HKRU Premiership: HKFC squeak by Scottish in barn burner to remain undefeated
Level of play and skill getting better each season, says Scottish coach Hammond after loss to the Sports Road side in the third week of competition
“This is the toughest season I’ve seen in a long time,” said Hammond. “In at least seven or eight years, the level of competition and skill across all the teams is like nothing I’ve seen before. The guys are just all playing at such a high level.”
Hammond’s team lost 24-17 to Natixis HKFC in the third week of play. This moves Scottish and the HKFC to 2-1. Only HKFC is undefeated three weeks and the only squads that has not etched out a win are Herbert Smith HKU Sandy Bay and Kerry Hotel Kowloon Rugby, who lost a close game to the Borelli Walsh USRC Tigers on Saturday 22-17. Once again Sandy Bay led a late charge against their opponents but were unable to secure a come-from-behind win.
HKFC were up 17-7 over Scottish at half-time on two tries by Tom Isaacs, but Scottish battled back to tie the game up at 17-17, getting scores from Gregor McNeish and a penalty try. With less than 10 minutes remaining HKFC’s Jevon Groves broke through on a scrum to eventually give his team the 24-17 win. Hammond said it was a heartbreaking loss, but this seems to be the nature of play this year, wins are frequently being decided in the dying minutes.
