National Rugby Championship: Semi-finals preview

The regular season of the National Rugby Championship is done, and now things get serious as we head straight into the knockout stage of the new competition.

Though it was very much up in the air this time last week, in the end, the best four teams of the competition have finished as the top four.

In Melbourne, NSW Country, Brisbane City, and Perth, we have the only four teams to finish the nine rounds with positive for-and-against records, and who scored more tries than they conceded.

Melbourne finished 13 points clear of NSW Country, and they’ve been the standout team in the competition – eight bonus-point wins on the hop will do that. They finished with a +215 point differential, and scored 32 more tries than they conceded. Rising averaged more than seven tries per game, and finished with an average scoreline of 49-23.

NSW Country and Brisbane City both finished with six wins, with a single losing bonus-point for the Eagles separating the two teams. Ironically, that bonus point came in their loss to Brisbane City in Round 4. City scored more tries, but also conceded more tries than NSW Country.

Perth scraped into fourth spot with a three and five record, courtesy of a losing bonus-point last weekend in Dubbo, though with a better for-and-against they would’ve finished ahead of the Greater Sydney Rams anyway.

Here are the semi-final previews, in which I’ve been lucky enough to speak to all four coaches, who like their players, are chasing their first crack at domestic glory at this level. My sincere thanks to all four men for their time this week, and they all answered the same two questions – how will you beat your opposition, and where are their main threats.

NSW Country Eagles (2nd) v Brisbane City (3rd)
Central Coast Stadium, Gosford
Friday 24 October 7:30pm AEDT

This might just be the match of the competition, and I can’t wait for kickoff. Brisbane took the points the last time these two sides met, winning 34-26 in Lismore, and both sides went on to win three of their next four games.

Selection-wise, there’s been a bit of shuffling for Country, with Mitch Chapman coming into the starting side and Cam Treloar dropping back to the bench, while Stephen Hoiles has overcome a lower-leg strain that cast some doubt over him earlier in the week.

Brisbane City have lost James Hanson, Will Genia and Quade Cooper to Wallabies tour duties, but Jake Schatz remains on deck after being overlooked, and Reds opensider Liam Gill makes his first appearance in the NRC since City’s Round 6 clash against Queensland Country at Ballymore.

Gill has recovered from an upper-body injury suffered in the Queensland Premier Rugby final, forcing the super-impressive Michael Gunn back to the bench.

From the coaches – Darren Coleman (NSW Country)
“Hopefully we beat Brisbane on the scoreboard firstly! I think the main crux of it will be through our attacking breakdown. If we can get good quality ball from there, I’m confident we’ll have enough attacking strength to score the points required.

“Our defence has been really lean all year, and our set piece has held up at the right times. At times, if we don’t get the quality breakdown ball we’re looking for, our attack stutters a little bit.

“They’ve got a strong scrum; they’ve got four big, strong props and they use them well. Obviously when [Samu] Kerevi’s playing, he’s been very dangerous. Nick Frisby’s young and enthusiastic, and he’s very dangerous in attack and around the base with his quick tap game. If we can hold our own in the scrum, and nullify Frisby and Kerevi, I think that’ll go a ways to getting the victory.”

Nick Stiles (Brisbane City)
“We’ll beat the Eagles with an all-round approach from our side. The two losses we had this year have been when we perhaps expected some individuals that were coming back from representative duty to do everything, so we’ve learnt our lesson from that.

“All 23 guys will rock up with a real intent in that physicality, because that’s what I think NSW Country are very good at. They’ve got a good blend of Super Rugby players combined with club players that have been seasoned veterans for their club sides; they’re a battle-hardened team.

“[Andrew] Kellaway’s obviously scored a lot of tries this year, and with his speed he’s very dangerous. They’ve got [Brendan] McKibbin, who’s a snipey, typical smart-alec halfback controlling play, and then a nice balanced forward pack. The addition of Jake Ilnicki has really strengthened their scrum.

“Then you’ve got Cam Treloar, Stephen Hoiles, Mitchell Chapman, and Ben Matwijow who provide a really good balance for the forward pack, and then the power of Tala Gray, so they’re an extremely dangerous side.”

Eagles (1-15): Duncan Chubb, Billy Johnston, Jake Ilnicki, Ben Matwijow, Mitch Chapman, Tala Gray, Will Miller, Steve Hoiles, Brendan McKibbin, Sam Windsor, Andrew Kellaway, Apakuki Mau’fu, Samu Wara, Joel Brooks, Patrick Dellit.

Replacements: Michael Alaalatoa, Ben Suisala, Will Weeks, Cam Treloar, Mick Snowden, Pauli Tuala, David Horwitz, Darcy Etrich.

City (1-15): Pettowa Paraka, Andrew Ready, Sef Faagase, Marco Kotze, Dave McDuling (C), Curtis Browning, Liam Gill, Jake Schatz, Nick Frisby, Jake McIntyre, Matt Feaunati, Samu Kerevi, Toby White, Chris Kuridrani, Brando Va’aulu.

Replacements: Matt Mafi, David Feao, Phil Kite, Adam Korczyk, Michael Gunn, Jack Mullins, Sam Greene, Junior Laloifi.

Referee: Angus Gardner; Andrew Lees and James Leckie (ARs), George Ayoub (TMO).

TV: Fox Sports 2, 7:30pm AEDT.

Tickets: from $20 for Adults, $10 for Juniors (15-17 years), and Under 14s free, available through Ticketek

Twitter: #EAGvBRI

Melbourne Rising (1st) v Perth Spirit (4th)
AAMI Park, Melbourne
Saturday 25 October 3:30pm AEDT

Similarly to Brisbane, Melbourne go into this match affected by Wallabies selection, with Luke Jones, Tom English, and my pick for player of the NRC, boom flanker Sean McMahon leaving on a jet plane for Europe.

However, as you’d expect of the best teams in any competition, the Rising have got to where they are because of the strength of their squad.
‘Super’ Sefa Naivalu comes into the backs for English, and in the backrow they’ve promoted Dewar Shield Player of the Year, OJ Noa.

After going down 44-24 to Melbourne in Round 4, it will be a very different Perth side that takes the field. Though they’ve steadfastly stuck to their policy of leaving their Super Rugby players at home and minimising their travel after an already long season for the Western Force, the Spirit have finally called in the cavalry for this game.

Pek Cowan, Sam Wykes, Brynard Stander, Ian Prior, Marcel Brache, Dane Haylett-Petty, and Luke Morahan have all come back in the starting side, and it’s a move that has both teams in the first semi-final rather interested. With the possibility of a home final in the offing, whoever wins of the Eagles and City tonight will become closet Perth fans tomorrow afternoon.

From the coaches – Sean Hedger (Melbourne)
“I think we’ll [beat Perth] through ball movement, that’s been our strength so far. When we get our breakdown right, and get the ball recycling nice and quick, the subsequent ball movement after that we’ve been really happy with. We’ve found that no teams have been able to defensively match us when we’ve got quick ball recycling and ball movement.

“I’d rate Perth as the best recycling team in the competition, and it flows on a lot from how the Force played this Super Rugby season. They do a lot of only one pass out of the ruck to a runner, but their efficiency and recycling of the ball is exceptional. Once they get their hands on the ball, it’s very hard to get it back off them.”

Dave Wessels (Perth)
“Melbourne have been the pace-setters of the competition right from the start, so we’re under no illusions of the challenge that awaits us this weekend.

“I think one of the things that we’ve worked really hard on is to use the NRC to broaden our base of players, and there’s a number of young club players who have stepped up and have done really well. It’s also provided the opportunity for our core Super Rugby group to grow our game and not have to travel.

“We’ve worked really hard on developing our own game, so probably for us it’s not about what we think Melbourne are going to do, but us focussing on the things we’ve been trying to achieve over the past few weeks and putting those into practice.

“Melbourne are obviously very experienced, and what we definitely understand is that they’re going to be very physical – they certainly were when we played them in Melbourne [in Round 4]. So we understand that the first thing we’ve got to do is meet that physical challenge and our guys are pretty excited to do that.”

Rising: 1. Toby Smith, 2. Pat Leafa (vc), 3. Paul Alo-Emile, 4. Sam Jeffries, 5. Cadeyrn Neville, 6. OJ Noa, 7. Sione Taufa, 8. Lopeti Timani, 9. Nic Stirzaker, 10. Jack Debreczeni, 11. Joe Kamana, 12. Mitch Inman (vc), 13. Sefanaia Naivalu, 14. Rennie Lautolo-Molimau, 15. Jonah Placid.

Replacements: 16. Tom Sexton, 17. Fereti Sa’aga, 18. Cruze Ah-Nau, 19. Pom Simona, 20. Angus Hamilton, 21. Luke Burgess, 22. Lloyd Johansson, 23. Martin Naufahu.

Spirit: 1. Pek Cowan, 2. Robbie Abel, 3. Oliver Hoskins, 4. Sam Wykes (c), 5. Brent Murphy, 6. Brynard Stander, 7. Kane Koteka, 8. Al Rovira, 9. Ian Prior, 10. Zack Holmes, 11. Marcel Brache, 12. Solomoni Rasolea, 13. Ammon Matuauto, 14. Luke Morahan, 15. Dane Haylett-Petty.

Replacements: 16. Harry Scoble, 17. Joe Savage, 18. Chris Heiberg, 19. Kieran Stringer, 20. Richard Hardwick, 21. Justin Turner, 22. Davis Tavita, 23. Christian Joubert.

Referee: Will Houston; Rohan Hoffman and Ed Martin (ARs), Oliver Kellett (TMO).

TV: Fox Sports 3, 3:30pm AEDT.

Tickets: Adults $20, Season Ticket Holders $15, Kids Free, available through Ticketek.

Twitter: #MELvPER

The NRC is all set for a thrilling finals series, and I’m really looking forward to both these games. Get to a semi if there’s one in your neck of the woods, or tune in on Fox Sports and follow the blogs right here on The Roar.

Just to finish, Brisbane City’s jersey auction from the Round 9 clash against Canberra last Saturday, as part of Mental Health Round, closes at 5pm Friday, Brisbane time. Head to www.redsrugby.com.au for the full details.

Proceeds from the auction go to Lifeline, where every $30 raised equates to one additional hour of counselling service capability for this wonderful organisation.