Double happiness: Valley men and women wrap up titles, issue warning for play-offs

HKCC finish runners-up to secure Grand Championship bye despite loss to HKFC

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Valley Black Ladies fullback Olivia Coady baffles the Gai Wu defence by running in five tries for the two-time HKRU Women’s Premiership champions in a 49-12 romp at King’s Park on Saturday. Photos: HKRU

Published: 9:30pm, 21 Feb 2016Updated: 2:05pm, 31 Aug 2018

Societe Generale Valley’s men and women celebrated their championship double in style on Saturday with convincing victories in the final round of the 2015-16 HKRU Premiership regular league.

The Valley men, who wrapped up the championship several weeks ago, lifted their win-loss record to 14-1 with a 31-24 home win over Sabre Kowloon. They finished top of the table on 64 points, 22 clear of their closest rivals.

Even more impressive, however, are the achievements of Valley Black Ladies.

Saturday’s 49-12 eight-try rout of CPM Gai Wu Falcons capped another perfect season for the defending HKRU Women’s Premiership champions, who ended this term with a 12-0 win-loss record and 58 points.

Their unbeaten run of 26 league matches, stretching back to the 2013-14 season, is a Hong Kong Rugby Union record for both genders and across all levels of the senior game.

As league champions both Valley teams will skip next weekend’s Grand Championship quarter-final knockout phase, as they and men’s runners-up Leighton Asia HKCC advance directly to the play-off semis.

Gai Wu winger Aggie Poon Pak-yan gets over the line early but it’s all one-way traffic after that with Valley scoring eight times.

The Valley women, especially, made an emphatic statement about their play-off intentions by demolishing fierce rivals Gai Wu in an eight-try romp, led by fullback Olivia Coady who crossed the line five times.