HKRU Premiership: Valley hold off surging Sandy Bay as Valley Black dominate Causeway Bay Phoenix
- Valley secure scrappy 16-7 victory over HKU Sandy Bay – ‘they are known to be a big pack but I thought we held our own’
- Valley Black out-play Causeway Bay Phoenix 54-0 – ‘We’ve won all of our games and identify fixes after each one’
The mid-table tie got off to a high-energy start with Valley’s notorious front pack shining and set-piece pressure counting against an stubborn HKU Sandy Bay defence.
An early penalty broke the deadlock for Valley, who looked comfortable with scrum-half Ruan du Plooy back in position, before dependable forward Domenico Hegglin scored from good interplay – his second in two games.
But from then it became a seriously scrappy affair, with penalties, unforced errors and tired legs halting momentum throughout. HKU Sandy Bay key man Luke van der Smit bulldozed one back, bringing it to 10-7 by half-time.
Though it wasn’t the prettiest of second halves, the pair showed grit to neutralise each other’s bruising attacks. It became a case of who would concede fewer penalties in a fault-filled outing. New Valley fly-half Thomas Smith took advantage of HKU Sandy Bay’s mistakes, adding three penalties to his opener to bring the score to within arm’s length.