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Valley RFC

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Societe Generale Valley
Founded1975; 49 years ago (1975)
Ground(s)Happy Valley
ChairmanBrett Stewien
Coach(es)[[Mark Fatialofa
Tom Broughton
League(s)HKRFU Premiership
Team kit
Official website
www.valleyrfc.com

Valley RFC is a sports club based in Hong Kong with a rugby section ( known as Societe Generale Valley RFC for sponsorship reasons) as well as Netball and Hockey sections. It also has a junior rugby academy called Valley Fort. The club is historically based in Happy Valley, Hong Kong, inside the Happy Valley Racecourse, hence the inspiration for its logo, the Knight chess piece.

History

Valley RFC also known as Valley was founded in 1975 by a group of ex-members of the Royal Hong Kong Police Rugby Club, some displaced individuals and schoolboys who joined forces to enter a team in the local rugby competition. The result was Valley RFC, so named because of its home in Happy Valley. Valley's men of rugby have been running out in Black and Red for the past 27 seasons and have been the most successful domestic rugby side in recent years. The 2,000-capacity Happy Valley Racecourse stadium is their rugby union home.

Valley RFC closeup-1988

Rugby

Men's Rugby

Valley is the most successful Rugby Club in Hong Kong and has won trophies at all levels of competition over the past 12 years. In recent years, the Premiership team has won back to back championships and grand finals. From 2013-2018 the premiership team had a winning streak of 6 Grand Championships in a row. Along with 2 League victories over that time. 2015/16 and 2016/17. In 2009 Valley had an unbeaten season with wins in the league and Grand Championship! In the 2002/03 seasons Valley first team went undefeated for 16 consecutive matches taking out the League and then the Grand Championship. In the same season, the coach and captain were awarded by the HKRFU with the Coach of the Year and the Player of the Year respectively. The Top Try Scorer award also went to a Valley player, with a record 25 tries. A number of Valley players represent the Hong Kong National team In recent years two Valley players have moved on to play in the Super 12 tournament in the southern hemisphere and several have moved into the National First Divisions in European teams. One player from 1999 also went on to represent the New Zealand All Blacks. In the 2002/03 seasons, two ex-Super 12 players represented Valley at Club level, raising the levels of experience and talent throughout the club. Valley has a long-standing rivalry with the neighbour Hong Kong Football Club known as the Valley derby. Valley holds the record for most consecutive Grand Championship wins with six in a row as of March 2018

Youth Rugby (Valley Fort RFC)

In 2002 Valley RFC re-established links with Stanley Fort so that it could build a better framework to cater for more youth sides and to help provide young rugby players with a seamless path from junior to senior rugby. In 2004, to enhance the affiliation with Valley RFC, Stanley Fort changed its name to Valley Fort RFC and now plays in black and red (following the senior team strip). Valley Fort is one of the larger mini-rugby clubs in Hong Kong and has over 600 registered players in its mini and colt sections. The club runs a number of teams at all age groups from Under 5's to Under 18s.

Ladies' Rugby

Valley Ladies (The Pink Ladies) was formed in 1996 as part of the development of women's rugby in Hong Kong. Ladies rugby in Hong Kong has evolved over the years from 7's rugby, 10-a-side rugby to the first season of 15's rugby being played in 2002–2003. At the time Valley couldn't field a women's 15's side, however they did continue in the ladies 7's league. They are supported by the same coaches and levels of expertise available to the men's section. Off the field and off-season they are as active with touch and tag rugby and Dragon Boating where this year The Pink Ladies Dragon Boating squad won the plate winners narrowly beating the Hockey section Avalon Maidens.

Hockey

Comprising five Men's teams and five Ladies' teams, the hockey section is the largest section within Valley RFC with over 200 active members

Netball

Valley RFC currently has 11 Netball teams competing throughout the 7 divisions of the Hong Kong Netball Association. Valley RFC Netball is one of the most successful and decorated netball clubs in Hong Kong bringing home over 20 league trophies in the Senior Women's Competition. Because of our history and success, Valley Netball continues to be the most coveted club attracting over 150 players to our Women's League annual August trials. Valley Netball has recently recruited Joline Henry, former Silver Fern as player and coach.

Honours

  • Hong Kong Premiership
    • Grand Champions: 2003, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017
    • League winners: 2003, 2016, 2017

2017-2018 Squad

in bold = international players
Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.

Player Position Union
Alex Ng Prop Hong Kong Hong Kong
Ben Higgins Prop Hong Kong Hong Kong
Taukiha'amea Koloamatangi Prop New Zealand New Zealand
Grant Kemp Prop Hong Kong Hong Kong
Dayne Jans Hooker Hong Kong Hong Kong
Toby Fenn Lock Hong Kong Hong Kong
Martin Muller Lock South Africa South Africa
Benjamin Dechartres Lock France France
Thomas Lamboley Number 8 Hong Kong Hong Kong
Karetai Williams Number 8 New Zealand New Zealand
Nick Hewson Flanker Hong Kong Hong Kong
Carl Marks Flanker South Africa South Africa
Ruan Du Plooy Scrum-half South Africa South Africa
Ben Rimene Scrum-half Hong Kong Hong Kong
Lee Jones Centre Hong Kong Hong Kong
Matt Rosslee Centre Hong Kong Hong Kong
Leroy Van Dam Centre New Zealand New Zealand
Alastair Maclay Wing Hong Kong Hong Kong
Hugo Chui Wing Hong Kong Hong Kong
Tiger Bax Wing South Africa South Africa
Sean Conner Wing South Africa South Africa
Josh Gordon Wing New Zealand New Zealand
Doug Fluker Fullback New Zealand New Zealand
Paul Altier Fullback Hong Kong Hong Kong
Hugo Stiles Fullback Hong Kong Hong Kong

Notable former players

  • Hong Kong Rambo Leung - Hong Kong international.
  • Hong Kong Matthew Deayton - Hong Kong international.
  • Hong Kong Rodney McIntosh - Hong Kong international and New Zealand Maori
  • Hong Kong Vaughnan Going - Hong Kong international and former Top14 and English Premiership player
  • Hong Kong Stuart Krohn - Hong Kong international and Stade Toulousain player.
  • Hong Kong Robin Bredbury - Hong Kong international.
  • Hong Kong Owen Sussex - Hong Kong Sevens international, Hong Kong international.
  • Hong Kong Mark Ashall - Hong Kong Sevens international, Hong Kong international.
  • Hong Kong Dean Herewini - Hong Kong international.
  • Hong Kong Terence Montgomery - Hong Kong international.
  • New Zealand Kevin Curtis - former Taranaki Rugby Union player.
  • England Grant Livingston - former London Scottish player.
  • Hong Kong Niall Rowark - Hong Kong international.
  • Hong Kong Salom Yiu - Hong Kong international.
  • Hong Kong Jack Bennett - Hong Kong international.
  • Hong Kong Kirk Munro - Hong Kong international.
  • Hong Kong Justin Temara - Hong Kong international.
  • Scotland Andrew Kelly - former Edinburgh Rugby player. Scotland A. international.
  • Hong Kong Alex Baddeley - Hong Kong international.
  • France Dave Vainqueur - former Top14 player
  • Hong Kong Adam Rolston - Hong Kong international.
  • Hong Kong Ed Rolston - former Leicester Tigers player and Hong Kong international.
  • Hong Kong Max Woodward - Hong Kong international (Union and Sevens).
  • Hong Kong Ryan Meacham - Hong Kong international (Union and Sevens).
  • United States Stuart Krohn

See also