All roads lead to Ballymore

Can Brisbane go back-to-back? Will the Vikings return to Canberra victorious?

Those questions will be answered next Saturday afternoon (October 31) when Brisbane City hosts the Canberra Vikings in the National Rugby Championship grand final.

Brisbane City and the Vikings dominated the NRC regular season. The Queenslanders won eight straight (where else have we heard that before?), while the Vikings finished second, their only loss against Brisbane.

The defending premiers started their campaign with a grand final rematch against Perth at Ballymore, winning 29-16. Karmichael Hunt – who joined to the Reds after four years with the Gold Coast Suns – scored Brisbane’s opening try.

Brisbane City spent the next month amassing cricket scores against Melbourne (45-21), Queensland Country (44-24), North Harbour Rays (55-29), NSW Country (61-29) and Sydney Stars (58-0), before the crucial Round 8 trip to Canberra.
The Vikings were having some fun too.

After a first round bye, they won six straight. They travelled to Woollahara Oval to beat NSW Country (37-13), and then returned home to belt Greater Sydney Rams (58-26). They went to Perth and beat the Spirit 26-23. Back at Viking Park, they nearly outscored the clock against Sydney (76-16). Nigel Ah Wong grabbed 4 of the Vikings’ 11 tries.

ACT Brumbies fly half Christian Lealiifano kicked six goals. They continued their unbeaten run against North Harbour Rays (63-37) and Melbourne (42-16) before the clash with Brisbane.

Brisbane City raced to a 24-5 halftime lead, with tries to Pettowa Paraka, Junior Laloifi and Ben Hyne. Hunt stretched Brisbane’s lead to 32-5 just after halftime before Vikings scored three tries in 10 minutes (Robbie Abel, Rodney Ioana, Albert Anae). With 20 minutes left, Brisbane led 32-23. Liam Gill scored in the 63rd minute to extend the lead to 37-23. Leslie Lealua-iali’i-Makin scored a converted try (worth eight points in the NRC) to cut the margin to six. While Brisbane hung on to win 37-31, the Vikings had collected two bonus points.

Entering the final round, Brisbane (33 points) led the Vikings by three points (30 points). Canberra would travel to Sunshine Coast to play eight-placed Queensland County while Brisbane hosted the last-placed Rams.

Canberra had one hand on the minor premiership after flogging Queensland Country 42-8. Two days later, Brisbane took it back (and won the Horan-Little Shield) by smashing the poor old Rams 71-24.

Now to the semi-finals. Canberra hosted Melbourne while Brisbane hosted Sydney.

Both semis were high-scoring matches, with 12 tries at Viking Park and 11 at Ballymore.

The Vikings started with a 50-34 win over Melbourne. The Rising were competitive early, trailing 29-26 at halftime. The Vikings kicked away in the second half with another three tries, including Jarrad Butler’s second try. Rodney Iona had already scored a first half double.

The Stars threatened a boil-over at Ballymore, leading 24-13 at halftime. The halftime oranges did the track for Brisbane, scoring five second half tries, with a double to Nick Frisby, winning 47-32.

While Brisbane has deserved home ground advantage, Canberra won’t be intimidated by Ballymore. The Vikings played in the Queensland Premier Rugby competition from 2001 to 2003, with three straight titles (beating Gold Coast in 2001 in 2003 and Easts in 2002).