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The Perth Spirit has started their 2014 Buildcorp National Rugby Championship campaign with a thrilling 28-23 victory over the Canberra Vikings at Canberra’s Viking Park today.
The Spirit started strongly and played with continuous pressure and an air-tight defence to lead the home side 13-0 at the half-time break.
The Vikings took control in the second term with two early tries and then jumped ahead when they capitalised on when the Spirit was reduced to 13 men after two yellow cards.
However, the Perth side showed plenty of character to pull themselves back into the game and score two tries in the final 10 minutes to bring home the victory.
Coach David Wessels said he was very pleased with his side’s ability to rally together and fight their way back into the match.
“It was a pretty tough game as we expected,” he said. “We started very well which was important but we lost our way a bit midway through the second half with a couple of guys in the bin and playing with 13 men.
“I thought it was very good the way the guys rallied after that to come back from a 10-point deficit and the guys deserve all the credit for the way they stuck at it.
“A lot of credit should go to our leaders in Rory, Heath and Zack in the way they kept the team calm when we were behind and the way they managed the situation and brought us back into the game – it was great to see.”
The Perth Spirit is a great opportunity for local club players to be exposed to a higher level of rugby and Wessels said his team, which was predominantly made up of players from Perth’s Pindan Premier Grade, certainly showed their abilities against a tough Canberra side.
“I think physically for some of our non-contracted players it was a bit of a step up in terms of the pace but they held themselves well,” he said.
“We spoke all week that things maybe weren’t going to be perfect because of the short preparation time but felt if we stayed at it and continued to work hard for each other, it would probably be the point of difference in the end; fortunately that proved to be the case.”
The Spirit went close to the line early with a rolling maul, only to be denied by the Vikings, who held the ball up over the line.
A big hit on Brumbies inside back Christian Lealiifano knocked the ball loose and allowed the Spirit to take possession inside the Vikings quarter. The Spirit peppered the Vikings defence through a series of pick-and-drives before flyhalf Zack Holmes evaded the oncoming defence to dot it down under the posts. His conversion put the Spirit ahead, 8-0, within the opening ten minutes.
The Vikings held onto the majority of territory for the next 20 minutes but possession was scrappy from both sides.
Another offside penalty put the Spirit back inside their attacking zone, with the Perth side finding an overlap to send fullback Dillyn Leyds over in the corner. Holmes’ conversion attempt from the sideline was wide and the Spirit remained 13-0 ahead, a lead they maintained into the half-time break.
The home side started with greater purpose in the second and clawed back 10 points with unconverted, back-to-back tries to Isaac Thompson and Robbie Coleman.
Pressure began to build and ill-discipline from the Spirit saw their numbers drop to 13 on the field with Richard Hardwick and Alec Hepburn shown yellow cards within two minutes of one another.
The Vikings made the most of the extra numbers and, off the back of a depleted Spirit scrum, Nigel Ah Wong streaked over out wide and to take the lead for the home side for the first time in the match, 13-15.
Canberra wasted no time in mounting another attacking raid and provided Coleman with space to score his second. Lealiifano kicked his first conversion of the match to extend the lead to 13-23.
Staring down the barrel of a first-up defeat, the Spirit mounted its comeback after numbers were evened out when Vikings lock Tom Staniforth yellow-carded for repeated infringements and with just five minutes to go.
The momentum shift helped Heath Tessmann score the side’s third try of the match with Luke Burton kicking the extras to bring his side back within two points.
With just a couple of minutes on the clock, Spirit outside centre Ammon Matuauto found space in the Vikings defensive line to run 40 metres to steal back the lead, 26-23.
As the siren sounded, Burton laid the final blow with a final penalty goal to seal the match, 28-23.
Perth Spirit 28 (Zack Holmes, Dillyn Leyds, Heath Tessmann, Ammon Matuauto tries; Zack Holmes conversion, Luke Burton conversion, penalty) defeated Canberra Vikings 23 (Robbie Coleman 2; Isaac Thompson, Nigel Ah Wong tries; Christian Lealiifano conversion)
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Originally Posted by jono
