Verizon Hong Kong Scottish 13 – 10 Tradition Valley
Apologies for the delay in getting the match report out. There has been Burns Suppers, Chinese New Year celebrations and general post Valley win celebrations getting in the way of writing this.
Hong Kong Scottish broke new ground on Thursday 19th January when they saw off reigning Grand Champions Tradition Valley with a performance that showed that the boys can win tough on a boggy grass pitch having enjoyed playing all previous games on astroturf.
The match was played on a Thursday, which was in itself a new experience for the guys having to back up after a days work. Given that most don’t exactly exert themselves in their day to day duties, it was never going to be much of a worry!
The opening 20 minutes of the game was a pretty tense battle with both defences excelling.HKS came close to scoring on two occasions though with the final pass not being executed with the line at their mercy and then a big decision from referee Dewi Rowlands. After a deep kick from Valley, full back Dave Whiteford looked to return the kick from where it had arrived but the kick was tipped in the act of charging it down, thus placing everyone onside. Captain Niall Shannon picked up the loose ball and turned for the line for the opening score. Unfortunately, the ref and touch had seemed to have forgotten the rule placing everyone onside and the rules remained on double donuts for both teams.
HKS then got out of jail through the incredible pace of Mike “Glass Man” Lees. Tom McQueen, the Valley outside centre made a great break through the centre of the HKS defence and stepped the last line of defence to seemingly put Valley into the lead. Incredibly Lees was able to make a last ditch tackle and prevent the try being scored.
After an earlier miss, James Murray was able to put HKS into the lead through a penalty goal as the Exiles started to take control of the match heading towards half time. This dominance was rewarded with a try for Alex “Off the nude run now” Kaihau. After wave after wave of attack from HKS, Murray put Kaihau in under the posts with a VERY flat pass. Murray made the conversion to put Scottish up 10-0.
Valley fly half, and ex- HKS 7s player Ben Rimene was able to reduce the deficit with a penalty to bring the Grand Champs back into it.
Half time: HKS 10- 3 Valley
The second half begun with a flourish from HKS as they continued where they had left off in the first. Unfortunately, the yellow carding of Valley back rower Tyrone O’Carroll seemed to lead to the intensity of the Scots to drop. Valley threw everything at their inexperienced opponents but the grit that has been evident all season from everyone at HKS saw them held out. This was until a messy line out from the Scots and a mix up in midfield allowed Valley to turn over the ball and they fed the ball to their flier McQueen who dotted down. Rimene adding the extras.
With the game evenly balanced, the Scots fought their way back into the game even though bodies were beginning to fail them all over the park. After a great turn over from the Scottish forwards Scottish fed the ball wide and were awarded a penalty for a high tackle. Murray stepped up to slot the crucial penalty/
More dogged defence was to follow and on several occasions, last ditch tackles from exhausted HKS bodies resulted in tries being denied. Valley had the chance to level the scores with a central penalty but chose to go for the win by kicking for touch. HKS kept them out and were able to scramble out of defence and get the ball into touch and mark great celebrations as Scottish made it 3 wins in a row.
Special mentions to our 2 player coaches Steve Jones and Craig “Chaz Bono (google it)” Wilson who ran themselves into the ground and outplayed their more ilustrious Hong Kong international opposite numbers.
The players were asked to look after themselves ahead of a massive game against Causeway Bay next which were promptly ignored as the team headed to the White Stag to celebrate, followed by the Burns Supper on Friday……. followed by a long lunch on Sunday and CNY on Tuesday.
Special thanks to everyone who made it down to the match. The support we receive from you all is invaluable and consistently drowns out our opposition. We hope you can all make it along for the match against Causeway Bay on Saturday 28th January, KO 6pm, So Kon Po.
Kung Hei Fat Choi!
HKS Team: Whiteford, Lees, Bury, Wilson, Cowley, Murray, Dowse, Brown, Shannon, Jones, Kaihau, Davey, Forbes, Burton, Aikman
Subs Used: Gunn, Allan