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NSW Country Eagles and Melbourne Rising are the equal competition leaders after two rounds of the National Rugby Championship. The Eagles rose to the top courtesy of their impressive 37-13 win over Queensland Country on the Gold Coast on Saturday, and were joined on Sunday after Melbourne’s big win, 45-13 over the Sydney Stars.
In the other games, University of Canberra opened their account with a win over the Greater Sydney Rams on Thursday, while in Perth on Sunday, the home side were run down by the still undefeated Brisbane City, 26-21.
The interesting observation about the NRC, now that we’ve seen two full rounds, is that while fitness needs to be good to last the distance with the increased tempo, the games are still very much won and lost on the back of a forwards platform. The scoreline might look like this is touch football at times, but it’s nothing like that in reality.
Greater Sydney Rams 18 lost to Canberra Vikings 37, at Parramatta Stadium. Crowd: 1500
The Vikings will be a little concerned with how slowly they’ve been starting games so far. However, if they get to the point where they’re dominating sides in most facets of the game, it’s probably not going to take up too much time in the post-match debrief.
Though the Rams dominated the opening quarter of this game, the Brumbies-contracted players within the Vikings soon started stamping their class on the contest. In the space of 25 minutes across halftime, Canberra put on 29 unanswered points to effectively ice the game.
A Jed Holloway intercept from a Vikings lineout narrowed the gap somewhat in the second half, but the Rams weren’t able to capitalise on their good fortune, and soon found themselves on the receiving end of yellow cards themselves, at which time Jarrad Butler went in for his second try.
One consistent theme in the NRC has emerged already. The Sydney teams, made up largely of Shute Shield players, can compete well for a period before superior quality players in the opposition ultimately run them down.
Vasa Falaelli for the Greater Sydney Rams against Canberra Vikings (J.B-Photography)
For the Rams, Ben Volavola, Jared Barry, and big Steve Mafi all had moments of brilliance in the first half, but once the game evened out in possession and territory, they no longer stood out.
What was equally interesting and significant in this match was that Christian Lealiifano’s kicking troubles meant that Jesse Mogg took all the shots at goal. Whether it was the Vikings coaches or Lealiifano himself making the call is immaterial; the point is he has to re-find his kicking form on his own time now.
Honourable mentions: Vikings’ flanker Jarrad Butler was the Fox Sports Man of the Match, and he was a pretty clear winner, too. He took out the Brumbies’ Players’ Player of the Year on Saturday night, too, which is a fair measure of how well he’s played this year.
No.8 and Captain Jed Holloway was the clear standout for the Rams. Too often, he was a lone hand.
Queensland Country 13 lost to NSW Country Eagles 37, at Bond University. Crowd: 1200
NSW country led 21-5 at halftime, and that felt like a fair reflection of the contest to that point. Queensland Country’s defence was string, despite conceding the three tries, but it didn’t feel like they had asked too many questions in attack.
NSW Country, on the other hand, played like a well-balanced side. The Super Rugby experience and class of Tala Gray and Stephen Hoiles in the Eagles’ back row was evident early, and Hoiles and Cam Treloar controlled the lineout very well. Young openside Will Miller is one to watch, too.
Out wide, young halves Mick Snowden and Sam Windsor just seem to have time on their hands, something all the really good players have, and young flyer Andrew Kellaway certainly knows how to find a tryline.
In the second half, Queensland Country started dominating the territory share, and they also discovered something of a weapon in their driving maul. Off the back of one lineout, they must have pushed it upwards of forty metres, and used it regularly and to great effect after that.
However much ground as they were making through the forwards, though, Queensland couldn’t find too many chinks in the Eagles’ defence. That, in the end, might’ve been the most impressive part of the Eagles’ performance.
Whenever they sensed a chance, they were able to convert it into points. Windsor’s cross-field kick for Paddy Dellit’s try in the second half being an obvious example, after they’d spent much of the 10 minutes preceding defending their own line. They never let Queensland Country through, but at the first opportunity at the other end, they could find points themselves. This is a mark of a good side, and they’re the team who have impressed me the most in the first two rounds.
Honourables: He was wearing no.6 for the Eagles and packed into a lot of scrums at No.8, but whatever, Tala Gray was very, very good. It’s a measure of how good a Waratahs squad member plays when Queensland Reds fans are saying they’d like him in their side. Harder to pick a standout for Queensland Country in a well-beaten side, though it was good to see Anthony Fainga’a back and running hard and straight at inside centre.
Sydney Stars 13 lost to Melbourne Rising 45, at Leichhardt Oval. Crowd: 1005
This was a new experience for me: following a rugby game via Twitter updates! Obviously, it’s a little difficult to get a handle on which team is dominating which aspect of the game, but you can get an idea of who had the bulk of possession, simply by the regularity of the score updates.
In this case – and I’d love for someone who was at the ground to verify or debunk accordingly – the impression was that after getting out to a good start, Melbourne then let the Stars in for two quick tries to level the scores, before scoring again on halftime and then well and truly going on with it after the break.
Once again, it sounds and reads like Melbourne’s game was built on forwards and set piece dominance, before unleashing some pretty potent backs. Jack Debreczeni and Tom English rated mentions, as did future cult hero Sefa Naivulu. Up front, Toby Smith was impressive prior to being subbed out.
Perth Spirit 21 lost to Brisbane City 26, at University of WA. Crowd: 2300
In what sounds and reads as if it might’ve been the game of the comp so far, Brisbane City came from behind in a tight and torrid second half to win 26-21 and keep their unbeaten record intact.
City scored the first try of the match, and even scored again right on the break, but the first half appears to have been fought on Perth’s terms, as they ran in three tries to two and lead 21-18.
After the break, this match turned into a proper grind, and Western Force skipper Matt Hodgson found himself in the sin bin within minutes as Perth spent a large chunk of the twenty minutes after the break camped in their own 22.
Kyle Godwin went close at one stage for Perth and then only minutes later, Brisbane City winger Junior Laloifi ran 90 metres to score, which with Jake McIntyre’s conversion become the final 26-21 scoreline with around fifteen minutes to play.
Junior Rasolea couldn’t evade the desperate last-ditch defence of Brisbane scrumhalf Nick Frisby in the last few minutes, putting a toe into touch with the tryline in sight. Brisbane were forced to hold out several phases on fulltime before forcing a knock on and Frisby booting the ball into touch.
I genuinely can’t wait to watch the second half replay when it comes online.
North Harbour Rays had the bye in Round 2.
NRC ladder after Round 2:
Melbourne Rising 10, NSW Country Eagles 10, Brisbane City 8, Canberra Vikings 5, Perth Spirit 5, North Harbour Rays 0, Queensland Country 0, Greater Sydney Rams 0, Sydney Stars 0.
Full and official table can be viewed here.