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The North Harbour Rays will host the Perth Spirit at Brookvale Oval, Manly in their Round 5 clash of the National Rugby Championship. Join The Roar from 5:15pm (AEST) for live scores and commentary.
Perth Spirit will have come out of last week’s match against competition front runners Melbourne Rising rueing missed opportunities but also confident that they can hold it with the competitions best.
Consequently, Perth will be looking to build on a positive first 15 minutes that saw the side outperform Rising.
There has also been a number of changes in the Perth camp this week. Prop Joe Savage will step in as captain, Richard Hardwick will move to the blindside flank with Kane Koteka elevated to openside flanker.
The North Harbour Rays are in a similar position to Perth.
Sitting at second last in the table the side will be demanding a clinical performance boost confidence and stop naysayers coming into the business end of the short season.
Losses to Brisbane City, the Rams and Melbourne will have them desperate in this one, and this is a game they can certainly win.
Losing Matt Hodgson can’t have helped, of course, but the form of fly-half Zac Holmes will encourage supporters. Matt Lucas again impressed last week and has subsequently retained his spot over the skilled Josh Holmes.
Despite these strong individual performances it is critical that the side comes together as one unit if they are to become competitive in this new competition.
Manly will look to their hulking captain Greg Peterson to give some much needed grunt to the forward pack – and if the predominately Manly Marlins comprised pack can do so they should be able to give attacking threats Cam Crawford, and the like, purchase on this game.
With neither Perth nor North Harbour particularly impressive so far this competition, it will be interesting one to watch. It’s a twilight fixture at Brookvale Oval, so should be a great one to watch between two evenly matched sides.
Tip: Perth by 10
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.