Another round in the National Rugby Championship has passed us by, and we again saw some tremendous running play on show.
We had the first changeover in the Horan-Little Shield, with Melbourne Rising losing the first game in their history in regular season play, going down to Brisbane City.
City are looking ominous, as are the Sydney Stars who strung together plenty of tried on their way to a half century.
Here are the full results and highlights from all the games over the weekend.
Sydney Stars v Queensland Country
Sydney Stars 50 (H Jones, H Clunies-Ross, T Robertson 2, J Gordon, D Hickey, M Philip tries; A Roberts 4, J McGregor cons) defeated Queensland Country 40 (I Perese 2, J Tuttle, S Greene, D Paia’aua tries; S Greene 5 cons)
Highlights
Melbourne Rising v Brisbane City
Brisbane City 45 (W Setu, J Laloifi, C Neville, S Talakai, S Kerevi, S Higginbotham tries; J McIntyre 5 cons) defeated Melbourne Rising 21(J Debreczeni, J Reid, F Vilitati tries; J Debreczeni 2 cons)
*Brisbane City win the Horan-Little Shield
Highlights
NSW Country Eagles v UC Vikings
UC Vikings 37 (L Taliauli, J Butler, I Thompson, N Ah Wong, R Perry tries; I Thompson 4 cons) defeated NSW Country Eagles 13 (M Baldwin, A Kellaway tries; J Lance 1 con)
Highlights
Perth Spirit v North Harbour Rays
North Harbour Rays 45 (J Holmes, A Northam, B Killingworth 2, L Hunting, H Rorke tries; S Lane 5 cons) defeated Perth Spirit 26 (R Hardwick 2, S Mocenacagi, M Konelio tries; A Nikoro, I Prior cons)
Highlights
2015 NRC Standings (after Round 2):
1 Brisbane City 9 points
2 Sydney Stars 8 pts
3 UC Vikings 5 pts
4 North Harbour Rays 4 pts
5. Melbourne Rising 4 pts
6. NSW Country Eagles 4 pts
7. Greater Sydney Rams 1 pt
8. Queensland Country 1 pt
9. Perth Spirit 0 pts
Terry Kidd
Guest
Thanks Brett .... have to confess I have not seen the info about the streaming .... but now I know :)
AndyS
Guest
Missed that Fox was also doing an NRC wrap on Monday. Good to see, could perhaps even be built on in time.
AndyS
Guest
I think it is worth noting that, while it is all well and good changing the timing of Premier rugby, subbies is still on in many cases. The players are available, but not necessarily some of the hard core supporters. They really need to find a way to engage the sort of supporters that are otherwise uninvolved once the top club and SR are over.
Brett McKay
Expert
If people don't read things in front of them, then there's really nothing more we can do, is there...
Digs
Guest
Terry, If you have Apple TV you can also watch the live streaming through the fox sports icon
ncart
Roar Rookie
I know it's there Brett, and I think that you've laid it out pretty clearly many times but some people seem to keep missing it....
Brett McKay
Expert
um, we do, ncart. Its in the preview, and it's in all the weekend live score blogs...
ncart
Roar Rookie
Brett, maybe you need to put that info about streaming in every Roar NRC article - it seems to get asked a lot (and then answered in the comments) so clearly some haven't caught onto it yet.
Brett McKay
Expert
They are at least playing well, Train, which can only help with promotion. If they were struggling on the field as well, well......
Brett McKay
Expert
The weekend games aren't on Fox Sports (tv) Terry, they are streamed through the Fox Sports website, for which you just need to create an account, and link it to your Foxtel subscription..
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
In all fairness there was some pathetic defence at times.
ncart
Roar Rookie
The Stars looked very good, much improved on last year but I'd like to know, with the resources that they have, what they're doing to develop the brand and get the crowds along. They have the opportunity to tap into the rugby watcher who isn't aligned to a particular club (which would be a lot of the Waratahs supporters really) but enjoys the game itself - promote themselves as a high octane, high quality rugby team to get behind and use some of their big names to do it - the likes of Dave Dennis who have a bit of a profile, get them in the media and out in the local community, plus tap into the actual students from Sydney Uni and the locals from Balmain.
Terry Kidd
Guest
How can you watch the games on Fox .... I can only ever find the Thursday night game, none of the others, and Shaun Maloney has got to be the worse game commentator ever ...... so slow, never seems to know who the players are, talks [Mods. Language pls. No swearing]
Dan
Guest
Brett, hosting the game at club venues makes a big difference and a number of Easts supporters were also on hand. A friend of mine is going to the Qld Country vs Brisbane City game which coincides with the 50th anniversary of the formation of Queensland Country rugby. Will see if I can get an idea from the Reds on expected crowd but local media is getting behind it.
Digs
Guest
I think he was hoping for something much more dreary. The fact the ball was received by the number 10 several times started to irk him.
Working Class Rugger
Roar Guru
Probably not enough shots for goal for his liking.
Working Class Rugger
Roar Guru
That was probably the best game of the round.
Working Class Rugger
Roar Guru
The dangers of the single club model. They were always going to have limited appeal at least in the early years.
Digs
Guest
I was at the Stars game with my brother who invited an Irishman along. At the end of the game the Irishman said "that wasn't rugby that was something else" after the number of tries scored. I guess its a comment which could be taken either as endorsement of the running rugby and rule changes or a criticism of the turnstile defense. In any case it was entertaining to watch. If the stars can tighten up their defense they are looking good for the season. The stars haven't done a lot to promote the game or engage with the local community and you get the sense this is a bit a Sydney uni development side and "to hell with the crowds" which is a shame. I will continue to keep supporting them though. It's hard to go past good quality rugby for $25 for the season which is walking distance from home. It was also great to George Gregan there, even though it was an awards night for the ARU. I could tell he was enjoying the local rugby atmosphere. So for anyone in the Inner West come down to Leichhardt this weekend for some cracking rugby. Go the STARS!!
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Interesting to see the Stars performing well but struggling so badly for crowds.