Samu Kerevi unstoppable as Brisbane City beat Sydney Stars 45-20 in NRC opener at Ballymore
SAMU Kerevi was unstoppable and Chris Kuridrani grabbed a tryscoring double as Brisbane City downed Sydney Stars 45-20 in the NRC opener.
THE NRC, rugby union’s shiny new high performance machine, has hit the road and, man, it was fast.
A lickety-split, 10-try attacking feast was exactly what the code wanted on the opening night of the National Rugby Championship as a Chris Kuridrani double helped Brisbane City to a 45-20 comeback win against the Sydney Stars.
The lure of a new scoring system — three-point conversions and two-point penalties — worked, with both outfits flinging the lime-green football into the hands of flying outside backs and mobile forwards rather than chasing penalties.
Unstoppable Brisbane weapon Samu Kerevi stretched his Super Rugby form into the new competition with a tackle-busting clinic.
The centre also showed a more subtle side to his package by giving the last pass for three tries.
“It’s quicker than Premier Rugby and getting up to the level of Super Rugby,” Kerevi said.
“It was the first time I’d played inside centre since the trials. Lachie Turner and Ben Tapuai helped me out a lot during the week.”
His halfback Nick Frisby set the tone with a busy and creative performance that included an audacious shimmy, goosestep and one-handed flick pass for Brisbane’s first try to Toby White.
The game’s rapid-fire speed meant it was not an ideal platform for the tight fives but Brisbane hooker Andrew Ready was the hard nut his side needed when heavy rain fell in the second half.
The sweeping backline movements from the Stars were even more impressive given they lost both centres to injuries in the first 15 minutes.
Inside centre Michael Hodge was particularly unfortunate to leave the field with concussion after being trampled beneath a runaway Kerevi.
Sydney should have had the result wrapped up when they outscored Brisbane four tries to two in the first half.
Flyhalf Stuart Dunbar was unable to convert any of his shots at goal, while Brisbane’s two three-point conversions kept them in the hunt.
BRISBANE CITY 45 (Kuridrani, White 2, McIntyre, Parker tries; McIntyre 5 conv) d SYDNEY STARS 20 (Clunies-Ross, Quinn, Dargaville, Stewart tries).
Replay all the Brisbane City v Sydney Stars action in our match blog below
Originally published as Samu Kerevi unstoppable as Brisbane City beat Sydney Stars 45-20 in NRC opener at Ballymore