appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Leigh Jones

As the regular Paul Y Premiership season draws to a close, it seems all the sides in with a shout of reaching the Grand Championship have fit and full squads – ensuring that selection for the play-off games will be a headache for their coaches.
The clubs outside contention are limping along with one eye on Saturday’s final round of matches, after which they can shut up shop, reflect on what might have been and re-group.
It has been a tough season, but I want it to go on record that your contribution to the league has been invaluable and no doubt you will have learned some vital lessons to make you stronger for next season.
I believe this season has produced a higher standard of skill, more sustained intensity during games and more keenly contested matches than I have witnessed in my four previous seasons.
This has resulted in both the Premiership title and all important fourth-place play-off spot going down to the wire, providing us with an exciting run-in over the past few weeks, during which one slip-up could have – and indeed has – proved costly.
When the final round of league fixtures is completed and the respective champions are crowned, a major refocus will be needed as I believe any one of the four final teams are capable of causing an upset on their day in the Grand Championship knockout stages. This, of course, bodes well for an exciting end of season.
In the Grand Championship, success will favour those teams that are capable of making the most of their limited opportunities, and those that can maintain their shape, composure and discipline in tight games.
On the evidence of games to date, Valley provide the best example of what I’m talking about. Coaches Deano Herewini and Mike Diamond have got their men able to grind out narrow victories in tight games.
That said, they have also experienced lapses in form and I’m sure other coaches have their own opinion on who are capable of finding that “extra something” on the day.
Another key feature to success will be those teams who can maintain the intensity for the whole 80-90 minutes. While I have been quick to promote the merits of this season’s league games to date, and rightly so, I cannot fail to notice how for significant periods of any game the intensity and tempo drops off, particularly during the second half.
Moving forward to the Grand Championship and beyond therein lays our challenge as coaches and players alike, in pursing and then sustaining a new and higher level of skill, intensity and tempo for the full duration of games.
Switching focus now from domestic competition to the forthcoming international season, the Grand Championship matches will help confirm our final Hong Kong squad selections.
In respect of that selection process, what I will be looking for from players is best explained by a well-founded footballing analogy that was given to me by a respected mentor coach early in my own coaching career.
Our conversation and his wise words have served me well. Resonating as if heard only yesterday, he pointed out: “International players, and I mean ‘true’ international players, are those who come to the forefront when the game is tight. You know, when it is on a knife-edge at 1-1 or 2-2 and the next score is crucial. They are your leaders in the international arena – not those guys who show up when the game is already won at 3-1 or 4-1. Those are the ones who may get the plaudits and press attention, but they won’t win you tight games.”
So there you have it, the try scorers and point kickers will no doubt be the focus of most people’s attention, but my personal concentration will be on those who “step up” during tight games and make the difference. Those who take the score from 1-1 and lay the appropriate foundations so that our tried and tested Hong Kong rugby playing “rock stars” can enter stage right and cement victory.
Of course we’ll need a few of the rock stars to finish things off, but the games against the tougher opposition will also need players with endless resolve, guys who in the words of Rudyard Kipling can “keep their head when all about them are losing theirs”.
Therein, I believe, lays the key to our success over the forthcoming Asian Five Nations and Rugby World Cup qualifier campaign, along with a little luck in avoiding injury to key players along the way.


Hong Kong Football Club seal double with narrow win over Valley RFC in men’s premiership final

Hong Kong Rugby Premiership: Kowloon see off Scottish in scrappy opening encounter

Sandy Bay land Toronto Arrows second row Adrian Wadden under talent transfer deal between Hong Kong and Canadian rugby

Hong Kong Football Club name New Zealander Logan Asplin as rugby head coach

HKRU Premiership

And so we arrive at the business end of the season

The Premiership’s two-horse title race between Valley and HKCC will go down to the wire this Saturday. Photo: HKRFU 

Sport

Rugby

Fifteens

As the regular Paul Y Premiership season draws to a close, it seems all the sides in with a shout of reaching the Grand Championship have fit and full squads – ensuring that selection for the play-off games will be a headache for their coaches.


Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

Coach’s Corner