand Championship stages. This will also help ease her in to the Hong Kong squad in preparation for the Women's Asian Rugby Championship in May.

Falcons take on Kowloon in the other match and as Feausi admits, it has been a tough road for both Kowloon and Tai Po in this year’s Premiership.

“There was clear divide between the rest of the teams and the bottom two in the Premiership. Kowloon and Tai Po both suffered from having key players injured this season and as a result they haven't managed to get the results they wanted to date.”

That could all change tomorrow if Kowloon can put up 80 strong minutes against Gai Wu, last year’s league and Grand Championship runners-ups.