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National Rugby Championship final: Brisbane City-Perth Spirit preview

30th October, 2014
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Brynard Stander of the Perth Spirit goes over for a try (Photo: Sonny Harmanto Photography)
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30th October, 2014
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The National Rugby Championship decider is upon us, and even though the two combatants in the Final are something of a surprise, it still shapes as a thrilling conclusion to what has been a thoroughly enjoyable first season of the competition.

After a couple of shock results in the semis saw third-placed Brisbane City suddenly earning the hosting rights for the final, the surprises have disappeared this week.

Whereas a week ago you could’ve excused the NRC trophy engraver for starting his work early (M-E-L-B…), both City and Perth now come into this game with genuine chances of taking the title.

And after using 42 different players in the NRC – 25 of them from outside the Western Force squad – there’s a wonderful irony that Perth will head into the match the most settled, having named an unchanged 23-man squad yesterday.

Brisbane, on the other hand, were rocked this week with the news that barnstorming centre, Samu Kerevi, had been ruled out of the final, the only change to the City starting XV. Nick Stiles has made three changes to his bench, with Reds lock Tim Buchanan, and his University of Queensland teammates Will Thompson and James Dalgleish covering scrumhalf and flyhalf, respectively.

In a cosmetic change only, Perth centres Ammon Matuauto and Junior Rasolea will switch positions – or at least jerseys – for the Final.

Brisbane City (3rd) v Perth Spirit (4th) @ Ballymore Oval, Brisbane; Saturday November 1, 6:30pm local time (7:30pm AEDT)
The battle of the backrow will be worth the price of Ballymore admission alone, where City’s all-Reds trio of Curtis Browning, Liam Gill, and Jake Schatz will have their work cut out for them up against the very impressive Perth loosies Brynard Stander, Kane Koteka, and Al Rovira.

Rovira is one player I’m been really impressed with during this tournament, where the high-workrate number 8 has genuinely got better every week. He just seems to have excelled in this company, despite very few other than Perth club rugby followers really knowing anything about him.

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Perth’s defensive pressure and breakdown presence was outstanding in their semi last week, and was the major reason why Melbourne couldn’t get away to the fast start they did in most other games previously.

Brisbane worked incredibly hard in the tight stuff to firstly catch and then overtake NSW Country last Friday night, and then played superbly well to keep Country out of reach in the last quarter of the game by playing the game at the other end of the field.

Both teams are equally adept at controlling field position and turning defensive opportunities into attack in a heartbeat. It means that accuracy and execution in the attacking ruck are going to have to be spot on.

Once again, I’ve been lucky enough to speak to both coaches against this week in the buildup to the final, and it was very easy to pick up the anticipation in both Stiles and Spirit co-coach Kevin Foote – who were Western Force colleagues in 2013 – when we spoke. Just as is the case for the players, the NRC Final represents the first opportunity for these young coaches to pick up a domestic title too.

I put three questions to the coaches this week: where their Semi Final was won, how they’ll beat their fellow finalists and which opposition threats they will have to be most mindful of.

Brisbane City's Nick Frisby

From the coaches – Nick Stiles (Brisbane City):
“A lot of belief [got us over the line last Friday night]. NSW Country have got a very strong side, and they came out and threw everything at us. They got off their defensive line really quickly, and were physical in their tackles. We just needed to go the line with a few more numbers.”

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“I thought we were isolated in that first half, so in the second half we ran the ball with better support and that meant we got quicker ball at the breakdown and we were able to get into our attacking rhythm a bit more. We played a field position game through continuity, and having that breeze in the second half just helped everything along as well.

“You’ve got to try and out-work Perth. They’re very good with their work ethic in their defensive line, and they present very few holes for you to be making any line breaks so you’ve got to be prepared to just bide your time against them.

“We’ll have to build continuity like we did in that second half last week. It’s funny, you look at the game last week and what NSW Country tried to do – they had a very Force-oriented game plan against us.

“They put some late shots on the halfback, held him down to restrict him from getting to the next breakdown, which slows down the speed of ruck ball and that means you can get off the defensive line even quicker. So it was really a great warm up for what we’ll get this weekend against the Spirit.”

“When we played them in Round 2 over there in Perth, they looked very dangerous on the fringe down right-hand side. You look at the backs they’ve got: Junior Rasolea, Luke Morahan, Marcel Brache, Dane Haylett-Petty – there’s a lot of speed out there, and a lot of attacking ability, so I’m sure they’ll be trying to target us just on the fringe of our defensive line.”

Kevin Foote (Perth)
“I thought our preparation for Melbourne was really good. Dave [Wessels, Perth co-coach] was really calm, and I think the players got a really good sense of that and learned really well from that. I thought our breakdown was exceptional and our defence, which has been a hallmark of the Force over the last year, just put us in good stead. We put them under pressure, they couldn’t score, and then we capitalised on the back of that.

“It was a very good Rising side, but I just thought our physicality in defence and at the breakdown did the job for us.

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“Brisbane are a good team, and with ‘Stilesy’ you know they’re going to have a good set piece, and again the breakdown, so they’ve got Frisby and a couple of game breakers around the attacking zones, so we’ve got make sure our defence is tight again, and that we can hurt their set piece and make sure ours goes well. We’ve got to play the game in the right position, and manage ourselves well, and I think if we can do that then we’ve got a good chance.

“Like I say, their set piece is really good. Stilesy went really well with their Super Rugby side’ lineout and their mauling was good, and in the backs they’ve got Frisby, who’s a good running nine and their back three are massively good runners as well. So we don’t want those guys running at us in our own half; we’ve got to make sure we can play the game at the right end of the field.”

City (1-15): 1 Pettowa Paraka, 2 Andrew Ready, 3 Sef Faagase, 4 Marco Kotze, 5 Dave McDuling (C), 6 Curtis Browning, 7 Liam Gill, 8 Jake Schatz, 9 Nick Frisby, 10 Jake McIntyre, 11 Matt Feaunati, 12 Jack Mullins, 13 Toby White, 14 Chris Kuridrani, 15 Brando Va’aulu.

Replacements: 16 Matt Mafi, 17 David Feao, 18 Phil Kite, 19 Tim Buchanan, 20 Adam Korczyk, 21 Will Thompson, 22 James Dalgleish, 23 Junior Laloifi.

Sprit (1-15): 1. Pek Cowan, 2. Robbie Abel, 3. Oliver Hoskins, 4. Sam Wykes (c), 5. Brent Murphy, 6. Brynard Stander, 7. Kane Koteka, 8. Alex Rovira, 9. Ian Prior, 10. Zack Holmes, 11. Marcel Brache, 12. Ammon Matuauto, 13. Solomoni Rasolea, 14. Luke Morahan, 15. Dane Haylett-Petty.

Replacements: 16. Harry Scoble, 17. Joe Savage, 18. Chris Heiberg, 19. Kieran Stringer, 20. Richard Hardwick, 21. Justin Turner, 22. Davis Tavita, 23. Christian Joubert.

Referee: Rohan Hoffmann; Will Houston and Damien Mitchellmore (ARs), Greg Milne (TMO).

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TV: Fox Sports 3, 7:30pm AEDT.

Last Time: Sunday August 31 – Perth lost 20 lost to Brisbane City 26, at the University of Western Australia.

Tickets: from Eventopia or via www.redsrugby.com.au, or at the gate.

Tickets start at just $20 for adults and $15 for concession for online purchases and $5 for juniors. Adults and concession tickets will cost an additional $5 if purchased at the gate (adults $25, concession $20).

A family ticket package is also available online for $50, which admits two adults and up to four juniors. As a special offer for the family package, juniors can redeem an exclusive Reds player wall sticker from the merchandise shop at Ballymore Stadium (while stocks last).

The Ballymore gates open at 3:15pm Brisbane time, with finals of the Kings and Queens of Pacific Rugby tournaments kicking off from 3:30pm AEST. The women’s Sevens will conclude on the day, while the men’s 15s Final will be played between Queensland Tonga and the Scott Allen-coached Queensland Samoa.

And I know there were questions about this earlier in the week, as is now tradition at Ballymore, fans will be allowed on the field following the trophy presentation of the NRC final.

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Robbie Abel of the Perth Spirit palms off from Jed Holloway of the Greater Sydney Rams

Twitter: #BRIvPER

I’m seriously looking forward to the final, and though it wasn’t the final envisaged last week, it’s arguably the best-case scenario in terms of the likely spectacle, both from the teams themselves and the size of the crowd. Queensland rugby are anticipating another big Ballymore crowd, which will provide for a wonderful atmosphere worth of the decider. And it’s my first trip to the spiritual home of the Reds, too.

A tip? Phaaaw, this is the tough bit, with two equally matched sides in decent form. Perth’s best chance will to pretty much mirror their approach from last week, I think, because I’m not so sure they can chase a lead as well as they can front run.

In the end, I think the fact the game’s at Ballymore just tips the scales toward Brisbane City. But there won’t be much in this, less than a converted try would be my guess.

Brett will be attending the Final at Ballymore courtesy of NRC Naming Rights Partner, Buildcorp.

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