Advertisement
Men’s and women’s rugby Premiership round two preview – season ‘will be a real marathon’
- Fatialofa’s Valley confident in first win of the season against Scottish – ‘we just failed to deliver the killer blow last week’
- Valley Black Ladies take on Gai Wu as head coach Milo hopes to shake out final ‘rust and first jitters’
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
1
With the Dettol Men’s Premiership well under way, round two promises another rust-shaking outing with a particularly tasty match-up between new-look sides KPMG Hong Kong Scottish and Societe Generale Valley in Shek Kip Mei on Saturday.
Advertisement
Both have yet to kick into full gear, as Scottish suffered an end-to-end 30-22 loss to Kroll USRC Tigers in their opening game. Valley fell to arch-rivals Natixis HKFC 29-14, with head coach Mark Fatialofa returning to his squad having missed most of their preseason due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.
“The transition may not be easy, but it will be good for the club long term. We’ve got a lot younger,” he said, referring to the departure of veterans and coaches in the off season.
New co-captain and number 8 Sion Bennett is tasked with leading the line against Scottish in what is his third season at the club. The addition of former Kowloon captain James Cunningham and former Tigers coach Sam Hocking, among others, has helped to steady the ship while Fatialofa was in quarantine.
“We’re getting used to each other again after such a long lay-off. The guys came to training with the right attitude this week and trained really well. But you get paid for what you do you Saturday,” Fatialofa said.
Advertisement
Advertisement