By Tom Greenaway

The Sydney Stars have claimed back-to-back victories for the first time in the franchises history, defeating Queensland Country 50-40 in a twelve-try thriller at Sydney’s Leichardt Oval.

In yet another high scoring NRC match, the two sides, littered with Super Rugby and International players, crossed for 12 tries between them.

Queensland Country coach Jason Gilmore took plenty of positives from the game, admitting that despite the loss, his side had still improved from their week one performance against Melbourne Rising.

“Very similar to last week, we played well in patches and really tested the Stars but a few lapses at different stages of the game cost us… While we didn’t get the result we definitely improved upon a few key areas from last week’s match,” Gilmore said.

Former Scottish International and Stars assistant coach Dan Parkes was thrilled with the performance and told Rugby News how impressed he was with how quickly the side had gelled together.

“At times we moved the ball well, we scored two really good tries over ten phases… The forwards and the backs are linking well and to me that’s good rugby. We recognize there’s a lot of stuff to work on but we went in with some pretty basic ideas in the first few weeks and so far so good,” he said.

The first half saw six tries scored with the Stars dotting down four to Country’s two, giving the home side a 29-16 lead at the break.

The pick of the bunch was a brilliant individual effort from Stars winger Harry Jones, who finished off a slick piece of counterattacking play with a clever grubber through for himself to dot down the first five pointer of the game.

The second half played out almost exactly like the first, with both sides going blow for blow in the form of staunch defence and enterprising attacks.

The Stars held off a late surging Country to maintain a remarkable score line of 50-40, bringing the entertaining tussle to a close.

Queensland Country’s set piece was evidently dominant in the contest, a facet of the game that delighted coach Gilmore.

“Our set-piece was impressive for the second week-in-a-row and laid a good platform for our backs to work off. When we got over the gain line in the mid-field through our centres, it created opportunities for us out wide,” he said.

Despite that, Stars centre Jim Stewart was happy to hand his forwards much of the credit for the victory.

“I’m pretty proud of the forwards, they got us over the ad line and made it easy to play off. They (Queensland) were pretty good off turnover ball and I think we need to work on that heading into next week,” Stewart said.

“Its pretty awesome (the NRC) to have such high scoring games and for the fans to watch better footy… It’s awesome to be playing with guys like Dave Dennis who have so much experience, they make it really easy to play off of.”

Parkes also expressed his delight with the competition as a whole and what it brings to the public as a spectacle.

“I’ve only been involved for four games and it’s awesome… It’s the kind of game you’d want to go and watch with your mates and your family.”

“They’re wanting to attract people to watch these games and I can’t see why you wouldn’t. It’s great rugby and it really is entertaining… It’s only going to get bigger and better when teams get used to playing with each other.”

Two dark spots loomed over an otherwise sparkling game of rugby, with Queensland Country fullback J.J. Taulagi and Stars winger Henry Clunies Ross both requiring stretchers after suffering knee and ankle injuries respectively.

Round three sees the Stars take on Perth Spirit at Leichardt next Saturday, and QLD Country face Brisbane City in a local derby in Toowoomba for the inaugural Andy Purcell Cup.

“Our match against City in Toowoomba will be a big occasion and we’re looking forward to playing in-front of the Darling Downs Rugby community. Embracing the Queensland Country Rugby culture is something we’ve been focusing on throughout the program so far and hopefully we can deliver a good performance for the locals in Toowoomba next Sunday,” Queensland coach Gilmore said.

Sydney Stars 50 (T Robertson 2, H Jones, H Clunies-Ross, J Gordon, D Hickey, M Philip tries, A Roberts 5 conv) def Queensland Country 40 (I Perese 2, J Tuttle, S Greene, D Paia’aua tries; S Greene 5 conv).