Melbourne Rising have secured top spot on the NRC table with a win over GWS Rams. Photo: Cam Inniss Photography

by Brendan Bradford –

It was the longest of longshots for the Greater Sydney Rams, who needed to defeat the unbeaten – and maybe unbeatable – Melbourne Rising at Pirtek Stadium on Saturday afternoon and started fast but fell at the death to a nerve-jangling 58-40 loss.

Despite leading 23-21 at halftime and 32-29 with 25 minutes to play, a sweltering Western Sydney afternoon took its toll on the home-side and the Rising managed to edge the 18-point win with two late tries to Jonah Placid.

It ends an inconsistent and at times frustrating inaugural NRC season for the Rams who have a last-round bye next weekend and needed a win to scrape into fourth spot.

A last minute draw with the Rays two weeks ago and a confounding performance against Queensland Country at Ballymore the week before left the men in orange with too much to do on Saturday and they bow out of the NRC despite pushing the Rising harder than any other team in the competition.

Chris Alcock on the charge. Photo: Karen Watson

No more #GetRammed. No more Horned Army – although they’ll surely be an active social media presence throughout the finals campaign. No more Steve Mafi. No more Jed Holloway. And no more Ram horn over the PA to welcome the side onto the field.

While the result eliminates the Rams from the finals, and with the Stars shackled to the foot of the table, North Harbour Rays are the only Sydney team able to crack the top four. The Rays need a bonus point win over the Stars on Thursday and will rely on other results to go their way.

The triumphant Melbourne Rising, who are a perfect seven from seven, finally seem to have mastered the lyrics to their Bruce Springsteen-inspired victory song and will host one of two semi-finals at AAMI Park in two weeks.

The second placed NSW Country Eagles are assured of a semi-finals spot and play Perth in Dubbo on Saturday. The Spirit are in fourth spot on 16 points and are in danger of dropping out if the Rays get the job done against the Stars at Leichhardt or if Canberra (14 points) upset Brisbane City at Suncorp on Saturday.

It was tit-for-tat for the opening quarter at Pirtek Stadium as tries to Rising halves Jack Debreczeni and Nic Stirzaker were cancelled out by scores to the Rams’ Jed Holloway and Henry Seavula to level it at 16 apiece after 23 minutes.

Joe Kamana put the visitors ahead but a Volavola linebreak set up Henry Taefu to score under the posts in the 35th minute and the Rams took a 24-21 lead into the sheds.

It was the first time the Rising had been behind on the scoreboard at halftime since Round 1 against the Rays, but Mitch Inman didn’t take long to wrench the lead back with a try under the sticks for a 29-24 advantage as the heat began to take its toll.

The Rams didn’t let their lead go quietly, setting up camp on the Rising tryline and going ahead again when Dylan Sigg burrowed over for a 32-29 lead with 24 minutes to play.

As mistakes crept into the contest, Cruz Ah Nau broke the Rams’ defence on halfway and offloaded to replacement halfback Ben Meehan for his first try of the competition.

Luke Jones looked to have sealed a hard-fought win for the visitors but replacement Rams speedster Dane Chisholm took off down the touchline and offloaded to Ben Batger to narrow the gap to five and set up a grandstand finish.

A late double to Jonah Placid sealed the Rising’s seventh win ahead of their last round match with Perth in Dubbo next weekend.

Melbourne Rising 58 – (Placid 2, Debreczeni, Stirzaker, Kamana, Inman, Meehan, Jones tries; Debreczeni 6 con) bt Greater Sydney Rams 40 – Holloway, Seavula, Taefu, Sigg, Batger tries; Volavola 5 con)