Fast and furious Bats in Hong Kong

Sunday saw another display of fast, furious and successful rugby from local club Macau Bats at the latest Hong Kong mini-rugby festival, which was hosted by Sandy Bay Rugby club at Kings Park. 

The Macau Bats teams were determined to build on their previous successes and keen to record another set of good results. The U8s got the show underway and clocked up an impressive 4-1 win over HKFC, this was followed by a close 3-2 win over Tuen Wan and a couple of 2-0 victories over Police and the Flying Kukris to finish with a 100% record. 

The U7s played an entertaining game against USRC Tigers before going down 3-4 in a free scoring game which highlighted the team’s defensive frailty. However, subsequent wins over Police (3-1); Shatin Shapei (4-1) and HKFC (3-1) demonstrated that it was quickly fixed as they returned to winning ways.

The U9s got off to a great start with a resounding 8-0 win against Shatin Shapei, however they quickly returned to earth when they lost 1-5 against a very good HKFC side. The team then showed good resilience to bounce back with wins over Sandy Bay (7-1) and Tin Shui Wan Eagles (3-1).

The U11s had performed well in the first festival and got off to a strong start with a 5-1 win over Tuen Min Sharks, this was followed by further wins over Causeway Bay Monkeys (4-0); Shatin Shapei (4-1) and Tsuen Wan (4-1). As a result of this strong showing the team will be promoted to the top division for the next festival.

The U10s and U12s joined forces with Tuen Chung Buffaloes, the U10s defended stoutly to keep Sandy Bay out before scoring a breakaway try to win 1-0. This was followed by a good 3-1 win over Tin Shui Wan Eagles and a narrow 0-1 defeat by HKFC before a thrilling 3-3 draw with Tsuen Wan, with the Bats rallying from 1-3 down to earn a share of the spoils.

The U12s started their campaign with a good 2-2 draw against Flying Kukris and followed it up with fine wins over HKFC (4-3) and Shatin Shapei (3-1) before a narrow loss to Sandy Bay (2-3).

All in all, another strong set of performances from all the Macau teams. Donald Shaw, MDT, Hong Kong