The Grand Championship Final Day 2013
By Ben Garland
 
The first weekend in March saw the culmination of six months of domestic rugby in Hong Kong, with the Grand Championship Finals at King’s Park in Kowloon. This season, as Leighton Asia HKCC Rugby continued to grow from strength to strength under the guidance of Head Coach Andy Hall, we saw three HKCC senior teams (the 1XV, 3XV “Freeze” and 4XV “Force”) contesting their respective cup finals.
1XV
In the main event of the day, the Premiership Grand Final saw a Leighton Asia HKCC side, seeking their first Grand Championship since 2005/06, take on Valley, who had begun the season slowly but, in recent weeks, were starting to show glimpses of the Valley of old. The 1XV had many HK representatives with Hong Kong Sevens players, Anthony Haynes, Alex McQueen, Tom McQueen and Simon Leung together with current HK Fifteens internationals, Kenneth Hsieh, Ant Haynes, Bill Brant, Alex McQueen, Tom McQueen, the departing Renaud Chavanis and new arrival Matt Lamming.
HKCC started strongly but much of the first half’s possession and territory was dominated by Valley. Only heroic defensive efforts by HKCC kept the repeated Valley attacks at bay and we went into the half time break tied at 3-3. The second half was a nail-biter; both teams had their chances and the game see-sawed. With nine minutes left, HKCC were up 15-11. Valley scored. In the final two minutes, HKCC were hot on attack but couldn’t convert their chances and when the referee blew the whistle for full time, the scoreboard read - Leighton Asia HKCC 15-16 Valley.
This was indeed a gut wrenching loss, but the players gave their all in a valiant effort, capping off a great year.
The progress made this season bodes well for the future of this young HKCC senior squad, and we eagerly await the 2013/14 season already.
3XV
In Community League 1, the “Freeze” played well all season and were a dominant side in that league, finishing second behind HKFC Scorpions. Their Grand Champs campaign had a successful quarter and semi-final and, as expected, ended up with the two titans of the league facing each other with HKCC Freeze vs. HKFC Scorps. With two previous close league encounters, the Freeze felt confident that an upset was on the cards. Unfortunately, the Scorps hadn't read the script! The 3XV were outgunned in most departments and,despite Alex
Tarleton’s kicking keeping the Freeze in touch, it was not enough, with the Scorps running away with it. Not the ideal end to the Freeze's 2012/13 campaign under Guy Williams, but reaching the final after second place in the league tells the story of a strong season for the 3XV.
4XV
In Community League 2, the “Force” added to their impressive record as Cup Winners. In the previous season, they had the unenviable record of losing every game in a badly skewed division but, with Dave Fuller back at the helm and confidence fully restored, the 4XV showed tremendous character to exorcise the demons of last year’s campaign, finishing second in the league and convincingly defeating Gai Wu in the cup final, to be crowned as Grand Champions.
Congratulations to Dave Fuller and his mighty Force on taking home the silverware. A fantastic turnaround this season and a great result for both the team and HKCC Rugby. Well done guys!
 
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The HKCC Country of Origin Event
With the domestic season finished, the week following the Grand Championship Cup Finals, HKCC hosted the annual Country of Origin Tens at King’s Park, Kowloon. In this Tournament, players from across all Hong Kong Clubs join forces under the flags of their home nations to play a ten-a-side competition with an international flavour. This year, the Americas joined the action for the first time, led by HKCC's Tony Falso. The other teams in Pool A were Otterbox New Zealand, Securitas China, Leighton Asia Australia, Links Concept Americas and G4S Hong Kong. On the other side of the draw, in Pool B, were Leathwaite England, Herbert Smith Freehills Wales, Scotland, France and South Africa. After a couple of years of unkind weather, the 2013 event was blessed with bright sunshine, blue skies and a light breeze - a perfect day for Tens rugby and all the festivities that accompany the event.
As always, the national colours were worn with pride, while many teams extended their patriotism beyond their uniforms - the French with their usual spread of cheeses and wines, the South Africans with a fine selection of meats and musical accompaniment from the vuvuzelas and the English management team dressed finely in tweed.
 
 
 
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