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The crowd turned out to watch a thoroughly entertaining match between Melbourne Rising and the North Harbour Rays on Sunday afternoon at AAMI Stadium in Melbourne.
Both sides showed attacking intent moving the ball from the outset.
The Rising shot out to a commanding lead within the first 20 minutes by scoring three quick fire tries. The Rays to their credit clawed their way back to lead at half time by 26 to 21.
The second half proved just as exciting as the first, evenly poised until the Rising managed to take the lead and pull away in the final 20 minutes.
Stand out performers for the rising were Timani, Debreczeni, Inman and local club player Sefanaia Naivalu who looks to have a bright future. For the Rays captain Peterson was prominent, as were Sefanaia and Fletscheer.
FINAL SCORE:
Melbourne 55
North Harbour 34
The Melbourne Rising will take on the North Harbour Rays in the final match of the opening round of the National Rugby Championship at AAMI Park in Melbourne on Sunday afternoon. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 2:00pm (AEST).
Its been a little bit of “heading into the unknown” for all sides in the opening round of the new ARU backed competition.
Not only do the players have new franchises to contend with, which involves them representing a new side with new team mates, but there are also several rule changes that have been thrown at them.
The Melbourne Rising have named seven players from Victoria’s premier Club Rugby competition, the Dewar Shield, in the match day 23 with Box Hill centre Sefanaia Naivalu and Harlequin flanker Sione Taufa starting for the Melbourne Rising alongside thirteen contracted Rabo Direct Rebels players – there are five further Dewar Shield players named on the bench.
Luke Jones, Mitch Inman, Cadeyrn Neville and Tom English are all knocking on the door of the Wallabies and Rising Head Coach Sean Hedger will look to this quartet to lead his side from the front.
The North Harbour Rays who are made up of players from Shute Shield clubs Manly, Warringah, Northern Suburbs and Gordon will be captained by Manly lock Greg Peterson.
Head Coach Geoff Townsend will look at the Super Rugby experience of his opponents on Saturday with a hint of envy, however also Townsend has a strong core of Shute Shield performers in his squad who will be determined to prove a point that they belong at the next echelon.
Gower and Peterson in the second row could be key players for the Rays with both likely looking to the NRC to provide some solace for another heartbreaking near-championship finish in the Shute Shield.
The Rays have some especially exciting outside backs in Feltscheer and Crawford so expect them to look to try to get the ball in the speedsters hands as much as possible.
Prediction: The Rising should have too much big game experience for the Rays – that and home ground advantage should see the Rising run out by 12.
Join The Roar for live score updates from 2:00pm (AEST).
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.