Match Result: Brisbane City have started their National Rugby Championship defence in style, with a 29-16 win over the Perth Spirit at Ballymore.
Brisbane City 29
Perth Spirit 16
In the first match of the NRC’s second season, City ran in four tries to two to win the grand final replay.
They were pushed all the way by the Spirit, but the experience and class of the Queensland Reds players guided City to victory.
No team scored in the opening 20 minutes as both teams cleared out the cobwebs. This changed when Karmichael Hunt scored the first try of the match after a brilliant run by fullback Junior Laloifi.
A few minutes later Laloifi scored a try of his own to give City a 13-0 lead.
Perth reduced the margin with a rolling maul try to Kane Koteka to be 13-8 behind at halftime.
City responded with a try to centre Samu Kerevi before Perth made the margin five again with 24 minutes to go. That was as close as they got, as Jake McIntyre added a late try for City to end the match.
Brisbane attempted to gain a bonus point for a three-try winning margin, but could not score in the final few moments. Still, City will be happy with the win, and remain undefeated in three matches against the Spirit.
Brisbane face last season’s minor premiers the Melbourne Rising next week, while Perth take on the North Harbour Rays at home.
Match Preview
The National Rugby Championship is back, the new season getting underway with Brisbane City facing Perth Spirit in a grand final rematch at Ballymore. Join The Roar for all the action from 7:30pm (AEST).
Last year City won the inaugural title 37-26 over the Spirit at this venue.
This year sees a few changes to the competition with more rewards for players not attributed to a Super Rugby club. An Australian Barbarian team will be named from the NRC teams, to take on a fellow New Zealand team at the end of the season.
There will also be a new title called the Horan-Little shield. At every home match the title holder will be defending the shield, with the winner taking hold of it until the next match at home for them.
After winning the minor premiership last season, the Melbourne Rising will defend the shield this week against Queensland Country. For an away match, like this week, the title holder can opt to defend the shield or retain it for their next home fixture.
The Rising have taken the challenge on this week, and so Brisbane City could win the shield next week if Melbourne retain it.
Made up of Reds and local competition players, City will be looking to go back-to-back this season. They have eight players from last year’s grand final for this match, with 10 Queensland Super Rugby players in the 23-man squad, including Karmichael Hunt, captain Liam Gill, Chris Kuridrani, Andrew Ready, and Samu Kerevi.
Meanwhile, Perth have named plenty of Western Force players – in fact 14 of the first team’s 15 – all bar Kane Koteka – are contracted to the Force, while 12 were Spirit players last year.
Prediction
These two teams have met twice, with Brisbane winning both, including the grand final last year. With the talent in their team, City should make it three.
Brisbane by 8.
Trigger
Guest
I would estimate the crowd was about 5000 which wasn't too bad for the opening match.
Working Class Rugger
Guest
Last season saw the the game with the longest time with ball in play at 37min and 38sec. Last night in the first game of the season that was surpassed with a total of 41min and 14sec of ball in play. The variations are working encouraging more time with ball in action. With a few more tweaks like a 60 sec shot clock to both get the ball lined up and kick it and 30sec to form and perform the line out that could get up to as high as 50min.
Gary Russell-Sharam
Guest
I watched the game on TV and it must have been quite different to watching it at the ground as I thought Higgy had a great game and was head and shoulders above the other forwards His class shone through. Hunt was OK but apart from his try which was set up for him he didn't do anything great, I thought that MacIntire the Fly half had a good game, but why they rave over Frisby is beyond me, Smith looked so much sharper when he came on in the lest 8 minutes. Kerevi looked good and the fullback was sharp. Second row for the Brisbane boys did nothing for me and they missed a few lineouts as well. Scrappy win, first game so I would look to see improvement in the next game. I have been watching ITM cup and the standard there is way above what I watched last night.
Dan Petrie
Guest
Shane, A terrific match report and as a Brisbane boy based in Sydney I will be heading out to Eagles Vs Canberra at Woollahra to check out the NRC. Liam Gill is quality and naturally I hope to see him in a Wallaby jersey again. For what its worth and this is my two cents. As rugby fans we need to get out and support this comp with our feet. I love the tweaks to the rules. Well done to Fox, the Roar and the ARU who don't get many plaudits for supporting this competition.
nmpcart
Guest
Read that is was about 2900, looked sparse on tv but Thursday nights are a bit tricky. Not sure that the clubs who supply the players have really got into promoting it to their members, at least not my club. QRU have been good though.
Harry
Guest
Just speaking to my brother who went and he said good crowd in both the main stand and on the hill. Definitely viable and definite interest in the comp. Talk of course dominated by the RG appointment - NO ONE supportive. And these are mainly life or second generation perpetual members.
Rugby stu
Guest
We just need tongan Odin
qwad
Guest
i thought perth's forwards looked good. Some great tight metres and offloading. Backs had nothing though. Brizzy backs were pretty dangerous and will be lethal by the end of the comp
RobC
Roar Guru
Missed the game. Well done Kandy Kane! Anybody know where's Coleman??? Thanks Shane. GO CITY!!!!
Nathan
Guest
official crowd number?
Hello
Roar Rookie
Really enjoyed that game.
ethan
Guest
More or less my reading of it as well. Hunt was solid, if not a standout. Not the gamebreaker we were hoping he would be, but don't recall him making any mistakes out there. Runs and tackles strongly. Makes good decisions when to pass and when to hold. NRC will be a great education for him. Higgers was a bit disappointing. Didn't look anything special out there. I was also impressed with Brisbanes lock - Thompson? Thomas? Something like that. A lot of good carries. And the number 22 who seemed to be playing centre in the second half played strongly as well.
ethan
Guest
Hope he starts for the Force next year. Potential Wallaby. He was great off the bench for them all year as well.
ethan
Guest
Run metres, offloads, linebreaks tell the story. Brisbane were simply more danerous when they had it.
Gavin Barker
Roar Pro
Yeah Tessman was great
Shane Jones
Roar Guru
STATS - Possession - City 54% Spirit 46% Total Phases - City 120 Spirit 134 Phase Sets - City 57 Spirit 52 7+ Phases - City 2 Spirit 5 Total Runs - City 106 Spirit 93 Run Metres - City 730 Spirit 582 Offloads - City 18 Spirit 5 Linebreaks - City 9 Spirit 5 Handling Errors - City 13 Spirit 12 Turnovers - City 19 Spirit 18 Rucks and Mauls - City 77 Spirit 79 Missed Tackles - City 20 Spirit 23
ethan
Guest
Quality game there. Brisbane were excellent across the park, Gill in particular, and Laloifi in the first half. Tessman stood out for mine from the Force. Brisbane had the more skillful players but Perth did well to hang in. Kicking games leave a lot to be desired, but it makes for entertaining viewing.
Shane Jones
Roar Guru
BRISBANE CITY 29 Hunt 1 Laloifi 1 Kerevi 1 McIntyre 1 McIntyre 2/3 (conv) Taefu 1/1 (conv) PERTH SPIRIT Koteka 1 Cottrell 1 Prior 2/2 (conv)
Harry
Guest
Good game and some good skills on display. Of the big names, Higgers was Ok without making a statement for RWC squad selection, Gill outstanding, Cotterill impressive. Kerevi better in the 2nd half with some touches of class. Hunt education continues. I like that the importance of the set piece is emphasised.
Gavin Barker
Roar Pro
Thanks for the call Shane. Good game of footy. Both teams a little rusty but plenty of running rugby makes for a good game to watch. Huge game from Gilly.