Brisbane City have shortened as NRC competition favorites after an impressive away bonus point victory over the Melbourne Rising. Last year’s premiers trailed 16-5 midway through the first half, but had too much class in the second half earning a 45-21 victory and the Horan-Little Shield. “It wasn’t necessarily a pretty win, but sometimes you’ve got to win ugly,” Brisbane City coach Nick Stiles said. “The conditions weren’t great and we were down at half time, so to see our guys dig themselves out of that through sheer grit was outstanding. Melbourne are a strong team and the conditions down here probably favoured them, but we were very direct and improved in the contact area as the game went on,” he added. The loss is Melbourne’s first regular season defeat in franchise history and places a question mark over the Rising’s minor premiership defense. Despite that, Zane Hilton was able to draw a number of positives from the clash. “I thought our opening thirty