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.
Londoner
Guest
Watched game on fox sports... 3 conclusions... Melbourne Rising are near shoe in's to take out NRC Rising are developing the next tier so that they will be a powerhouse in super rugby - do believe that...they have really shown themselves to be a professional club with good strategic vision Jessie Mogg next to no chance of playing a test for the wallabies...not the player he once was...
In Brief
Guest
My view was the second half was close, but error strewn. I liken it to tennis, sometimes a guy like Federer can play at an incredible level and win a match without conceding a game. All the pundits go home disappointed as they want a close match. However, the quality in such matches sometimes far surpasses the quality in dour close matches. Same in rugby. Top 14 is often close and hard fought, but there is very little continuity and players constantly make basic errors - dropped passes, forward passes, bad options. Same happened last night. Combine the high number of errors with a pedantic referee and you get a very stop start affair. . Some people interpret this as being an interesting match full of complexity. Sometimes it's just a low level match full of mistakes.
jameswm
Roar Guru
Ref did his best to ruin it in the 2nd half. He seemed out of his depth to me too. Marto was right that two identical scrums had penalties going in oppposite directions.
In Brief
Guest
Further to that, it was strange that in a first half in which the Rising dominated and conceded very few penalties, the referee thought it necessary to warn them for constant infringements and issue yellow cards. In my view yellow cards should be for foul play or clearly cynicaly play. When guys are competing at rucks and mauls, they sometimes get it wrong. It is not an intentional or cynical play in 99% of cases.
In Brief
Guest
Funny, I thought he was spot on. Seemed to me the referee was a bit out of his depth.
RaymondReddington
Roar Rookie
Melbourne Rising came out of the blocks fast , I suspect the combination of a quick turnaround following the match in Orange and having two yellows may have sapped the energy somewhat during the 2nd half . The Vikings are to be commended for not folding and remain in the contest , having said that one feels Rising still has more improvement and should benefit from tonight's reality check . Debrecini was outstanding whilst Jessie Mogg still trying to find some form ( I don't follow Canberra but love to watch him carve up defences when he is on song) ... again the platform provided by the Rising forward pack continues to be a point of difference in the NRC at both scrum and lineout in the competition to date .
Boomeranga
Guest
I'd like to see the carry stats for the young Vikings lock Staniforth. I noticed him carry 5 times in about 5 minutes at one stage. Didn't make a lot of ground, but sh.. he was working hard. Mogg has lost it. Dowsett struggled. Butler's a good player. Iona looked rough around the edges but I liked the way he attacked. A bit loose but looked like there might be something about him. Rising are a good side. Physically stronger pack, but the Vikings stamina seemed to even it up over time. Aalatoa fought his was back into the scrums as the game went on. He and PAE are promising. Stirzacker and Dbrezni could be a good pair for the Rebels but won't get the ride they are getting now against Super rugby opposition. Great to see a bloke in Oz rugby that can really kick a ball. Can't get over just how bad Mogg is going.
Ethan
Guest
Just his assessment of the scrum penalties? ..
Brett McKay
Expert
Melbourne reported an official crowd of 1977 tonight. Their ave crowd over three games is pushing 2100, which is pretty solid in context...
El Gamba
Roar Guru
Thanks for the call Ben, no surprises with Rising going one more I guess!
dahl
Guest
Thanks for calling. Good game. Rising dominant, but some good signs for vikings in there. Surprised they couldn't find the try line more in the second half.
Mac
Guest
I was unimpressed in the extreme with Marto's assessment of the scrum penalties.
Ethan
Guest
Sean Maloney and Greg Martin together in the commentary box. My worst nightmare finally came true!
Ethan
Guest
It's not just you.
Ethan
Guest
Personally, I actually preferred the second half to the first, as the defence stepped up to the plate and the game became more physical. A few too many errors and Canberra had nothing in attack, but it turned out to be an enjoyable game. I almost turned off after 30 mins, but glad I didn't.
Ben Gibbon
Roar Guru
thanks for joining me guys.
Ben Gibbon
Roar Guru
And Rising boot the ball into touch and it is GAME OVER! STRONG PERFORMANCE BY CANBERRA BUT THEY JUST DIDN'T HAVE THE ATTACKING FIREPOWER TO SCORE WHEN THE ADVANTAGE WAS ON MAN-WISE Another strong but ill disciplined performance by Rising and they keep there intact record.
Ben Gibbon
Roar Guru
79 mins: Melbourne feed the scrum and Burgess charges at the line and scores a TRY! CONVERSION SUCCESSFUL Melb 34 Canb 13
Ben Gibbon
Roar Guru
78 mins: Rising hot on attack and PENALTY! THAT SHOULD BE IT FOR A GALLANT CANBERRA OUTFIT Melbourne go for the scrum.
Rising need a try for there 6th bonus point win from 6 games. Must finish 3 tries in front in this comp