The NRC wrap: Round 1

Australian rugby’s brand new, all-singing, all-dancing domestic rugby competition, the National Rugby Championship, kicked off in wonderful fashion in Brisbane, Canberra, Sydney, and Melbourne over the weekend.

We saw a total of 238 points and 35 tries scored across the four games. If that’s your measure of exciting rugby, then the NRC is for you.

More importantly, a combination of official and estimated crowd figures equates to more than 8500 people getting out to the four games, two of which were played in rain.

Knowing the budgets and expectations around crowds and gate-takings have been set deliberately low, this will undoubtedly please the accountants at NRC HQ.

When we originally planned this column for each Monday, the assumption was that we would be able to watch every game in a round by one method or another. As we reported last week, and as you’ll all have discovered by now, none of the three NRC games on Saturday and Sunday were streamed.

Which makes writing a weekly wrap tough!

So here’s how it’s going to work in the interim: the Brisbane City versus Sydney, and Canberra versus Perth wraps are based on how I saw them first-hand. I’ve offered up some preliminary thoughts on NSW Country versus Greater Sydney, and Melbourne versus North Harbour based on reports, our live blogs, and the like.

I’ll come back and update those preliminary thoughts after I’ve watched the ARU-hosted replays today.

It’s not ideal, but like the general streaming situation, we’re hoping it will improve as the season goes on.

Brisbane City 45 defeated Sydney Stars 20. Crowd: 3400
Ballymore Oval hosted the first ever NRC match, and what an attacking festival it was. Despite near-torrential rain by fulltime, the hardy souls enjoyed a match where the scoreline really didn’t fit the conditions.

One of the clear observations coming out of the opening game was that despite the value and incentive to kick penalty goals being lowered, NRC teams will still need good goal kickers.

Sydney absolutely dominated the first half, but because flyhalf Stuart Dunbar couldn’t land a conversion from four first-half attempts into a stiff – and wet – wind, a second converted try to Brisbane on the halftime bell meant they went into the sheds trailing by just four points.

After the break, the class and experience of Reds scrumhalf Nick Frisby came to the fore, and his game management and superb kicking game, along with three tries in 20 minutes, quickly put the game out of Sydney’s reach.

The law variations had the desired effect, with neither side taking a shot at penalty goal for the night, and ten tries scored.

Honourable mentions (and a suggestions for a better title than that are welcome; winner gets a mention next week): Reds centre Samu Kerevi was the star for Brisbane City, a handful every time he touched the shiny new bright yellow NRC ball. He was prominent in just about everything good coming from the City side of the game.

Sydney outside centre Jim Stewart was also very good, playing a very physical and direct game for someone only 20 years of age.

Canberra Vikings 23 lost to Perth Spirit 28. Crowd: 1500 (Vikings’ est.)
The first thing I thought of at the end of this game – other than how rough a job I’d done on the live match blog – was that the similarities between the Vikings of 2007 and 2014 are spooky.

In the ARC, the Brumbies-laden Vikings were expected to be one of the best teams in the competition, but struggled to find a groove in the opening rounds, and ended up finishing sixth.

Against the then newly-formed Melbourne Rebels at home, Canberra stuttered their way through the game and were left to rue so many missed opportunities, as they lost the opening ARC game by five points.

In their first NRC game, also at home, Canberra stuttered their way through the game and were again left to rue so many missed opportunities as they lost to Perth by five points. Uncanny!

Perth jumped out to a flyer at Viking Park, and their Super Rugby experienced halves, Justin Turner and Zack Holmes, steered them around the park really well. Force hooker Heath Tessmann was really good up front, as was captain Rory Walton.

Canberra played for 50 minutes as if they met in the car park before the game, and then scored four tries in 20 minutes to lead by 10 with 10 to go. Perth looked shot at that point, but as Brisbane found on Thursday night, one converted try can catapult you back into the game in a moment.

In the end, Perth outside centre Ammon Matuauto scored from a set piece for the win with next to nothing left on the clock, and I’ll just let my blog post tell the tale again:

And that’s as soft a set piece try as they come!

Perth centre Ammon Matuauto has run clean past the Canberra defenders and raced 40m to score, despite the [attempted] Mogg tackle.

Oh, and Christian Lealiifano’s kicking woes continue, with the Wallabies midfielder admitting after the game, “It’s starting to get to me a bit now, a lot of people have put faith in me to step up in that area and I just keep letting everyone down. I’ll just keep at it and hopefully it will come around soon.”

Honourables: I was really pleased to see Justin Turner playing again, but Tessmann was the best Perth player. Led from the front, and provided the required experience in a young pack. Might be timely, too, with Force teammate Nathan Charles picking up an injury in Auckland, and the plague on Australian hookers becoming endemic. Tessmann might be the next in line for a call up.

Young Brumby Tom Staniforth and his lock partner, Canberra local player Tim Cree, were the Vikings’ best.

NSW Country Eagles 31 defeated Greater Sydney Rams 2. Crowd: 1500 (Eagles’ est.)
This was the shock result of the weekend, not because Country won, but that the Rams weren’t able to cross the stripe at all.

We were rather surprised in Canberra to hear the 2-all halftime scoreline – the only two penalties kicked for the weekend – but then in what sounded like pretty ordinary conditions, I suppose you still need to take points if tries are hard to come by.

In the second half, it sounds and reads like Country hit their straps, with Matt Carraro ad Paddy Dellit prominent in attack. I’ve heard good things about young flyhalf Sam Windsor, and so I look forward to seeing the replay.

Melbourne Rising 55 defeated North Harbour Rays 34. Crowd: 2187
In what sounded like a really entertaining second half, according to the RebRadio boys, the Rays fought back well to lead 26-21 at halftime, only to see Melbourne put on 26 points in the last 20 minutes to run away with the bonus point win in a 13-try thriller.

Apparently Lopeti Timani and Jack Debreczeni were Melbourne’s best, while I look forward to seeing the performance of outside centre Sefanaia Naivalu, who I’ve only heard good things about so far.

For North Harbour, replacement hooker Dave Porecki was the player most mentioned in reports.

NRC ladder after Round 1
NSW Country Eagles 5
Melbourne Rising 5
Brisbane City 4
Perth Spirit 4
Canberra Vikings 1
North Harbour Rays 0
Sydney Stars 0
Greater Sydney Rams 0
Queensland Country 0

Full and official table can be viewed here.