Australia, New Zealand, Valley tumble in rugby's day of reckoning

My apologies for the radio silence so far this week. Work is so inconvenient.

Well, that was quite a weekend. But never mind those two, or frankly four, momentous world cup quarter finals. There was something of a shake-up of the earth's foundations in Hong Kong as well. Yes, Club and Scorps added to the Drags' achievement the previous weekend and put the Auld Enemy Valley to the sword in their own backyard.

Scorps set the tone with a rousing victory in a remarkable Division 2 clash starting at 4.30pm. Valley came out with all the grunt and aggression you might expect and had stretched ahead to a lead of 22-7 at half time. But the Scorps rolled their sleeves up and got stuck into the Valley forwards in particular with real intention. The red ones scored on a rather lucky break after a period of extended Scorps pressure but it was not long before they opened their account with a charge-down try - the deserved result of a lot of hard work. After that, the run chase was on and Scorps began to dictate the pattern of the game. Perhaps Scorps also set the tone for a memorable England performance later on - their dominance in the scrum became absolute, although the same could not necessarily be said for the line-out.

Among many fine performances in the forwards, newcomer Jared Smith was rightly singled out as man of the match after working tirelessly to drive the Scorps forward and adding to the score sheet in the second half. The openside was rewarded by being allowed to drag the esky back to the club after the game.

At the death, the Scorps mounted wave after wave of assaults on the Valley line. Dave Beckett's first is disallowed because the ball was touched down on a Scorps boot. B*gger. Five metre scrum to Valley. Momentous, controlled shove by the Scorps, inching the desperate Valley pack backwards over their own try line, step by step. Phil Reid falls on the ball. A try, surely? Alas, the referee has not seen it and calls another scrum, which signals the last play of the game. This time Valley disrupt the Scorps' shove, but possession is secured and the ball whipped out into the backs, where Colin Begg catches his opposite number on the back foot and scampers over. A conversion follows and Scorps emerge, amazingly , as 28-22 winners. A dazed and demoralised Valley team trudge off the field in disbelief. “Revenge of the 20-21 defeat to Valley at HKFC from the 2004/05 season has been a long time coming,” said Scorps Manager Giles Disney. As someone who remembers that game and played in this one, I couldn't agree more.

So, are HKFC teams no longer the soft touch, the purveyors of fluffy white towels and free drinks for opponents? Are we no longer rolling over to have our tummies tickled? Are we rediscovering the mythical mongrel within, the never-say-die spirit, the ability to win games that we apparently shouldn't win? We'll see, but I blo*dy hope so.

There was no shortage of bulldog spirit for Club, who showed enormous strength of character to overcome a very motivated Valley team 27-16 in the stygian gloom that exists under Valley's lights. The forwards were tighter at the breakdown than the previous week and their mature, disciplined performance gave Club its platform for victory. "A very solid win by CBRE Club based on a solid foundation set by the forwards finished by some enterprising play from a classy backline," opined James Cook, Club Manager.

Nigel D'Acre was at his very best for Club, running superb lines to touch down twice, while Peter McKee and Tom Cameron also crossed the line. Mike McKee and Colin Begg added with the boot.

This has been a fantastic start to the season by pretty much the whole section with one team - Bulls - unbeaten in all comptetions so far. There is tight competition for places in many areas across Club, Drags and Scorps, which promises a high level of motivation going forward. If you want to see evidence of this, I would suggest that next Saturday's Drags v Scorps encounter will be essential viewing.

Harps