Kerry Hotel Kowloon takes on SCAA First Pacific Causeway Bay Phoenix on Saturday at Kowloon Tsai at 13.30, headlining the final weekend of the ranking portion of the KPMG Premiership. 

Undefeated Societe Generale Valley will take on Gai Wu Falcons at 14.00 at Sandy Bay; Borrelli Walsh USRC Tigers play Natixis HKFC Ice (13.30, Shek Kip Mei); and Bloomberg HK Scottish Kukris play Transact 24 Tai Po Dragons (15.00, Happy Valley) in other KPMG action this weekend.

The game of the week pits two of the top contenders for minor Premiership honours at end season with a bout between sixth placed Phoenix and seventh ranked Kowloon.

First-year Kowloon coach Terry Sibanda believes much of the groundwork has been laid in the early part of the campaign, after integrating a dozen new players this season, with ten coming from a new partnership with Discovery Bay Pirates U19s.  Three others have joined from the Sai Kung Stingrays’ ranks, while Sibanda is shepherding a waiting list of U17 year olds itching to play senior rugby.

With the influx of new players, some adjustment was expected and Sibanda feels that the club’s early performance was definitely held in check by that integration, leading them to a disappointing first half of the year.

“We definitely started poorly,” he said ahead of the game, pointing to a few areas that held back their early improvement.

“I think partially there was a sort of a high from making the Top 4 last season, which was a bit of a surprise finish for the club, but I think some of the players thought returning would be automatic. With that, and the number of new players coming in we started really slowly, which we knew would be the case. With 10 or 11 U19s players in the squad, we knew it would be tough for a couple of weeks.”

Sibanda sees better days ahead now that the club has its ducks in a row.

“We are slowly approaching where we want to be, and have come together as a team, particularly over the last few games. Playing a strong side like Causeway Bay this weekend is a good chance for us to set a tone for the second half of the season,” he added.

“I think Causeway Bay are in a similar position to us, but they have a win already and we haven’t. To me, they look like a good challenger for the top spots in the minor Premiership.

“They play as a team and work very hard for each other across the entire 80 minutes. We have to be aware of that.”

For Sibanda, that team-wide strength is something that is still building at Kowloon but is being put in place with sustainability in mind.

“The culture is really coming along well. The young players have added a lot of energy and physicality this season and now understand their roles better, while senior players are having to look over their shoulder and compete for positions.

 “We need to keep it simple in the second half. We are playing well now and our target is to keep building and win the bottom four league and take the grand championship double.

“We have to set high standards given our talent; from where we are now we can win it, but we know that we have to take one game at a time.

While not ideal, a spot in the minor Premiership provides some breathing room for the club’s continued development for Sibanda.

“It gives us a chance to have a good crack at games, and to keep developing the club for the future. It isn’t just about reaching the Top 4, but challenging the other teams at that level. It is no good to reach the Top 4 and lose all your games and go right back down.

“We want to build something for the future, and now that we are moving in the same direction we can start to look at how to develop the club on an continuous basis based on where we want to be in three or four seasons,” he added.

The first step on that long road starts on Saturday.