National Rugby Championship
Brisbane City win Horan-Little Shield
ESPN Staff
August 27, 2015
Brisbane City win Horan-Little Shield after defeating Melbourne Rising © Getty Images
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Perth Spirit 26-45 North Harbour Rays

The North Harbour Rays ran riot in the west as they bounced back from their round one loss to post their first win of the season. Scoring six tries to four, the Rays survived a frenetic 20-minute period with little possession or territory, to turn the match around and head into the break with a strong lead.

Despite struggling through a 20-minute period in the first half, the Rays always looked good with flanker Boyd Killingworth making a nuisance at the ruck and finding the line twice to give the Rays a hefty advantage. Fly-half Josh Holmes got the Rays on the board early with the side's first try, and his strong leadership kept the Rays alive as it looked like the Spirit were headed for a strong victory.

Hanging on in the first half, the Rays managed to take a 21-13 lead thanks to tries to Alex Northam and the first of Killingworth's double.

Killingworth made his presence felt early in the second half as he picked up a loose ball from the breakdown to run 30-metres and put the ball down over the line. The sin-binning of two Spirit players didn't help the home side as the Rays continued to run riot. But they managed to keep themselves in the match with a quick double from Richard Hardwick and Maalonga Konelio closing the gap to just 29-26.

But the binning of Angus Cottrell came at the perfect time for the Rays as they saw debutants Harry Rorke and Lawrance Hunting over the line to push their lead to 45-26.

North Harbour Rays ran riot over the Spirit © Johan Schmidt Photography
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NSW Country Eagles 13-37 UC Vikings

The UC Vikings showed their experience to put away the NSW Country Eagles in a strong win in front of a large crowd in their first match of the season. In front of over 2,000 supporters, the Eagles were simply outgunned as they fell to a 37-13 loss.

The Eagles got off to a flying start as Mark Baldwin drove over the line off the back of a Jono Lance line break, but the Vikings made sure to return serve at the kick off, as Rory Arnold picked up a dropped ball before Lousily Taliali crossed the line in the corner to bring the scores level after 20-minutes.

The Vikings hit back again just before the break with hooker Robbie Abel finding the line and Isaac Thompson coverting to put the Vikings ahead by eight heading into the break.

The Vikings kept their try scoring run going as they came out firing after the break scoring fullback Thompson made a nice break to cross over himself. Nigel Ah Wong soon got involved after fly-half Rodney Iona set him up for the Vikings fourth try.

With only 10-minutes left, the Eagles found some rhythm and Andrew Kellaway finished off a nice backline move and pierced the gap to run 20-metres to the line. But some poor discipline ended their chances of fighting back, with Ed Stubbs sent to the bin, giving the Vikings a one-man advantage which they quickly capitalised on to push the score out of the Eagles reach.

Melbourne Rising 21-45 Brisbane City

Brisbane City sealed their second win of the season with a fast finish over Melbourne Rising in horrible conditions in Melbourne. The first side to earn the three-plus-try bonus point in 2015, Brisbane City also won the Horan-Little Shield which will head to Brisbane for the first time.

In trying conditions, both sides were determined to keep the ball in hand and play attacking rugby and it was the Rising who got the advantage early with Jack Debrezceni finding the line after 8-minutes. Taking control in the first half, the Rising were quickly ahead 16-0 with a second try through a lineout maul, before Brisbane scored some points of their own through a lineout drive to head into the break down 16-5.

City hit back hard in the second half with a quick try in the opening minutes, before Samu Kerevi made a strong break that saw Caderyn Neville over for the side's third and placed the visitors ahead 21-16.

Despite the rain starting to fall, City quickly added another try to their total, before Rising were in to close the gap to just eight points with less than 10-minutes. But City proved too good in the final minutes with Kerevi crashing over for a try of his own and Wallaby Scott Higginbotham sealing the win with the side's sixth try of the day.

Sydney Stars cut through the Queensland Country defence seven times © AFJ Photography
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Sydney Stars 50-40 Queensland Country

The Sydney Stars have built on their opening round in with an exciting 50-40 win over Queensland Country at Leichardt oval in Sydney on Thursday night. Defence didn't play a large role in the night, with both sides running freely and finding the line easily, with both sides scoring a total of 90-points.

Opening the score early, the Stars crossed in the opening 10-minutes, before Country replied with their own. Both sides continued to trade tries in the opening half, before the Stars broke away with two unanswered tries before the break.

The Stars crossed immediately after the break to push their lead to a three try buffer. But their lack of defence soon saw Country score two of their own and close the gap 37-32, however they couldn't hold the rampaging Stars back who soon crossed twice to get their half-century.

While Country hit back with one of their own in the last 10-minutes, they couldn't close down the ten point buffer and headed home with a four-try bonus point loss.

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