Today’s commemoration of Pink Rugby day, in aid of the Hong Kong Breast Cancer Foundation, saw the eight KPMG Premiership clubs scoring a glut of tries as they helped to raise important funds and awareness for breast cancer prevention and treatment across Hong Kong.

All eight Premiership clubs were in action at King’s Park for Pink Rugby Day, supported by fellow women’s players from up and down the leagues and a healthy number of fans and young ruggers.

Ahead of the season start, KPMG, long-time title sponsor of the HKRU Women’s Premiership and National Leagues 1 and 2, had committed to donating $100 for every try scored in the first three games of the week and in every KPMG Premiership game this afternoon, the final match-day in October, breast cancer awareness month worldwide.

The eight KPMG Premiership sides produced 35 tries across four matches this afternoon, adding to the 21 tries generated over the previous three games of the week, for a combined 56 tries in aid of the Pink Rugby campaign in October.  

The HKRU will also contribute the proceeds from its sales of Pink Rugby caps and Pink Rugby socks for presentation to the Hong Kong Breast Cancer Foundation later this month.

Premiership table-toppers Societe Generale Valley and Gai Wu Falcons contributed the bulk of the scoring today with heavy wins over Plastic Frees City Sparkle and SCAA First Pacific Causeway Bay Phoenix.

Valley’s 63-0 win over City will likely consign the Premiership sophomores to Premiership A following the planned split in the league after Christmas, as City fell to four straight losses to open the season.

The first of Valley’s ten tries came in just the 3rd minute. They grew that early lead to a commanding 27-0 margin after forty minutes, and kept their foot on the gas in the second as well, adding 36 more points in the second half, while keeping City scoreless.

Colleen Tjosvold, one of many Hong Kong sevens caps returning to league action after the Asian series, pressed her claim for another Hong Kong spot, this time in the fifteens tour of Europe next month, with tries in both halves. Bella Milo led all scorers with a try and four conversions for 13 points, while nine different players produced Valley’s ten scores.  

Gai Wu’s 44-7 win over Causeway Bay was the result of a dominant scrum for the Falcons, particularly in the first half.  The score line slightly flattered the league champions, however, after they were held to just five points in the second half after amassing a 39-0 lead in the first.

Gai Wu’s Hong Kong sevens representatives also made an impact, with Melody Li Nim-yan and Chong Ka-yan both scoring twice on their season debuts while Lo Pui Shan also scored a first half brace.  

Causeway Bay turned the tables on their opponents with a pack try of their own after Koko Kong Yin-ting crashed over the Gai Wu line from in close.  Stung, Falcons responded with a late score to re-state their superiority with Ching Tsz-yung getting her first try of the match in added time.

Similarly, Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers built a massive early advantage against Transact24 Tai Po Dragons, leading 37-0 at the break, after two tries each from Charlotte Myrans and Elsa Taeck.  Tigers posted 12 more points in the third quarter before the scoring tapered off.  

When the dust settled, Tigers had emerged as 49-0 champions, running in nine tries through seven different players, an encouraging result considering that Tigers had started two national age grade players in fly-half Lara Schats and centre Sarah Lucas, both of whom could be in contention for inclusion in next month’s Hong Kong tour to Spain and Wales.

The closest match of the day came in the KPMG Premiership Game of the Week between Kerry Hotel Kowloon and Natixis HKFC Ice, with the home Kowloon side eventually running out 27-12 winners.  Neither side could separate across the opening skirmishes with Football Club leading Kowloon 12-10 at half-time.

Kowloon kept Football Club in touch in the first half, clawing back 7-0 and 12-5 Club leads, before striking in the 39th minute to narrow the deficit to just two points, trailing 12-10, at half-time.

A yellow card against Football Club fly half Aileen Ryan early in the second half helped Kowloon take the lead for the first time in the second half when Phyllis Tang’s try was converted to give Kowloon its first advantage, 17-12, after 53 minutes.

A second try with the numerical advantage from Man Sze-wing in the 58th minute added to Kowloon’s lead at 22-12, before they blitzed Club with a third try within the space of 15 minutes as Chan Tsz-wing flashed home to push the score to 27-12. In the final 20 minutes, Kowloon stymied every Football Club attack to run out 27-12 winners.

Pinky Chun and Sarah Marshall were the try scorers for Football Club with Aileen Ryan adding the conversion.

While it is hoped that Pink Rugby day will have a long-lasting impact on the awareness of breast cancer in Hong Kong’s rugby community and amongst the public at large, today’s game results didn’t dramatically impact the league table.  

Valley and Gai Wu remain in lockstep - each adding five points and a fourth straight win to their perfect records - to remain joint-first on 20 points.  Tigers’ third win from four keeps them in third overall on 15 points, followed by Kowloon, who cling to fourth spot (and a place in the elite Premiership league post-Christmas) by one point.

Fifth-ranked Causeway Bay on nine points and sixth-placed HKFC have work to do to try to breach the top four, while Tai Po and City Sparkle look set to contest Premiership A as their opponents continue to broaden the gap between the top and bottom of the table.

The KPMG Premiership will now take a hiatus while the Hong Kong national team travels to Europe for test matches against Spain and Wales in November.  

The league will resume in December with two rounds remaining before the split into the two separate Premiership competitions for the remainder of the league and grand championships.