Business as usual: Tigers tumble as HKRU Premiership undergoes mid-season shuffle
Valley double-up on Kowloon to open up a 22-point lead in top-flight domestic game
The first day of HKRU Premiership action in 2016 produced a major mid-table shuffle as Bloomberg Hong Kong Scottish overcame Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers 20-11 in a hard-fought match at The Rock while Societe Generale Valley hammered Sabre Kowloon 42-21.
Scottish and Tigers had looked to rediscover early-season form following a run of pre-Christmas reversals, but despite the visitors spending much of the first period camped in the Scottish 22 the home team pulled ahead and held on for an all-important win.
Two penalties each – by Tigers fly-half Liam Gallagher and Scottish scrum-half Charles Cheung Ho-ning – kept the scores level as the first half neared its end before a well-worked try from right-wing Ben Cullen moved the hosts in front.
We started well and created plenty of opportunities but Scottish showed lots of character and fought us hard all the way
Cheung’s conversion gave HK Scottish a 13-6 lead going into the break.
Scottish withstood a sustained period of pressure from the restart before quick hands in the Tigers backline fed the ball out to the wing where prop Dan Barlow was waiting to storm home and narrow the gap.
The outcome was sealed for Scottish by quick-thinking youngster Mark Coebergh – riding high after a strong showing with the Hong Kong U19s in Singapore and a Larry Abel Trophy-winning best-and-fairest display in the HKRU New Year’s Day Youth Tournament.
Coebergh, always quick to see an opportunity, plucked the ball from a ruck and sprinted 30 metres for a wonderful individual try that left the visiting Tigers with an all-too tall mountain to climb with just 10 minutes remaining.
