It is still all to pay for between Leighton Asia HKCC and WhichWay Valley at the top of the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union Paul Y Premiership with both top teams on 54 points and only one match to go. Meanwhile, the inaugural Broony Quaich trophy was secured by Newedge Club when they snatched it from HK Scottish’s grasp.
In the final match of the 2013-14 home-and-away season Leighton Asia play third-placed Newedge Club at Sports Road, while Valley meet fourth-placed Abacus Kowloon at King’s Park.
The fight-out for the fourth place in the playoffs is also teetering on the edge with Kowloon and HK Scottish both on 26 points.
Fifth-placed HK Scottish have the easier match against Borrelli Walsh Tigers, who have yet to win a match this season; meanwhile, Kowloon have that tough Valley match and a precarious hold on fourth place with a points difference of just 16 over Scottish. Remarkably, should both lose, Scottish can still pass Kowloon and find themselves in the finals with the size of the margin the deciding factor.
Last Weekend’s Results
In last Saturday’s (Feb 15) matches, HKCC pushed their half-time score of 13-5 to a match winning 51-12 against Kowloon at So Kon Po Sports Ground. Seven individual try scorers plus 16 points by Angus Cameron—with five conversions and two penalties—made up the winning total.
Meanwhile, Valley pummelled Borrelli Wash Tigers 67-15 at King’s Park to claw back 3 points in their narrow points difference margin with HKCC—who are still ahead in the standings by a 12 points difference margin.
In the other match, Club won a narrow 23-21 victory over Scottish at Shek Kip Mei to prize away the Broony Quaich trophy from Scottish—who had won it the week prior.
While Scottish were unlucky to lose the inaugural trophy, significantly though, the close result gave Scottish one bonus point to move them to equal on points with Kowloon—and so improve their chance of a top four finish and finals berth.
Dramatically, both Club and Scottish thought that they had won at the end of the hard-fought match – with Scottish claiming a line-out and kicking the ball into touch at the whistle, but in fact they were 2-points behind not 2-points in front.
Danny Kroll scored all of HK Scottish points with 4 penalties and 3 drop goals well-taken under pressure.
An early try by Matthew Lamont and 2 penalties by Niall Rowark gave Club an 11-9 lead at the half-time break.
Scottish moved into an 18-11 lead in the second-half before Adam Raby and Mike Woodward touched down for Club. A penalty by Rowark after the Raby try and Rowark’s final try conversion made the score 23-21 to Club.
Next Matches
In the final week of Premiership League matches Leighton Asia HKCC play Newedge Club at Sports Road; meanwhile, HK Scottish play Borrelli Walsh Tigers at Shek Kip Mei; and Abacus Kowloon meet WhichWay Valley at King’s Park.
