It was a heavyweight slog-fest in the Dettol Hong Kong men’s Premiership round five as Societe Generale Valley held off ImpactHK HKU Sandy Bay 16-7 at a scorching Happy Valley on Saturday.

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.

Neither coach would likely be very pleased with the overall displays but it nonetheless showed the fine margins in this season’s top division.

“A lot of positives and a lot of things to work on. But at the end of the day we got the win which is the main thing,” said Valley captain Sion Bennett.

“They are known to be a big pack but I thought we held our own in the scrum. The last couple of game [our] set-piece has been really dominant, and today it was actually quite nice to get the win while our set-piece wasn’t.

“There was no point in the game that we were worried we were going to lose. They had a couple of dominant carriers but our defence was good and we didn’t look too threatened.”

Valley, like the rest of the league, now have a one-week break before their next-round duel with rivals Natixis Hong Kong Football Club.

“We’ve got a bit of a rest, then Football Club. That’s always a good game and it’s in the Hong Kong Stadium as well. No matter how you prepare for that, it’s always going to be intense,” Bennett said.“ It’s still a long season, so as long as you’re firing at the back end. We’re showing some good things in some games and others in other games. So it’s trying to piece all of that together.”

HKU Sandy Bay captain Lewis Wilson lamented the team’s consistent handling errors, but is very confident that they will get back in the win column with time and a reinforcement or two.

“It was disappointing. We’ll need to look back at that, but not happy at all. It was pretty poor from us. It’s the same story as the last few weeks. Simple mistakes, playing in the wrong areas, and putting ourselves under pressure through unforced errors and a penalty count. We don’t feel challenged by any of the other teams in the league, but we put pressure on ourselves,” Wilson said.“ I can’t fault the effort. The boys put in the work and were in absolute bits coming off the pitch. The lack of accuracy is killing us but we can fix that.”

Match album - https://www.valleyrfc.com/photos/rugby--mens-prems--2021-22--r4-vs-sandy-bay-16oct2021-993987.html