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The National Rugby Championship hits the City of Churches as the Perth Spirit and the Greater Sydney Rams clash in Round 3 of the competition at Thebarton Oval.
Join The Roar for live scores, commentary, and a preview of the event from 2:30pm AEST.
Taking away the Australian Rugby Shield – which ran from 2000-2008 and featured an Adelaide team – this will be the first time South Australia has hosted a competitive match in a national rugby union competition.
The closest Adelaide has got to hosting a national match was when the Western Force played an invitational team in South Australia during 2012.
Now their sister team – the Perth Spirit – will play the Greater Sydney Rams in Adelaide at Thebarton Oval.
Adelaide did bid for a license into the new competition but were denied an entry by the ARU.
Today provides an opportunity for the state board to show what they have got and get a bumper crowd to the event to show that the state wants a team.
The board are looking to enter the competition with another bid for 2016 and today’s game could be significant in the process to enter the championship.
While today is important in off field activities, the game on the field is also big for both teams.
Both teams have struggled so far this season with another loss by either team putting more pressure on them as they fight for a top four finish at the end of the season.
For the Greater Sydney Rams, this is a must win clash, as they look to secure their first points of the campaign.
Their first two matches saw them concede an average of 34 points per game as they were defeated by the NSW Country Eagles and the Canberra Vikings.
That will be an area of focus for the Rams this week as they try to increase their attack and reduce the amount of points they concede.
The Rams have made four changes for the clash.
Chris Alcock (groin) and Afa Pakalani (shoulder) are out with injuries.
Alcock will be replaced by Dylan Sigg who will play as number 5 with Stephen Mafi moving from lock to flanker to cover the loss of Alcock.
Pakalani has been replaced by Jarome McKenzie who makes his debut for the Rams. Finally, Mark Swanepool, comes into the team at scrumhalf to replace Auvasa Faleali’i.
With the inclusion of McKenzie to the team this will be the first match of the Greater Sydney Rams that has one representative from each of the 5 feeder clubs.
On the other hand the Perth Spirit has made 14 first team changes to the team that lost to Brisbane City last week.
Only Dillyn Leyds – who moves from flyhalf to fullback – remains in the squad from the clash.
That is an incredible turnaround to a squad in a week.
How that affects the team will be an interesting aspect of the match.
With so many changes to the team this evens the matchup between the two teams.
Based on the previous two weeks, the Spirit looked to be too strong for the Rams, in both attack and defence.
They impressed during the first round against the Vikings but lost a close one last week against Brisbane. They currently sit in 5th position. Can they replicate that feat with so many changes?
The attack and defence will be different, as players get used to each other in the team. This makes the match an even contest and it will go down to the wire.
I’m going to lean towards a Spirit win but the Rams are a big chance to win their first match.
Tip: Perth Spirit by two points.
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.