Valley and HK Scottish Jostle For Top of Table in Hong Kong Men's Premiership

The fight for the league championship in the Rugbypass.com Men’s Premiership is now effectively a race in two, with Societe Generale Valley and Bloomberg HK Scottish both holding a healthy lead over third-placed Natixis HKFC.

Watch the Game of the Week: Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers Vs Societe Generale Valley

Societe Generale Valley, who sit top, a point in front of Bloomberg HK Scottish and nine clear of HKFC, travel to King’s Park this weekend for a 3pm kick-off against bottom side Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers in the RugbyPass.Com Game of the Week.  Saturday’s other two clashes begin at 4.30pm, with Scottish and HKFC facing off at Shek Kip Mei and Kowloon hosting Herbert Smith Freehills HKCC, also at King’s Park.

Valley coach Andrew Kelly is preparing his squad for a stern test from Tigers, saying the cellar dwellers have been “unlucky in a few games” this season.

“They’ve got a really good squad and a mobile pack which will cause us trouble,” Kelly said.

Valley were impressive in dispatching HKFC last weekend but, in a warning to the competition, Kelly feels there is still plenty of improvement in his side.

“When we looked at the game we actually found that our first phase attack wasn’t the best, so we have looked at that and hopefully we can cause Tigers some problems,” he said.

The unavailability of Hong Kong’s top sevens players due to the tour to Fiji will hit Valley as hard as anyone, with Max Woodward, Toby Fenn, Lee Jones and Ben Rimene all unavailable. The likely return of the experienced Nick Hewson – who sat out last week due to concussion – will ease their absence, although Kelly is also dealing will other injury troubles.

“We are hoping Nick will be available, it looks like he will be. Thomas Lamboley unfortunately suffered an ankle injury so he is out, so there will be a few changes to the team but we have got a fairly strong squad so we should be able to cope,” Kelly said.

Tigers will also suffer from the sevens tour, with dynamic scrum-half pairing Cado Lee Ka-to and Jason Jeyam among those unavailable for Craig Stewart’s side.

The match between Scottish and HKFC will be a blinder, with the visitors in desperate need of a victory to keep their top-two chances alive.

Scottish have been forced to come from behind in their last two matches against Tigers and HKCC due to slow starts and coach Craig Hammond is hoping his charges address this issue on Saturday.

“We know how much firepower Club have got and they have shown that in the last few weeks,” he said.

“They love to attack and throw the ball around and we have to make sure we don’t give them that head start and end up trying to claw back 20 points like we have in the last two games. A big focus for us is to make sure we start well and ideally get a bit of a lead or [at least] stay in the game in the first half.”

Hammond expects to take in a side very similar to last week’s, with hooker Lachlan Chubb getting a chance to start and flanker Ewan Miller in the mix for a return.

“We’re a point behind and this game is pretty crucial for us,” Hammond said.

“If we get a win we will have a bit of separation between one and two and the number three spot. If we slip up it is going to be a tight race to the end. We understand that. You can say it’s about trying to win the league, but for us at the moment it’s working well and we’re just going about it game by game. If we put a good performance in on Saturday then we will deserve to stay up near the top.”

Kowloon will be hoping to continue their good form and keep the unlikely chance of a top-two berth alive against HKCC. Coach James Scaysbrook is expecting HKCC’s strong forward pack and exciting backs to take it to his side, but is full of praise for how his players are going at the moment.

“The effort levels from the lads at the minute are great, that’s the biggest positive about everything we are doing at the moment,” he said.

“The work ethic of everyone, not just on the weekends but also during the week, is really good and it’s standing us in good stead.”

Scaysbrook says star back Olly Barkley should be back after the Chinese New Year break, while the impending return of Hong Kong-experienced hooker Alex Harris from a knee injury will further strengthen Kowloon.

“The squad is getting stronger all the time and Alex coming back strengthens us more,” Scaysbrook said.

“We have got tough decisions to make in the back five of the scrum in the next few weeks as we head into the back end of the season with everyone playing so well. That is a good problem to have and we have got a much stronger squad this year than last.”