Hong Kong Premiership round nine: Valley edge Scottish in thriller

Societe Generale Valley again showed why they are the five-time reigning grand champions in the Old Mutual International Men’s Premiership on Saturday, defeating Bloomberg HK Scottish 41-39 in a thriller.

Elsewhere, Herbert Smith Freehills HKCC’s troubles worsened with an 87-17 hammering at the hands of Natixis HKFC, while Kowloon downed the in-form Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers 27-22.

Valley refused to lie down at Shek Kip Mei despite falling behind in the dying stages and it was Ben Rimene who was the hero, with the fly half slotting a drop goal to win the match after his side put together a phenomenal string of phases.

“It was fantastic ball retention, I’d like for that to be our stock standard during games,” Valley coach Andrew Kelly said.

Valley opened the scoring in the ninth minute, with hooker Dayne Jans cashing in after a strong line-out drive. Fly half Ben Rimene’s extras gave Valley a 7-0 lead, however the hosts were quick in response, with Gregor McNeish banging over a penalty to open their account.

Valley’s cause was not helped by a yellow card to winger Ruan Duplooy and Scottish capitalised on their advantage, with skipper Kane Boucaut scoring on 15 minutes for an 8-7 advantage.

The tries came freely for the next 15 minutes, with Thomas Lamboley dotting down to put Valley in front before Shea Turnerand Kyle Sullivan found the line for Scottish to put them in front 22-14. The scoring halted in the lead up to the break and remained 22-14 in favour of Scottish at half-time.

Valley’s forwards made a strong statement early in the second half, pressuring Scottish on their line.The sustained effort paid off as prop Taukiha’amea Koloamatangi put his name on the score sheet, barging over from close range to draw his side back within a point after Rimene’s third conversion.

McNeish replied with a penalty but it was again Rimene in the thick of the action, with the Hong Kong veteran scoring his side’s second try in the opening ten minutes of the half. He was again on target from the tee to increase his points total for the match to 13 and hand his side a 28-25 lead.

Soon after, Scottish prop Jack Parfitt found himself in the bin after infringing in the scrum and all of sudden the hosts were well and truly up against it heading into the final quarter. It quickly got worse, with second rower Alessandro Nardoni also yellow carded and Valley extending their lead through a try to Carl Marks.

Scottish were not done though and showed the value of stringing some phases together, piercing the Valley defence to allow Boucaut to cross after some slick passing. The ever-reliable McNeish slotted the conversion to bring his side within a point with 15 minutes to play.

The tries kept flowing right to the end, with Valley replacement Roger Ng touching down in the corner before Conor Hartley burst free to score for Scottish.

The conversion attempts looked to have proved critical, with Rimene missing for Valley and Sam Vaevae on target for Scottish to give the hosts a one point lead with only minutes to play. But Rimene had the last laugh, slotting the winning drop goal after Valley edged forward relentlessly with phase after phase of desperate rugby.

“Everyone is elated now but we were definitely poor in areas. We conceded a try when they were down to 13 men, things like that. These are pressure points that you have to make the most of, and to let in a try then is just not on; but in saying that, the spirit to win in the last minute was brilliant, so I’m delighted.”

For Scottish coach Craig Hammond, it was a case of so close yet so far: “It’s frustrating, there’s no consistency. We fought our way back into the game and I’d hate to think how many phases we defended right at the end.I’m sure if you were watching at home it was a pretty good game, but I thought we could have taken the five points and climbed back up the ladder.”