Quade Cooper makes his second start in the NRC tonight against the North Harbour Rays
Photo: J.B Photography

by Paul Cook –

Brisbane City will be hoping their second visit to Sydney in only six days procures a more favourable outcome this time out when they take on the North Harbour Rays at Brookvale Oval tonight.

Sitting comfortably in second prior to kick-off, they were heavy favourites going into last Friday night’s clash with the Greater Sydney Rams, and with Quade Cooper calling the shots from flyhalf, another victory to cement their finals spot was the expected outcome.

Sport being the wonderfully fickle beast it is of course, the Rams upset the applecart with a 56-29 win built on the back of some terrific attacking football. By the same token, it is a night City’s defence will want to forget as well.

Head coach Nick Stiles was sanguine at full-time, conceding that his boys simply hadn’t turned up. “We never got into the physicality of the game, that was the disappointing thing for me,” he told Rugby News. “We’ve been really happy with the season so far and we’ve shown some real growth at stages but tonight we just didn’t come out from the start against a team that only had two games left and that we knew would be desperate. We were thoroughly outplayed in the contact area.

Brisbane City head coach Nick Stiles

“It’s amazing, the mindset and the mental application required in sport,” he continued. “We won a tough game last week, the local derby in Brisbane and you look at the ladder and we were four from five and sitting second coming into the game but guys start looking ahead and they start thinking finals. From day one with this squad, we’ve talked about improvement, not about winning or losing, it’s been about performances and attitude and we were just off the ball there tonight.”

Two losses from six games is no cause for root and branch reform but the concern for Stiles must be the manner of both their defeats. Every team has had a touch-up at the hands of the unbeaten Melbourne Rising in the NRC thus far, but City copped by far the biggest when they went down 79-18 back in round three. Go at them or find them off their game and they are prone to collapse could be the interpretation but while Stiles admits those anomalous results are concerning, he’s not about to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

“The two losses we’ve had we conceded 79pts and 56pts and that’s disappointing and something we’re going to look at,” he reflected. “Sometimes you think ‘Why are we in this industry?’ because the highs of winning games to the lows of the losses, it feels like the Grand Canyon. But it’s important that you stay level headed and the thing that gives us confidence is that we did bounce back from that Rising defeat. We did a lot of physical work and came out against NSW Country and backed that up against Queensland Country so the guys can do it but it didn’t happen by itself, it happened through them doing the hard work and that was the message in the sheds tonight.”

The fact that Quade Cooper, making his first start in over four months, got through an hour unscathed was a positive for Stiles. As was the performance of his skipper. “Quade played sixty minutes and we probably weren’t going to play him as long as that but we had a few injury concerns in the backline from the warm-up stage and we had to manage those guys a bit differently to what we went into the game plan with.

“Dave McDuling keeps improving with playing time. He’s come off back-to-back recons in his knee and played Super Rugby for the Reds this year and really shown a lot of growth through this NRC in both a leadership role and with how he’s playing. I’m really happy with guys like him.”

Combative centre Michael Adams returns to the starting line-up for the Rays – Photo: karenwatson.com.au

For North Harbour Rays head coach Geoff Townsend, this week has been a case of glass half-full as his side look to stay in the hunt for a top four finish. The record books say they haven’t lost for a month but two draws in their most recent clashes against the Rams in round six and the UC Canberra Vikings last week in the nation’s capital, were not the victories they need to secure a shot at the title.

“The formula for us is simple. We need to win against Brisbane City and then against the Sydney Stars and we will make the playoffs,” said Townsend earlier this week.

“The last couple of weeks have been pretty tough for us with the short turnaround and the travel to Canberra but the boys showed what they are all about by working our way back into that game. The way that we negotiated those final 10 minutes at Vikings Park wasn’t perfect but I was very proud of the effort.”

Another backline reshuffle sees Michael Adams resume his centre position alongside fellow tyro, Mali Hingano, while Scott Daruda has been given the nod at pivot, his task to outpoint a former – and presumably future – Wallaby no.10 in Cooper. While he was understandably rusty last Friday against the Rams, he will be all the better for the game time and one of many threats City pose the home side.

“Brisbane City is a huge challenge for us and we are going to have to play some smart footy to get over the line,” admits Townsend.

North Harbour Rays:
1. Mitch Lewis; 2. Luke Holmes; 3. Tobias Gukibau; 4. Ed Gower; 5. Greg Peterson; 6. Jack Dempsey; 7. Boyd Killingworth; 8. Sam Ward; 9. Josh Holmes; 10. Scott Daruda; 11. Sireli Tagicakibau; 12. Malietoa Hingano; 13. Michael Adams; 14. Harry Jones; 15. Dave Feltscheer

Replacements:
16. Dave Porecki; 17. Rory O’Connor; 18. Nick Fraser; 19. James Cunningham; 20. Harry Bergelin; 21. Matt Lucas; 22. Hamish Angus; 22. Brian Sefanaia

Brisbane City:
1. David Feao; 2. Andrew Ready; 3. Sef Faagase; 4. Tim Buchanan; 5. David McDuling (C); 6. Adam Korczyk; 7. Michael Gunn; 8. Curtis Browning; 9. Nick Frisby; 10. Quade Cooper; 11. Harry Parker; 12. Samu Kerevi; 13. Toby White; 14. Chris Kuridrani; 15. Matt Feaunati

Replacements:
16. Matt Mafi; 17. Pettowa Paraka; 18. Phil Kite; 19. Marco Kotze; 20. Chazz Mahina; 21. Brad Wilkin; 22. Jack Mullins; 23. Jake McIntyre