Spirit rise to make rugby final
Perth Spirit stunned tournament favourites Melbourne Rising 45-29 to book a place in Saturday's inaugural National Rugby Championship.
The Spirit shrugged off a huge underdog tag and will now play Brisbane City at Ballymore for the premiership title.
It was a massive turnaround from the 44-24 fourth round loss to the Rising as the Spirit ran in six tries against the previously unbeaten Melbourne side who had scored an average of 50 points a game and picked up a bonus point in each one.
Spirit defence was the key yet they missed more tackles, gave away more penalties and were monstered at the set piece by a scrum that weighed in at 925kg, some 50kg heavier than their own pack.
The Rising put huge pressure on the Spirit but their defence was aggressive and they did not over-commit at the breakdown.
They soaked up wave after wave of home side attack and incredibly hardly ventured beyond their 22 metres in the first 15 minutes.
When they finally got the opportunity to build their own pressure the Spirit were composed and moved the ball well.
Surprisngly, after the amount of Rising possession, the Spirit opened the scoring when winger Marcel Brache grabbed a double in the 21st and 23rd minutes, one converted by fly-half Zack Holmes.
They went into the break five points ahead after Mitch Inman replied for the Rising, converted by Jack Debreczeni.
The Rising had outscored their opponents 221-74 in the second halves of the season games but this time found themselves on the wrong side of the ledger, with the Spirit notching another 32.
Centre Ammon Matuauto scored a brace of tries of his own, while prop Ollie Hoskins and captain Sam Wykes added a five pointer each.
Holmes, who finished with four conversions, said the key word going into the game had been "attitude". He said they were also playing for the local club players who had got them into the semi-finals.
"We knew that they were going to be very direct and they've got some big boys in Mitch Inman and Lopeti Timani so we knew if they got on top in that first 15, they were going to run away with the game," Sam Wykes said.
"Our defence was a big key coming into this game and then, coming off the back of five efforts in a row defensively, we scored and built momentum from there."
Coach David Wessels said the defensive effort was outstanding.
“I thought it was a fantastic effort from the guys with a full 80 minutes of effort,” he said.
“We knew we had to be extremely physical to match the Melbourne side who have been the benchmark of this competition.
“The guys really played for each other and were very physical which was a key part of our game so it feels really good to get the result.
“The players on the field today were representing their brothers that made contributions throughout the season and weren’t able to be in Melbourne today with us and so we’re thrilled to get the win today for our team and for our supporters at home.
“It was great attacking effort as was shown on the scoreboard but I thought our defensive effort, particularly in that first period, was outstanding.
“Five times they attacked inside our 22 and five times we kept them out and I think in terms of winning the psychological battle early, that was significant for us.
“The first time we got an opportunity to strike we managed to score so that first 20 minute effort really set us up for the rest of the game.
“We want to take that momentum into the match against Brisbane. The guys are in a good head space so we’ve just got to continue to work hard.”
