Prems (1)
Matches
Sat 26 Oct 2019  ·  Premiership
Societe Generale Valley
23
14
HKU Sandy Bay RFC
Prems (1)
Tries: L Van der smit, B BellaminConversions: I Phillips (2)
Coyote Match Report: Prems Pipped by Valley in Round 3 of Premiership

Coyote Match Report: Prems Pipped by Valley in Round 3 of Premiership

Grant Beuzeval28 Oct 2019 - 03:16
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Scoreless second half allowed Valley to capitalise on Bay mistakes and steal a home victory

Full match video: https://www.facebook.com/hkusandybayrfc/videos/333400590832214/

Excerpt from https://www.hkrugby.com/news/valley-beat-sandy-bay-in-frustrating-encounter-for-both-teams

Societe Generale Valley produced 13 points in the second half - while holding Herbert Smith Freehills HKU Sandy Bay scoreless - to win this afternoon’s Saxo Markets Premiership game of the week, 23-14. In other games, Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers earned their first points with a late 16-all draw against Bloomberg HK Scottish, while Natixis HKFC beat Kerry Hotel Kowloon 25-14 in the third of ten rounds.

On a day when tries were at a premium at Shek Kip Mei, reserve front rower Ian Etheridge’s score in the 80th minute gave Tigers the chance to level as newly arrived Australian fullback Michael Moloney, in only his second game with the club, added the extras to pull even. Moloney added three earlier penalties, while HK Scottish fly half Gregor McNeish produced the same totals, with his conversion coming after a first half try from Jack Wardle.

Scottish remained the last undefeated side in the league - albeit barely - but lost ground on the table after being forced into a share of the lead in the standings with Valley, both on ten points. HKFC got the win, but not quite the result it wanted after missing out on the bonus point to leave them one place back of Scottish and Valley on the table in third with nine points. Sandy Bay and Kowloon are tied fourth, with Tigers two spots back.

A tense battle at Happy Valley saw the hosts come away with a scrappy, but vital, win that left both coaches demanding more from their squads. Sandy Bay were in the ascendancy for much of the opening half, gifted territory and ball by a Valley attack that lacked accuracy early. A committed rush defence from the visitors exacerbated Valley’s stuttering start, but despite this, Valley were first on the board with a penalty to fullback Scott Davidson giving them a 3-0 lead after 33 minutes.

Sandy Bay scored in that golden minute after conceding points, when a deep re-start troubled Valley’s defence and the resulting box kick fell into the arms of No.8 Luke van der Smit, lurking in the back three. Extremely agile for a big man, van der Smit pinned his ears back and wove through the defence for 40-metres to crash over in the corner. Fullback Iwan Phillips slotted a challenging conversion from the touchline to put Sandy Bay up 7-3 inside the last ten minutes.

Stung, Valley replied quickly, building their first repeat attacks in Sandy Bay’s half as time wound down. Accuracy issues again crept in, with two late attacks squandered by balls going to ground. Disaster struck on the second of these when Liam Slatem recovered possession before flashing up field to create a try for winger Brandon Bellamin. Phillips’ conversion made the score 14-3.

That score looked like it would stand at half time, but Valley returned play deep into opposition territory off the re-start. Under pressure, Sandy Bay’s forwards produced two miscues at their next lineouts, forcing the defence to scramble and concede a late penalty. Valley chose the scrum and converted the opportunity with No.8 Sion Bennett putting in good work in short yardage in a pick and go from the back. Davidson’s conversion was true as Valley closed the gap to 10-14.

Phillips then had a chance to increase the lead to 17-10, but missed a straightforward penalty before the half.

In a reversal of fortunes, Valley were dominant in the second stanza, pressurising the Sandy Bay line for almost the entire final period as they posted 13 points down the stretch for the comeback win. Both teams eliminated the space from the game, shutting down most of the open field play with Valley marking van der Smit well to limit his damage.

From kick-off, Valley were parked on the Sandy Bay try-line, but came away without points after a succession of scrums. With the engagements draining energy - and time, Valley opted for the patient approach, taking a second shot at goal after Sandy Bay were pinged for some dark arts in the scrum.

Davidson was on target, closing the gap to 13-14 with 30 minutes left.

Valley probed the left wing repeatedly in the dying stages, looking to get sevens star Harry Sayers into space, but poorly timed passes and typically solid defence from Seb Brien, another of Hong Kong’s short-form veterans, kept Sayers from scoring.

The inexorable pressure told in the final 20, when Valley scored a second try, this time after a driving lineout maul that stared close to halfway. Valley rolled for 20 metres before their second phase carried the attack to the line and a massive shove deposited prop Grant Kemp on the score sheet. Davidson’s conversion was good and Valley retook the lead for the first time since the first quarter.

The visitors intensified their efforts, and Slatem nearly conjured up a second try against the run of play when he recovered a charged kick with 40-metres of space to the line, but the play was blown dead. But outside of a few jailbreaks, Valley had an answer for everything Sandy Bay threw at them.

A third penalty from Davidson in the 78th minute pushed the final score to 23-14, stealing the losing bonus point from Sandy Bay as time expired, and leaving visiting coach Brett Wilkinson frustrated.

“We didn't do ourselves any favours in that second half, we just weren’t good enough. It is disappointing that we were inaccurate again. It is the same issues and it is in our hands to fix it. They were good today but we were not at the races.

“When we back ourselves and stick to structure, we’re competitive. It comes down to execution and people learning and doing their jobs. There’s no let-up. We have to get to work preparing for next week.”

His counterpart Andrew Kelly was also unimpressed with his charges, but pleased to get the win.

“Our first three set piece attacks we either turned it over straightaway or after first phase. With the quality of this league you can’t give the impetus to the opposition cheaply. That has got to be a work-on for us; we have to be more clinical around the park really.

“We upped our game in the second half; we pressured them well and finally kept a hold of the ball in their half and grinded them down a bit. That’s what we needed to do, they are a big and quality team so we needed to really grind them.”

With only ten rounds in the Premiership, Kelly knows it was, “an important win - especially since we’re still disappointed about losing last week. Some of those issues came back again today. Some of what we’ve been working on we saw today, but there is still a long way to go for this team.”

With seven rounds remaining there may be a long way to go for the teams, but all Premiership sides will be out of running room soon.

Match details

Match date

Sat 26 Oct 2019

Kickoff

13:00

Competition

Premiership

League position

1
Societe Generale Valley
4
Herbert Smith Freehills HKU Sandy Bay
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