As far as perfect rugby conditions go, the Gold Coast has just about served up the best available. A beautiful second last day of winter and barely a breeze to be seen as the NSW Country Eagles, fresh of a emphatic victory last week of 31 to 2 against a Greater Sydney Rams, travel up to meet the Queensland Country team who had the bye the first week of the competition but have warmed up well and the leadership group clearly enthusiastic to get their season started.
Both teams are boasting some real player power with the likes of Stephen Hoiles, Cam Treloar, Matt Carraro and Pat Dellit. They were pitted against the likes of Greg Holmes, Beau Robinson and Anthony Fainga’a; all fresh from Reds duty this season. A solid crowd built for today’s game, estimated at around 2500 on the open campus surrounds and grandstands of Bond University. Whispers are aplenty as current Super Rugby players mingle in the crowd to watch this game between, let’s face it, Queensland versus New South Wales.
As Steve Walsh blows his whistle the crowd are engaged straight away as the kick goes deep and the NSW forwards rush to pressure the Queensland scrum half Scott Gales, with the breakdown collapsing and Gale kicking to clear to about 25 out from his own line. From there seasoned veteran Cam Treloar calls the lineout and selects his most reliable target Stephen Holies.
Queensland Country roll it a couple phases and pick and go, creating a short ball through the backs who set up phase 5. Suddenly the ball swings to the left hand side and Hoiles ghosts through the backline without barely a hand placed on him. Somehow he knows how to find that phase at the exact time he needs to be there and dots down just 10m left of the posts. Five minutes in and the conversion is good and NSW Country Eagles lead 7 nil.
New South Wales fly half Sam Windsor from the Queanbeyan club was happy to send wave after wave of runners of both his inside and outside shoulder at the Queensland line. However Queensland respond in kind and rushing in and shutting down the opposition’s attacks is Anthony Fainga’as trade. His specialty. His game. His ball. Fainga’as efforts relieve huge amounts of pressure from a Queensland team just 5 metres out from the try line.
As Matt Brandon again finds good range, the world’s most enthusiastic and decorated water boy Saia Fainga’a runs on the field to dispense wisdom and praise for his lads. It was clear to see with Saia pre-game with him hopping from leg to leg, rubbing his hands together and following the ball around in the drills that he wanted to be there. He wanted those ankle chopping tackles he is famous for to be in play today. But Queensland would just have to make do with his experience and enthusiasm with their water.
Something seems to have shifted with the Queensland lads as they start to settle down. They start to get some cohesion and start to really bend the NSW line on attack. They string a few phases together and use their big men outside fly half Matt Brandon and Queensland start getting some much valued metres to show these NSW lads that they have ventured into enemy territory. All bets are off.
New South Wales Country Eagles number 6 Tala Gray was a stand-out in this game with Tala not only single handedly demolishing the inside shoulders of his defenders, but he also glided through the line like he was an outside centre. His deft touches and ability to commit the man and offload at the right time is a skill rarely seen in a back rower. The NSW toiling forward pack set the platform for their fly half Sam Windsor to take the ball on the left sweeping back around with his backline. He was quick enough to realise that a defender from the Queensland line had shot up quickly and Windsor drew the line and threw a beautifully delivered 15 metre spiral on the chest of Andrew Kellaway to send him over the line for the first of his tries.
Queensland’s Fainga’a easily breaks the line and draws three defenders.
Hit from all sides. Fainga’a pops a seemingly effortless pass to Ben Adams steaming downfield. However Adams is pulled up about 15 metres short but provides an excellent platform for the Queensland forwards to clean out allowing them to catch NSW forming into the defensive backline. Seeing an opportunity, the ball goes wide and leaves Tom Pincus one on one against NSW second rower Ben Matwijow. Pincus’ eyes light up as he saw his opportunity from 60 metres away, and with a shimmy and a turn of pace to the outside he blew past his defender and dotted down about 5 in from touch to take the scores to 14 to 5 about 30 minutes in. The wind has picked up a little blowing right to left allowing the conversion from Pincus to so the same as it shaves across the front for no luck.
Practically right from the restart NSW hit back. It’s almost as if they took that last try personally and from a turnover in the tackle by NSW and a quick recycle by NSW Gray takes on the defensive line and gets outside the stretching tackle of James Turner and draws 2 more defenders. From here he pops a lovely pass inside to Kellaway again, who puts it down in almost the exact same spot as his last try. This time Windsor can’t convert, taking the score to 19 to 5.
A few minutes later down in their attacking red zone, NSW draw a penalty just ten metres out in front of the posts. And to the crowd’s utter joy and exuberance, Hoiles indicates “Kick it to touch. We are running it”. It may be Randwick’s running rugby that Hoiles loves so much or a fundamental change to the thought process of a NRC player. But there is clearly the incentive for high reward. NSW take the line out and roll 5 phases from there but Queensland holds on in this stage of the game and absolutely belt NSW back each time and force the turnover as Beau Robinson gets his body over that ball and wins one back for Queensland.
With just a few short minutes left in the first half the tempo picks up along with the confidence of the Queensland squad, but decisions at crucial times and ball handling seem to let the Queensland side down. The pace is fast and the men are tiring as they cast sly glances toward the scoreboard and more importantly the clock. With less than a minute to go, NSW get a penalty just on 40 metres out and this time they opt for the 2 points rather than running it. Both teams look glad for the rest as the ball falls short and touch is found taking the game to half time.
From the restart it’s evident that the Queensland team has just had a major attitude adjustment and show some vigour in attack and some sting in defence. NSW look a little rattled by in the first minutes of the second half and go back to basic play with simple one off crashes from the ruck while they get their composure back. Queensland eventually retains the ball from a broken play 25 out from their try line and roll phase after phase towards the NSW line. Nice low body position and clambering for those extra inches drag them slowly forward. Repeated infringements, 5 in total, by the NSW are penalised but surprisingly no card.
The stands let out a big gasp as a penalty goes NSW way for not releasing the ball just a mere 30 centimetres from the line and the pressure is relieved by Windsor once again. Just a few short minutes later Queensland is back on the attack, with a great platform set by Brandon who throws his runners into the defencing line. This stretches the NSW defence around the fringes and in turn allows the forwards to quickly change their strategy to a pick and go. Phase after phase they roll forward and eventually big Ruben Fuimaono gets over under the posts leaving the simple conversion for Pincus. Queensland is back in the game with NSW leading 21 to 13 with 30 minutes remaining.
Now attacking with some real venom, Queensland put the foot down and starts playing a more expansive game. Brandon shifts his focus to get runners outside Fainga’a at 12 making the tiring NSW forwards work harder to get to the breakdown and earning Queensland some valuable metres. But Queensland then gifts NSW a penalty just 10 metres out with a line out throw for NSW. NSW wisely take this time to jog on some reserves, which promptly tie their laces and tuck in their jerseys. The ball spins wide from the QLD lineout directly to Fainga’a who gifts a magic inside no-look ball to the winger at speed, but to the crowds dismay it is judged forward. NSW rally and send the ball deep as a meeting occurs in back play between Hoiles and Robinson, who look to be discussing the finer points of rugby etiquette.
As we close in to the 60 minute mark, more changes are made by both sides. NSW subs both Tala Gray and Ethan Ford out and Queensland’s Fuimaono is off for Dan Gurman. Play then takes us to the NSW attacking 40 metre line, with time to play but NSW looks to chew up time with scrums collapsing and resets occurring.. NSW is a comfortable 8 points in front, and knows Queensland needs 2 tries for a win.. NSW next opts to employ the kicking game and punch it high and deep and both 15’s fly high into the air to contest the play. Cries from the crowd as the two clash it mid-air with the ball spilling into touch and both players spending the next 5 minutes pretending it didn’t even hurt.
Queensland’s Beau Robinson slaves all day at the breakdown. Several times during thegame he is blown from the ball or just doesn’t quite get his hands on it. But not now. Not this time. Robinson wins valuable ball and the Queensland team rallies and drives it down deep for a lineout. The crowd gets behind the home team, as Queensland takes the scrum option when a penalty is given just 5 metres out of the NSW try line. Queensland pick and go but number 8 Ben Adams finds himself will little help and they lose their feet and cough up their best attacking raid with just 8 minutes left to go in the game.
NSW again take time to gather some structure and roll themselves towards the halfway life as Michael Snowden puts another deft kick over the top into the box which Todd Winkley doesn’t handle well, which allows NSW to attack the deep left corner. They roll forward again with a couple of crashes close to the ruck. This allows NSW to rest their backs and spread their wingers wide. Sam Windsor picks the right time to just sit comfortably back in the pocket and drops a perfectly weighted kick into the right corner to the waiting arms of Pat Dellit who takes it comfortably out of the air and goes over to make it 29 to 13 with the conversion good and with barely 5 remaining in the match.
At this stage, Queensland decides to run at all costs and come what may. It looks expansive. It feels impressive. Runner after runner and pass after pass stretches the thinning NSW defence. Some real excitement with just 2 minutes remaining as Queensland create a man on man attack out wide as they send it through the hands. But unfortunately for the home crowd NSW’s Kellaway has a different idea as he wades into the last lane and intercepts the ball and goes for an impressive 75 metres back the other way to close out the game under the posts sealing a 37 to 13 victory to the boys from NSW and securing himself a hat trick for the day.
After it’s all said and done, NSW Country Eagles are an exceptional outfit with class leaders on the field. They were the stronger team on the day, even if the points in the end were a little kind to them. Queensland Country can however take a lot out of that game. They have a lot of young players getting their first taste of rugby a step up from club level. Their replacement fly half is just 18 years old and with the likes of Holmes, Beau Robinson and the Faianga’as there to help bring the team along there is a lot of opportunity to improve in coming games.
When asked post game how he is finding the level of the NRC compared to Super Rugby, Internationals and club rugby, Stephen Hoiles answered “ the lack of penalty goals, creates a much faster open running game which hopefully gets the crowd more involved and encourages running rugby”.
When asked if there is there are any other rules that could be looked at to further encourage running rugby, he said “maybe some small things like unlimited interchange to keep the pace of the game flowing. As you saw there was a slowdown in the second half as guys struggled to keep the initial pace going”
And importantly to the question if we would see him for the entire NRC competition: “of course, that’s the plan. This is a great product and a great way to develop young players”.
Anthony Faianga’a was of course a little dejected post game but still had time to discuss his thoughts on the Queensland campaign. When asked how he felt after his first game back since round 17 Super 15 against the Rebels he said it “felt good, but not as sharp as we would have liked. Just a few small errors let us down at crucial times but we have things to work on. It’s a young team and we had some last minute changes before our first game but we tried to adapt”
When asked as one of Super 15 players, does he find himself leading more at this level than he usually would “No to be honest. I just try to do my job at 12 and leave the play calling to the ten. We are trying to stick to the system we have and even when it gets a little bit ugly we have to stay with it.”
Clear man of the match today was New South Wales Country Eagles’ stand out Tala Gray. Gray’s bullocking runs, staunch defence and smart support play really caused issues in close and out wide for Queensland today. Keep a close eye on this fellow. Good things are sure to come. Andrew Kellaway on any other day of the week would have secured the title with 3 tries but for one of the Gray handed it to him on a platter. Best for Queensland was Anthony Fainga’a with a workhorse like performance by Beau Robinson a close runner up.
