PERTH SPIRIT FALLS TO RISING IN MELBOURNE

Sep 11 • Australia, General News • 1639 Views • Comments Off on PERTH SPIRIT FALLS TO RISING IN MELBOURNE

Perth Spirit has been unable to break the Melbourne Rising’s undefeated run, falling to the Victorians 44-24 in Melbourne tonight.

No. 8 Alex Rovira backed up his solid performance against the Greater Sydney Rams last week with a high work-rate again tonight, with a high involvement, including scoring the Spirit’s first try of the match.

However, the Rising kicked into gear from there, scoring three consecutive tries before the half-time break for an 18-8 lead. Spirit winger, Brad Lacey touched down in the second half to get his side back within two points before the home side again pulled away with four successive tries to seal the match.
Perth Spirit coach, David Wessels, said he was pleased with his team’s endeavour against a side with plenty of Super Rugby experience.
“There was a lot of effort from our men out there and we’re obviously disappointed with the result but we can’t fault their work-rate today,” Wessels. “The guys went out there with the mindset to put things right after the performance against the Rams and the way they have approached this whole week has been excellent.

“They went in there with real intent and I think, as a group to have scored the last points of the game with a try that involved all 15 players was a representation of how hard everyone has worked.

“We had a relatively inexperienced side out there tonight and one of our objectives of this competition is to grow our playing base in Perth and expose some of our young and upcoming players to the Super Rugby environment so tonight’s match was perfect for that.

“Those players didn’t let themselves down tonight. I think tactically, when we review the game, we may feel that we may have made some decisions differently at points in the match which potentially allowed a more experienced Rising side to get on top of us and enjoy the momentum for a period.

“Those things are easy to address in a week and their performance on the back of the Rams game was certainly noticeable and as a group we are already talking about moving forward and working hard over the coming days to put in a good performance next week.”

The Spirit was first across the line when 14 phases of patient rugby resulted in a WA scrum five metres from the line. Spirit No. 8, Rovira took advantage of the penalty from the scrum, taking the quick tap and diving over under the posts. Australian Under 20 and Western Force inside centre, Luke Burton, added the extras to give the Spirit the 8-0 lead.

Ten minutes later the Rising evened up the scores with their own try off the back of a penalty with Lopeti Timani darting through a gap and Jack Debreczeni slotting the conversion.

The Rising took the 13-8 lead not long after when they spread it wide with an overlap sending Telusa Veainu over in the corner for his first of two for the match.

With momentum well and truly in the home side’s favour, Melbourne Rebel Jack Debreczeni grubbered the ball in behind the Spirit defence and, while Dillyn Leyds scrambled to get his hands on it, was judged to have Joe Kamana beaten him to it to put the Rising ahead, 18-8.

The half-time siren sounded but the Rising weren’t done yet, sending it back downfield and looked to have their fourth of the match only to have Sean McMahon denied by a well-timed tackle from Palmyra prop Joe Savage with the ball lost before grounding.

In the second half, a well-placed, awkward bouncing long range box kick from scrumhalf Justin Turner was popped up for Lacey to sprint away from the chasing defence. Burton’s conversion saw the visitors back within just two points, 18-16.

The gap wasn’t close for long as Timani crossed for his second when a penalty scrum to the Rising was rolled towards the line with the No. 8 dotting it over the line. Veainu kicked the conversion to put them ahead 23-16.

This started another consecutive run of tries for the Rising with Cadeyrn Neville, Veainu and Luke Burgess all crossing to give them a 44-16 lead.

Despite the clock counting down, the Perth side remained determined to finish on a high with flyhalf Zack Holmes skirting around the defence and to cross for the final try of the evening. He kicked the conversion and the game was over, the Rising running out 44-24 victors.

The Spirit will next take on the North Harbour Rays in Sydney on Saturday, 20 September.

Melbourne Rising 44 (Lopeti Timani 2, Telusa Veaini 2; Cadeyrn Neville, Luke Burgess, Joe Kamana tries; Jack Debreczeni 2 conversions, Telusa Veainu conversion) defeated Perth Spirit 24 (Alex Rovira, Zack Holmes, Brad Lacey tries; Zack Holmes 2 conversions, Luke Burton conversion)