Melbourne Rising announce 2015 NRC squad
Melbourne Rising coach Zane Hilton has named an impressive 33-man squad for this year's National Rugby Championships.
15 players from last year's squad return for a second season, with Wallabies Luke Jones, Tom English and Sean McMahon and Australian U20's stars Jonah Placid, Fereti Sa’aga and Sione Tuipulotu all set to feature for the Rising.
Melbourne were the dominant side for the majority of last year's inaugural season, but fell short against Perth in the semi final.
“We want to play an exciting, expansive style, and the law variations of the competition encourage that,” Hilton said.
“Make no mistake; we want to improve from last season, and we think we’re certainly capable if we work hard enough and continue to gel as a unit,” he added.
The Rising will play matches at four separate venues in 2015.
“We’ve got a wonderful opportunity to take our home matches out to the community in Ashgrove, Frankston, Geelong and Morwell, and we want to put on a great show for th