Brisbane City's Nick Frisby (l) and Liam Gill celebrate a try © QRU/Sportography

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Matches: Brisbane City 47 - 32 Sydney Stars | Canberra Vikings 50 - 34 Melbourne Rising

Brisbane City 47-32 Sydney Stars

Brisbane City will host the National Rugby Championship grand final for the second consecutive season after overcoming an 11-point half-time deficit to defeat Sydney Stars at Ballymore.

Queensland Reds pair Liam Gill and Nick Frisby each bagged a brace of tries for the minor premiers and defending champions, who will host University of Canberra Vikings at Ballymore after a strong performance from the City forwards subdued a impressive challenge from Sydney Stars.

Sydney opened the scoring in the ninth minute through winger Guy Porter, which fly-half Angus Roberts converted for an 8-0 lead, but the hosts returned fire through flankers Luke Beauchamp and Gill, who each touched down impressive driving mauls. Stars flanker Jake Wainwright then darted through the City defence before winger Harry Jones pounced on a kick to take the visitors out to a 24-13 lead at half-time.

City captain Gill and Stars hooker Tolun Latu swapped tries either side of yellow cards to Brisbane hooker Andrew Ready and Sydney prop Jeremy Tilse, but the hosts took control thereafter to score four more tries before full-time.

Brilliant counter-attack from City's outside backs saw the ball passed through multiple sets of hands before Samu Kerevi touched down for a converted try, scrum-half Frisby touched down twice in seven minutes, and fly-half Jake McIntyre completed the scoring when he dummied through the line and powered over the line.

"We knew that the Stars were going to be physical and test the boundaries tonight, but the team showed great character and resolve to fight back with a strong second-half performance," Brisbane City head coach Nick Stiles said. "It is going to be a great final next Saturday at Ballymore. Canberra have played good Rugby this season and have a strong pack that gets through a lot of work. Our challenge will be to front up and put an 80-minute performance together in front of our home fans."

Canberra's Jarrad Butler steers a driving maul © Getty Images

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Canberra Vikings 50-34 Melbourne Rising<

The Vikings secured the first spot in the 2015 National Rugby Championship final with victory in a see-sawing contest in Canberra.

The Vikings were out the blocks early with captain Jarrad Butler touching down after just three minutes and Rodney Iona crashing over three minutes later, but the visitors hit back with three consecutive tries through winger Stacey Ili, full-back Jonah Placid and prop Cruze Ah-Nau to claim an eight-point edge.

The final minutes saw both sides playing tit for tat with Vikings prop Ben Alexander going straight over for the before Sione Tuipulotu touched down for his first NRC score, but the hosts had the last say heading into the break with Iona scoring his second to give them a slim lead.

Both sides tightened up in defence in the second half,, but the Vikings were still on the board first early through Francis Fainifo before Rising flanker Colby Fainga'a nabbed an intercept pass to keep the visitors in the match. The Vikings continued to build a lead with Ita Vaea going over from the back of the scrum to give them a converted try advantage, and a penalty try in the closing minutes sealed the win and a place in the final.