Prems Kick-Off the Season with Frustrating Loss to Kowloon

Near misses can be so much more frustrating than comprehensive losses as our Premiership side found out on Saturday. They came agonisingly close to snatching a victory against a disciplined and determined Kowloon side. Had a final pass to Harry Laidler stuck, or had Luke van der Smit not had the ball knocked out of his grasp as he went over the try-line in the final few minutes then we might have been celebrating a famous escape from defeat.
The match began in attritional fashion with Kowloon enjoying more of the possession but finding no way through a solid red and white wall of defence. With not much between the sides it was only a slight lack of discipline that led Kowloon to sneak into the lead through two well taken penalties. Soon after, Sandy Bay's larger forward pack began to assert dominance which led to a try for Zac Cinnamond from a line-out. Our big ball carriers began to make dents in the Kowloon defensive line but our penalty count continued to rack-up at an alarming rate, allowing Kowloon to consistently edge in front from the boot of Harry Johnston, without ever looking likely to score a five-pointer.
In the second half Sandy Bay managed to take a big chunk out of Kowloon's lead through a long-range intercept try scored by Gair Currie who had enough gas in the tank to ward off the chasing Kowloon defenders.
Towards the end of the game pressure was beginning to build on the home team, but all credit to Kowloon who remained composed in defence even after going down to 14 men following a red card for taking out Guy Spanton in the air. After what looked like a horrific landing there was thankfully no serious injury but all credit to Guy whose bravery under the high ball would not have looked out of place in Aussie Rules football. It was sad to see Tertius Kruger have to depart the field with a shoulder injury after a putting monstrous defensive shift but there were some encouraging positives to take from the game. No-one could question our commitment in defence and with a little more discipline or a dash of luck at crucial times the score-line could have looked very different.
Next week will see our side lock horns with HKFC at So Kon Po where our now battle-hardened players will look to chalk up that crucial first win of the season.