: Natixis Hong Kong Football Club exploded for a nine-try win over Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers today at Sports Road. The victory keeps them in contention for the coveted second place spot on the Hong Kong Rugby Union Premiership standings with one week remaining in the league. After the 15th and final round of the domestic season, league champions Societe Generale Valley and the eventual runners-up will have a first round bye in the play-offs, while the remaining teams enter the quarter-finals.

After entering the day with a five-point margin over HKFC on the league table, Leighton Asia Hong Kong Cricket Club eked out a 20-19 win over Sabre Kowloon to maintain their grip on second with 41 points, followed by HKFC on 37 after their bonus point win. Valley outlasted Bloomberg Hong Kong Scottish to run out easy winners, 41-10.

HKFC’s first half bonus point put HKCC under pressure ahead of their kick-off at Kings Park as Club drew level with the Cricketers on 37 points on the table before the late kick off in Kowloon.

Despite the convincing score line at Football Club, it was Tigers who started better dominating play in the first quarter and keeping their opposition penned in its own half while snuffing out any potential scoring chances early on. Club’s first real scoring chance came off a passage of play where they demonstrated good patient rugby, methodically working the ball up-pitch through their forwards and a succession of possession-recycling pick and runs.

Centre Ben Axten-Burrett cleverly spotted the half gap in the Tigers defence and his weaving run helped collapse the Tigers defence on their own try line. HKFC’s forward pack, which accounted for the first five tries in the game and six of the total nine, capitalized on the confusion to send prop Ronan Donnelly scuttling across the line from in close. Scrumhalf Jamie Hood’s conversion was on target and HKFC started to build a dangerous momentum.

HKFC pressurized Tigers from the re-start and kept their foot on the gas, muscling over for their second try in the 22nd minute after lock Jamie McGregor collected a loose ball deep in the Tigers half and showed a nice burst to finish strongly over the last ten metres and extend Club’s lead to 12-0 after Hood’s second conversion was off target.

Moments later it was Donnelly’s turn again with the prop ably supporting lock Pierce Mackinlay-West who collected the ball from a Football Club line-out and acrobatically spun to break down the defence before being caught just short of the line. Donnelly scooped and ran in his second try from in close. Hood’s conversion gave Club a 19-0 lead.

A yellow card against Tigers flanker Jack Capon put the visitors’ pack under more pressure, leading to Club’s third try – McGregor’s second – after the lock was again in the right place at the right time as Club took a 24-0 lead and secured the early bonus point.

URSRC Tigers’ only try came shortly after halftime with both sides back at equal strength and after they had nearly conceded a fifth try to Club off the re-start when HKFC nearly pounced on a poorly fielded ball that bounced dangerously in the Tigers in-goal.

Despite the early panic, Tigers regrouped and then enjoyed a succession of chances deep in Club’s half. Forcing Club into conceding penalties, Tigers opted for a series of attacking lineouts as they looked to bring their towering locks in Craig Lodge and Henjo van Niekerk into play. The strategy paid off as Tigers brought the ball down cleanly from a deep lineout and started a driving maul that put van Niekerk over for the score.

Liam Gallagher’s conversion brought the score to 24-7 with 30 minutes remaining but HKFC put paid to hopes of a comeback when No.8 Josh Afu scored minutes later off an attacking scrum; popping up between the Tigers 9 and 10 to take the ball from an inside pass from fly half Jamie Lauder to extend his lengthy frame over the line.

It was then the backs turn at Sports Road as winger Steven McCarron, reserve wing Cameron Smith and scrumhalf Jamie Hood all added pretty tries as the Club backline exploited the space and disarray in the Tigers defence to extend the lead to 50-7. Reserve prop Matt Onesemo added Club’s ninth try of the affair with Niall Rowark’s conversion putting the final score at 57-7.

“We were slow out of the blocks with a lot of mistakes and unforced errors but after 20 minutes we got into our game. We found our rhythm and away we went. We’ve played really hard all year and we’ve ground a out a lot of wins, but finally it clicked and were able to put it all together out there,” Bailey said.

The win lifts HKFC to its best run of results this season with four consecutive wins as they look to carry momentum into the Grand Championships hunt. “Four in a row is good, but 57-7 is the best bit,” Bailey added. “We know that we need to work on defending that driving maul that gave them those seven points and 57-nil would have been better, but I can’t complain about that attacking effort,” concluded Bailey.

With the pressure now firmly on HKCC’s shoulders, last year’s defending champions were tasked with recording a second win over Sabre Kowloon in as many weeks to maintain their edge on the table. Kowloon came out with a fiery start scoring early through centre Lewis Warner with fly half Daniel Fleming adding the conversion. Fleming added a penalty later in the half to extend Kowloon’s lead to 10-nil before HKCC’s Hong Kong internationals came into the frame. Tries to Rowan Varty and Alex McQueen put HKCC back in the running with McQueen converting both to give HKCC a 14-10 lead. The second half saw both sides exchanging penalties with Kowloon taking a 19-17 lead late in the game before HKCC struck its own late decider to run out 20-19 winners.

Valley also survived an early scare from Bloomberg Hong Kong Scottish before romping home to a 41-10 win in the second half. Valley danger man wing Ryan Meacheam opened the scoring for the hosts in the first minute with a try but Scottish scrumhalf Charles Cheung replied with a penalty a minute later bringing the score to 5-3. Valley No.8 Thomas Lamboley pushed his side out to a 10-3 lead in the fifth minute only to see Scottish fullback Ben Tyler level the scores with Scottish’s first try; Cheung’s conversion evened the scores at 10-all.

Flanker Toby Fenn scored Valley’s third try of the opening half to extend his side’s lead to 15-10. Fenn’s effort was followed shortly thereafter by a penalty try to the hosts as they extended their lead to 22-10 after Ben Rimene’s conversion. In the second half it was rinse and repeat as Lamboley, Meacheam and Fenn all completed their braces in the second half to give Valley a comfortable 41-10 win.

Valley extend their lead at the top of the men’s table to 59 points followed by HKCC in second place on 41 points and HKFC in third on 37. The battle for second in the league - and the quarter-finals bye - will be decided in next weekend’s winner-take-all clash between HKFC and HKCC at Football Club (20 Feb., 16.30). Tigers are in fourth place in the standings on 27 points, followed by Scottish on 20 and Kowloon on 19.

In the Women’s Premiership game of the week, Natixis HKFC Ice held on for a 20-10 win over SCAA Causeway Bay Phoenix. Football Club extended a 7-5 lead at the break with two tries and a penalty in the final forty minutes. The result gives HKFC Ice some breathing room on Causeway Bay as the victors retained fourth place on the table on 26 points, ahead of fifth-ranked Causeway Bay (14 points). Other HKRU Women’s Premiership results were not yet available at time of release.