Ruru double not enough for Spirit

Perth Spirit went down 40-34 to NSW Country Eagles in the last round of the National Rugby Championship in Dubbo yesterday.

But despite the bonus point loss the Spirit finished fourth and will play Melbourne Rising in the semi-final on Saturday.

Two late tries to replacement scrum-half Michael Ruru saw the side go agonisingly close but they were unable to recover from a poor start that saw the Eagles jump out to a 24 point lead.

They still trailed by 22 points with 10 minutes remaining but came agonisingly close and if they had not missed two conversions could have come away with a draw.

Spirit coach Kevin Foote was pleased with the way his side clawed their way back into the game.

“We had made it a goal of ours during the week to ensure we finished strongly against the Country side because only one other team had scored a try against them in the final 20 minutes of the match this season, and it was great to see the boys achieve that goal," Foote said.

“The team was very frustrated with their start but they were very mature about it and at half time we re-grouped and talked about what we needed to do to manage the game better.

“We got a bit angry and carried hard at them and stuck to our basics to go through them and as soon as we started doing that the pressure was back on them.

“We were very unlucky at the end there to not score because we were on their line but we’ll have to finish off better next time.

“Our focus now shifts to next week with the match against the Rising. The boys are very excited for the opportunity.”

Result

Perth Spirit 34 (Michael Ruru 2, Chris Heiberg, Va'a Mailei, Robbie Abel tries. Zack Holmes 2, Luke Burton conversions)

NSW Country Eagles 40 (Will Miller 2, Tala Gray, Brendan McKibbin, Darcy Etrich tries. Sam Windsor 5 conversions)