SPIRIT CROWNED 2016 BUILDCORP NRC CHAMPIONS

Oct 24 • General News, International • 1404 Views • Comments Off on SPIRIT CROWNED 2016 BUILDCORP NRC CHAMPIONS

A herculean defensive performance from the Perth Spirit has seen the Western Australian side claim the 2016 Buildcorp National Rugby Championship title with a 20-16 win over the NSW Country Eagles at Scully Park in Tamworth.

Despite leading from start to finish the Perth Spirit took home the title on the back of outstanding defense lead by a man of the match performance from Richard Hardwick who was awarded the inaugural Phil Waugh Medal.

Perth Spirit captain Heath Tessmann who went off injured late in the first half credited his side’s strength in defence for the result.

“We don’t mind making it a bit hard for ourselves,” he said. “But I couldn’t be happier with how we closed that game out and I’m so proud of all the boys.”

“It’s an old cliché but it’s true, defence wins championships. All 23 players stepped up, we were hard, we were physical, which is what we really went out there to do tonight.”

“This win says a lot about our playing group and everyone involved in the team. We’re stoked with this and we are going to enjoy this one.”

The Perth Spirit shot out of the blocks applying massive early pressure as Semisi Masirewa charged down a kick and toed it through only for the ball to beat him to the dead ball line.

With the Eagles dominating possession and territory in the opening 10 minutes the Spirit stood strong in defence earning penalties at the breakdown to halt the home-side’s momentum.

With the title on the line the final took on a defensive style not yet seen in the Buildcorp NRC this season with neither side able to trouble the scorers in the opening 30 minutes.

Luke Morahan eventually opened the scores with a brilliant solo effort collecting a kick 70-metres from the Spirit try line, before carving through the Eagles’ defence and putting a perfectly weighted grubber kick through to dive over the line. Jono Lance failed to convert to keep the score at 6-0 in favour of the Spirit.

It took just two minutes for the visitors to collect their second of the day with a barnstorming run from Jermaine Ainsley getting the Spirit on the front foot before Onehunga Havili offloaded to Ryan Louwrens who went over in the corner. Lance couldn’t add the extras keeping the score at 12-0.

The Eagles responded in the shadow’s of halftime through blindside flanker Sam Figg with the former Aussie Sevens representative scooping up a loose ball to charge over. Deegan converted to close the gap to four points at the break.

The Spirit went straight back on the attack to open the second half and applied some huge pressure resulting in Eagles openside flanker Rowan Perry being sent to the bin for repeated breakdown infringements.

With a scrum five metres from the line the Spirit capitalised immediately with Brynard Stnader picking up from the base of the scrum and darting down the blindside before sending Louwrens over for his second try of the contest. Ben Tapuai knocked the conversion over to take the Sprit out to a 20-8 lead after 44 minutes.

With Pek Cowan in the sin bin NSW Country looked to answer back but couldn’t find a way through the Spirit’s defensive line with the men from the west putting together some incredible defensive efforts to keep the Eagles at bay.

Desperate to pull themselves back into the contest the minor premiers continued their offensive onslaught with the mounting pressure resulting in Brynard Stander being shown yellow for deliberate knock down.

The Eagles hammered the Spirit’s line looking to make the most of their one man advantage but once again the men in black and gold stood firm with Richard Hardwick getting on the ball to earn a relieving penalty.

With time ticking down the Eagles continued to test the men from the west as Jake Gordon was held up over the line but eventually the Eagles broke through with Tom Hill crashing over following the resulting scrum. Deegan converted to bring the score back to 20-16 with five minutes to play.

Spurred on by their home crowd NSW Country threw everything they could at the Spirit but the ‘Perth Pigs’ stood strong in the final moments to earn a penalty before Ian Prior booted the ball into touch to finalise the result and send the Buildcorp NRC trophy west.