The third round of the NRC kicks off this weekend, and after another round of entertaining football in Round 2, narratives are really starting to develop around the teams.

With a host of Wallaby squad members available for selection, and some encouraging noises coming about the potential for games to be streamed, there’s nothing more to do than watch some football, and if you’re that way inclined, get out to the games.

Not all of the Wallabies that have been touted as available selection will play this weekend, but a hunch tells me that the Canberra Vikings are going to be playing some exciting rugby this weekend.

We’ll all get the opportunity to watch the footy on Thursday and Saturday. Live streaming ideas are coming together, and the opening game of the round will be on Foxtel, so let’s get stuck into the preview of the action.

North Harbour Rays vs NSW Country Eagles
Brookvale Oval
Thursday 4 September, 7:30pm AEST
TV: Fox Sports

In his Round 2 wrap, Brett McKay named NSW Country as one of his teams to watch this tournament.

Bonus-point wins over the Rams and Queensland Country in the first two weeks sees the Eagles sitting pretty on top of the ladder.

North Harbour played their first match last round, coming up against a rampant Melbourne Rising side. They had 55 points scored against them, but with a pretty stacked backline including Waratah Cam Crawford and Shute Shield player of the year Hamish Angus, managed to score 34 themselves.

The Rays are a very Warringah-heavy side in general, and should profit from combinations built over a pretty successful Shute Shield season. Luke and Josh Holmes will both have plenty to do, particularly at the breakdown to get over the NSW Country pack.

Will Miller, by all accounts, had a storming game for the Eagles last week, and has already been positioned as one of the discoveries of the tournament. Along with the considerable Super Rugby experience of Mitchell Chapman and Steven Hoiles, it’s a strong set of forwards.

Combine that with the organisation of McKibbin, and the midfield of Stubbs and Carraro, it’s little wonder the Eagles are sitting at number one on the table.

You would hope this one is close, but that Eagles side does look imposing.

Team news:

Rays:
15. Cam Crawford (Northern Suburbs), 14. David Feltscheer (Warringah), 13. Michael Adams (Warringah), 12. Tom Matthews (Gordon), 11. Harry Jones (Warringah), 10. Hamish Angus (Warringah), 9. Josh Holmes (Warringah), 8. Sam Ward (Warringah), 7. Kotoni Ale (Manly), 6. Michael Wells (Northern Suburbs), 5. Greg Peterson (c) (Manly), 4. Ed Gower (Manly), 3. Nick Fraser (Gordon), 2. Luke Holmes (vc) (Warringah), 1. Mitch Lewis (Manly)

Reserves:
16. Dave Porecky (Manly), 17. Kevin McNamara (Northern Suburbs), 18. tba, 19. Ryan Melrose (Manly), 20. Harry Bergelin (Manly), 21. Matt Lucas (Manly), 22. Sam Vaevae (Manly), 23. Brian Sefanaia (Manly)

Eagles:
1. Duncan Chubb, 2. Will Weeks, 3. Mike Alaalatoa, 4. Cam Treloar, 5. Mitch Chapman, 6. Tala Gray, 7. Will Miller, 8. Steve Holies, 9. Brendan McKibbin, 10. Sam Windsorm 11. Andrew Kellaway, 12. Ed Stubbs, 13. Matt Carraro (c), 14. Samu Wara, 15. Pat Dellit

Reserves:
16. Ben Suisala, 17. Billy Johnston, 18. Clay Brodie, 19. Ben Matwijow, 20. Paul Tuala, 21. Darcy Etrich, 22. Apakuki Ma’afu, 23. Malakai Watene-Zelezniak

Tickets: You can tickets as well as longer term passes here.

Twitter: #RaysvEAG

Perth Spirit vs Greater Sydney Rams
Adelaide Airport Stadium
Saturday 6 September, 2:00pm AEST

Our man Brett McKay hailed Perth’s game against Brisbane City as the game of the tournament so far. Even though they lost, Perth would be buoyed by some good showings in their two hitouts so far, and will be keen to show up the point-less Rams in front of the good people of Adelaide.

It might not just be in front of the good people of Adelaide either, with talk being bandied about that this game might be live streamed, which would be welcome news after the initial disappointment of no streams.

Kyle Godwin might be a very crucial cog of the Perth setup, but it looks like the travel might have gotten the better of him and Ben McCalman this week. They haven’t announced their team yet, but the word is that neither will be named.

They also lose Matt Hodgson, who is on Wallaby duty this week, but should retain the rest of their Force stars. Hodgson is a bit of a body blow, and his pilfering work will be just as missed as his leadership around the park. This presents a huge opportunity for the Rams.

They will need that opportunity too, having only managed 20 points in their two games thus far, the least of any team in the competition. The talent is undoubtedly there in the Greater Sydney squad, but capitalising on it this weekend is crucial if they’re going to get their season moving in the right direction.

It’s also a great opportunity for all South Australian rugby fans to get to a high quality game and get behind a team whichever one you choose.

Team news:

Perth Spirit
1. Alec Hepburn (Cottesloe), 2. Robbie Abel (Cottesloe), 3. Oliver Hoskins (Cottesloe), 4. Corey Thomas (UWA), 5. Kieran Stringer (Cottesloe), 6. Brent Murphy (Perth Bayswater), 7. Kane Koteka (Wests Scarborough), 8. Alex Rovira (Associates), 9. Ian Prior (c) (Nedlands), 10. Zack Holmes (Associates), 11. Vili Fielea (Cottesloe), 12. Luke Burton (UWA), 13. Ammon Matuauto (Associates), 14. Brad Lacey (Wests Scarborough), 15. Dillyn Leyds (Palmyra)

Replacements:
16. Harry Scoble (UWA), 17. Joe Savage (Palmyra), 18. Chris Heiberg (Perth Bayswater), 19. Rory Walton (Wests Scarborough), 20. Richard Hardwick (UWA), 21. Justin Turner (Associates), 22. Davis Tavita (Nedlands), 23. Va’a Mailei (Palmyra)

Greater Sydney Rams
1. Benn Robinson, 2. Hugh Roach, 3. Guy Millar, 4. Jared Barry, 5. Dylan Sigg, 6. Steve Mafi, 7. Hugh Perrett, 8. Jed Holloway (Captain), 9. Mark Swanepoel, 10. Ben Volavola, 11. Taqele Naiyaravaro, 12. Henry Taefu, 13. Michael McDougall, 14. Jerome McKenzie, 15. Dane Chisholm

Replacements:
16. Maile Ngauamo, 17. Jed Gillespie (FR), 18. Dave Lolohea (FR), 19. Michale Kovavcic, 20. Pat Sio, 21. Vasa Falaelii, 22. Jai Ayoub, 23. Lalakai Foketi

Tickets: Very reasonably priced tickets for all rugby fans in South Australia (and beyond) can be purchased here.

Twitter: #PERvRAM

Live Stream: There are whispers of a live stream for this match, but nothing confirmed yet.

The Roar‘s live blog: We’ll be covering this, thanks to our man on the ground Shane Jones. Stay tuned!

Canberra Vikings vs Queensland Country
Viking Park, Canberra
Saturday 6 September, 2:30pm AEST

A thumping win over the Rams and a loss to Perth means the Vikings find themselves right in the thick of things. With a host of Brumbies in their side, you might have expected more from them.

With Henry Speight, Joe Tomane, Christian Lealiifano and Robbie Coleman all available for selection this weekend, the Vikings would be disappointed if they couldn’t get the job done against one of the four teams on zero points so far, Queensland Country.

Anthony Fainga’a’s team would be disappointed with their initial hitout, finding it hard to breach their country rivals from NSW’s defence in their opening encounter.

You could blame it on the lack of match practice after having the bye this round, but there will be no excuses this time, except that they are coming up against one of the most stacked line-ups we’re likely to see this tournament.

Country do have the promise of some added potency coming into the line-up though, with JJ Taulagi fit to play this round.

Team news:

Vikings
1. JP Smith, 2. Seilala Lam, 3. Ruan Smith, 4. Tom Staniforth, 5. Tim Cree, 6. Jordan Smiler, 7. Jarrad Butler, 8. Fotu Auelua (c), 9. Michael Dowsett, 10. Christian Lealiifano, 11. Joe Tomane, 12. Robbie Coleman, 13. Nigel Ah Wong, 14. Henry Speight, 15. Jesse Mogg

Replacements: 16. Mitch Wade, 17. Seoni Taula, 18. Les Makin, 19. Dave McKern, 20. Sean Doyle, 21. Edan Campbell-O’Brien, 22. Isaac Thompson 23. Rodney Iona

Queensland Country
1. Haydn Hirsimaki – Sunnybank, 2. Ryan Freney – GPS, 3. Greg Holmes (VC) – Reds/Sunnybank, 4. Rubin Fuimaono – Bond University, 5. Dan Gorman – GPS, 6. James Turner – Souths, 7. Beau Robinson – Reds/Souths, 8. Ben Adams – Sunnybank, 9. Scott Gale – Reds WTS/University of Queensland, 10. Matt Brandon – Easts, 11. Giles Beveridge – Brothers, 12. Anthony Fainga’a (C) – Reds/GPS, 13. Clynton Knox – Brothers, 14. Pierce Fitzgerald – Brothers, 15. Jamie-Jerry Taulagi – Reds/University of Queensland

Replacements:
16. Tonga Ma’afu – Norths, 17. Campbell Wakely – University of Queensland, 18. Fred Burke – GPS, 19. Sam Fattal – Easts, 20. Mitch King – GPS, 21. James Tuttle – GPS, 22. Rota Setu – University of Queensland, 23. Todd Winkley – GPS

Tickets: Very reasonably priced tickets for all rugby fans in South Australia (and beyond) can be purchased here.

Twitter: #VIKvQueensland

Live Stream: This looks to be the only game this round that won’t have live coverage. All the more reason to get to the game!

The Roar’s live blog: Any Canberra-based Roarers out there want to live blog this game for us? Get in touch if you do.

Brisbane City vs Melbourne Rising
Ballymore, Brisbane
Saturday 6 September, 3:00pm AEST

Well, there’s big news coming out of the Brisbane City camp. It relates to a certain scrum-half, who has captained both his state and (briefly) country. He forms arguably Australia’s best scrum-base combination with another well known Reds player.

Oh, codsarnit, not more screwing around. Will Genia will be seen donning the Brisbane City jersey this weekend. This is great news, as the little general would surely be a welcome addition to the Wallabies squad if he proves his fitness over the course of some NRC matches.

The question, though, is what that means for Nick Frisby, who has been on fire in the first two rounds of action. Does he move positions, or simply shift to the bench? You would think they would do their best to accommodate both players, but the problem is both are very much specialists.

Rising are cruising right now, and we can expect a very similar team to the one that took the field last week to play on Saturday. That means we’ll get to see more of rangy fly-half Jack Debreczini steering them around the park. Combining with Tom English and Nick Stirzaker could spell another truckload or points for Rising, who have already managed games of 45 and 55 so far this season.

Team news:
1. Toby Smith (Melbourne Uni/Melbourne Rebels), 2. Tom Sexton (Power House/Melbourne Rebels), 3. Paul Alo-Emile (Power House/Melbourne Rebels), 4. Sam Jeffries (Melbourne Uni/Melbourne Rebels), 5. Cadeyrn Neville (Foostcray/Melbourne Rebels), 6. Luke Jones (Moorabbin/Melbourne Rebels), 7. Sean McMahon (Endeavour Hills/Melbourne Rebels), 8. Lopeti Timani (Footscray/Melbourne Rebels), 9. Nic Stirzaker (Endeavour Hills/Melbourne Rebels) (Captain), 10. Jack Debreczeni (Endeavour Hills/Melbourne Rebels), 11. Tom English (Melbourne Uni/Melbourne Rebels), 12. Mitch Inman (Southern Districts/Melbourne Rebels) (Vice Captain), 13. Sefanaia Naivalu (Box Hill), 14. Telusa Veainu (Melbourne/Melbourne Rebels), 15. Jonah Placid (Melbourne Rebels)

Replacements:
16. Pat Leafa (Box Hill/Melbourne Rebels) (Vice Captain), 17. Tuiatua Tuia (Moorabbin), 18. Cruze Ah-Nau (Footscray/Melbourne Rebels), 19. Pom Simona (Harlequin) (Vice Captain), 20. Sione Taufa (Harlequin), 21. Luke Burgess (Melbourne/Melbourne Rebels), 22. Lloyd Johansson (Harlequin), 23. Joe Kamana (Moorabbin)

The return of Will Genia is the big one here for Brisbane City.

Tickets: You can find tickets for the game here.

Twitter: #BRIvMEL

Live Stream: Brisbane City and Queensland Country will be streaming all their home games live, so thankfully there’s going to be live coverage of this game.

The Roar‘s live blog: Expect to be able to follow the action here as there’s a live stream of the game.

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.