Rugby Academy | A bright start for Macau Bats on Sandy Bay

The Macau Bats attended the second Hong Kong rugby festival of the season in mid-November. The tournament was hosted by Hong Kong University at Sandy Bay, Pok Fu Lam.

The first of the club’s six teams to play were the U7s who started the day brightly with wins over Tin Shiu Wai Eagles (4-3) and Hong Kong FC (5-2) before two narrow losses against Sai Kung Stingrays (2-4), and USRC Tigers (3-4).

The U8s played well to beat HKFC (5-2), Tung Chung (4-1) and Causeway Bay Monkeys (5-2) with their fourth game forfeited by the opposition. Meanwhile the U9s got off to a strong start against Sandy Bay, quickly establishing a 3-0 lead, however the hosts fought back to earn a 3-3 draw. Clearly stung by the comeback the young Bats made emphatic work of beating Shatin Sha Pei (6-0), USRC Tigers (6-0) and Flying Kukris (7-1) in their next games.

The U10s were determined to maintain their strong start to the season and came out hard and fast against Shatin Sha Pei, running up a 7-1 win. A much tougher game followed against Dongguan Bulldogs and the Bats found themselves behind before fighting back to win a tough game 3-2, scoring the winning try in the final few seconds. This was followed by another fine performance against South Lantau Buffaloes (4-1) and a convincing 7-1 win over Tin Shiu Wai Eagles to return to Macau with a 100 percent record.

The U12s were playing at Happy Valley in the Richard Hawkes Cup and began with a 2-0 win over a combined Shatin and Tai Hang select. Impressive wins over Sai Kung Stingrays (4-1) and South Lantau / Tung Chung (3-0) set up a final winner takes all game against Causeway Bay Monkeys. As expected this was a tough and bruising encounter with the Bats coming from behind to win 4-2, topping their group and ensuring promotion to the second division.

The U16s were competing in the Hong Kong 1st Division in combination with Kukris and Pirates, producing their best performance of the season so far in defeating Sai Kung Stingrays 42-10 at King George V park in Kowloon.

The busy period continued with the U16s playing in Hong Kong. The next festivals will be held on December 2 and 9. Donald Shaw, Hong Kong, Special to MDT