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Melbourne Rising will host the Canberra Vikings in Round 6 of the National Rugby Championship, at AAMI Park. Join The Roar from 7:30pm (AEST) for live scores, commentary.
Surely the best game of the competition so far, and possibly a preview of the grand final. We said last week that Rising against NSW Country would be their toughest test. It was and it wasn’t. 37-16 was the least points they’d piled on, and the smallest margin of victory, but it’s still a bonus point wib.
They just seem not to stop.
Joe Kamana has been amazing to watch on the wing, so it’s worth tuning in to watch his fast foot movement alone. His wing counterpart, Telusa Veainu, has also been in dazzling form and was very impressive in Melbourne’s thrashing of Perth.
With Melbourne averaging an incredible eight tries a game it will be crucial to Canberra’s chances to limit Rising’s powerful and skilful backline.
This is easier said than done, however, especially against a team that can name players of the calibre of Luke Burgess and Loyd Johansson on the bench.
The engine room is also doing the business. It helps when no one seems to be able to stop Lopeti Timani from getting over the advantage line, and Luke Jones and Caderyn Neville are getting through a mountain of work.
It’s difficult to establish a game plan against such competitive team, and Canberra will have to have some tricks up their sleeve in combination with clinical defence if they are to have a shot of stopping this Melbourne juggernaut.
Rodney Iona and Nigel Ah Wong have a big job to do for the Vikings, and will need to be huge in this game to make any headway through the impressive Rising pairing of Inman and Tom English.
It’ll take a momentous effort to get over the line. It’d made all the more difficult by the loss of Tim Cree, which means Tom Staniforth will start this week.
International representative Luke Jones put out a challenge to Melbourne via Twitter mid-week asking for fans to reward the side’s excellent performances by turning out in droves today, and in all honesty if crowd size is to be a reward for performance Rising deserve a pretty big turnout.
Given their previous form, formidable bench and home town advantage it is difficult to see the side losing this one.
Tip: Melbourne by 25.
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.