NRC wrap Round 3: Melbourne Rising to the outright lead

If last week was where Melbourne and NSW Country announced themselves in the NRC, then Round 3 was the week where Melbourne Rising took that announcement, underlined it, upped the font and clicked on the ‘bold’ button for good measure.

Bad puns aside, Melbourne are the outright National Rugby Championship leaders after three rounds, with their 79-18 thumping of the previously undefeated Brisbane City adding to an already impressive set of numbers.

As it stands after Round 3, Melbourne have scored the most points, have the biggest points differential and have scored nearly twice as many tries as the next best teams. They have also scored 57 more points and six more tries than the three teams yet to taste victory. Combined.

In the other games, NSW Country remain the only other undefeated side, accounting for North Harbour 33-21 on Thursday night. Canberra overcame another slow start to beat Queensland Country 26-21 and the Greater Sydney Rams won their first game of the NRC, beating Perth Spirit 44-34 in Adelaide.

Most importantly, this is the first round review where I’ve been able to write about all four games having watched every game to some degree before writing. One small step for competition coverage.

North Harbour Rays 21 lost to NSW Country 33, at Brookvale Oval, Sydney. Crowd: 1982
The Rays’ first home game of the season last Thursday night was yet another match in Sydney played in ordinary weather. Yet despite that, seven tries were scored as both teams followed the NRC template for attacking rugby.

A frenetic start saw the Eagles lay the platform of forwards dominance early, but it was actually the Rays scoring the first points of the match. The Eagles’ forwards quickly corrected that, with Tala Gray and a Steve Hoiles kick-pass playing major roles in NSW Country’s first two tries.

The Rays scored converted tries either side of halftime, and even led 21-16 with less than half an hour to go, before the class of the Eagles once again shone through. Young flyer Andrew Kellaway completed a double – he leads the competition with six tries in three games now – and a couple of late Sam Windsor penalties sealed the 33-21 win.

While the Eagles’ methods were obvious, and consistent with how teams have been winning games in the NRC, it was harder to see any real shape about the Rays. Even when they were making ground it was almost in spite of any obvious plan. Handling errors cruelled them all night, too, with three of the four Eagles tries coming on the back of mistakes.

Dave Feltscheer scored a cracking broken field try for North Harbour just after halftime, but then they knocked on from the restart; which was indicative of their night.

NSW Country, on the other hand, are playing really good rugby, really well. Their set piece and breakdown work is very good, and then they let Windsor unleash the backs, of which there’s so much strike power to utilise. Their defence is impressive too – but when did Matt Carraro become a midfield hitman?

Canberra Vikings 26 defeated Queensland Country 21, at Viking Park, Canberra. Crowd: 2500 (Vikings’ estimate)
The aforementioned slow start from the Vikings, and the ability of Queensland Country to make the most of what little ball might have been on offer at times, saw the teams heading to the sheds 13-13 at halftime, which was a fair indication of the contest to that point.

Jarrad Butler started where he left off last week and posted the first try in the match while there were still decent queues at the kiosks and BBQs. Christian Lealiifano played flyhalf – and played pretty well – but has clearly declared that he and goal kicking are ‘on a break’, with Jesse Mogg again taking the shots.

Queensland outside centre Clinton Knox opened their account and flanker Beau Robinson scored shortly after from a set piece maul, pushing the visitors out to a 13-8 lead. Just before halftime though, number 8 Tim Adams found himself looking at a yellow card and the Vikings hit back with Jerome Nuimata crashing over in the corner.

In the second half, things got a bit niggly initially – with Beau Robinson unsurprisingly front and centre – but the match certainly swung toward the home side. Centre pair Robbie Coleman and Nigel Ah Wong put each other away for tries within a few minutes of each other to open the lead out to 13 points.

Flanker James Turner scored on the final bell to earn the visitors a losing bonus point, but Canberra won out 26-21 in front of what looked to me a bigger crowd than two weeks ago, but was estimated to be around that same 2500 mark.

Lealiifano at flyhalf and Coleman at inside centre worked well, and both enjoyed the opportunities to run. Their combination with Mogg coming in from fullback was often dangerous and the Vikings may well have stumbled across their preferred line-up for the time being.

Perth Spirit 34 lost to Greater Sydney Rams 44, at Adelaide Airport Oval, Adelaide. Crowd: 2200
Having run in three tries to one, and leading 21-10 at halftime, it really looked like Perth would continue the Rams’ underwhelming start to the NRC, but it sounds like a good old fashioned dressing room spray from Brian Melrose lifted Greater Sydney in the second half.

Both sides scored tries in the opening period of the second half, but the Rams then went on a bit of a run with four tries – three of them converted – in the next 20 or so minutes, to blow the game apart and lead 44-26.

Perth would claw a late converted try back to narrow the gap, while Dane Chisholm missed a penalty goal on fulltime for the Rams to confirm the final scoreline.

Kane Koteka of the Perth Spirit attempts to break through a tackle from Ben Vola Vola (Photo: Ben Macmahon/Macmahon Images)

Giant Waratahs winger Taqele Naiyaravoro bagged three tries, while Jed Holloway, Ben Volavola and Jerome McKenzie on debut were all very impressive for the winners.

South Australian Rugby reported a healthy crowd of 2200, but noted that the large contingent of kids under 16 coming into the ground free weren’t included in that number.

Some other good news from this game came on the live streaming front. Perth Spirit offered me access to what was a trial of the streaming technology during this match. And that was very much appreciated, but even better news was that they then decided to push the stream live to the public in the second half.

They’ve since told me they’ll look into what facilities are available at their two remaining home games (which are played at different club grounds in Perth) before making any further commitment, but it was good news at least to have this game in Adelaide covered live to the unexpected degree it was.

Brisbane City 18 lost to Melbourne Rising 79, at Ballymore Oval, Brisbane. Crowd: 3000 (estimate from the ground)
There’s no other way to put this, this was a thumping right up there with the best of them. Now that Melbourne have scored 25 tries in three games, and compiled 179 points for and only 65 against, the easy conclusion to jump to would be that the Melbourne Rebels are set for exciting times ahead in Super Rugby.

That may be partly true, obvious change in standard notwithstanding, but either way it’s very clear that this young group of players assembled in the Rising squad loves playing the type of rugby the NRC allows them to.

The first half showed no real sign of what was ahead, with both sides trading territory, possession and tries in the first half. Lopeti Timani scored the first of his two tries off the back of a pushover tighthead scrum, and Melbourne led at the break 29-18, four tries to three.

Will Genia came on at halftime, and the opening exchanges seemed to be all heading Brisbane’s way, but mistakes or poor execution was proving costly. Telusa Veainu scored from a City mistake 50 metres back upfield, but Brisbane’s chance to hit straight back was killed off when Harry Parker undid all his good work in making the break by throwing the pass well behind an unmarked Liam Gill.

Genia was yellow-carded not long into his return for what referee Steve Walsh explained was “deliberately staying offside”, and Melbourne laid on two tries in the ten minutes after the break to give a glimpse of what was coming.

Tom English went in for what was his second try around the one-hour mark after a Luke Burgess steal back on the Melbourne 22. That combination was repeated shortly after when a Burgess intercept in their own half led to English’s third try, as both teams started emptying the benches.

Melbourne ran in two more tries, one to Lloyd Johansson and a fourth to English, to complete the rout in the last few minutes. Walsh declared the final scoreline “a fair reflection”, and it’s difficult to argue that point.

It’s often hard to pick standouts in such comprehensive wins, and as good as English and Jack Debreczini were, the performance of Sean McMahon at openside really was something special. That, and the at times hilarious commentary from Walsh throughout the match.

**Sydney Stars had the bye.

NRC ladder after Round 3
Melbourne Rising 15, NSW Country Eagles 14, Canberra Vikings 9, Brisbane City 8, Perth Spirit 5, Greater Sydney Rams 4, Queensland Country 0, North Harbour Rays 0, Sydney Stars 0.

Full and official table can be viewed here.