McInnes Wilson Lawyers Brisbane City have booked a place in the Buildcorp National Rugby Championship (NRC) semi-finals after defeating the Sydney Stars 58-0 in a one-sided encounter at Leichardt Oval in Sydney on Friday night.
Brisbane City retained the Horan-Little Shield and their undefeated record this season after a strong performance in their Round 7 clash, scoring 8 tries to nil in a brilliant offensive and defensive display.
The performance sees City become the first side in the NRC’s short history to hold a team scoreless.
Brisbane City head coach Nick Stiles said the team was thrilled to remain undefeated and retain the Horan-Little Shield for the third time this season.
“We’re thrilled to have secured a convincing win tonight and to have successfully defended the Horan-Little Shield for the third time this season,” Stiles said.
“While crossing for eight tries is a positive, the more important aspect of our game tonight was our defence. To hold a team scoreless and to force errors from them through defensive pressure is really pleasing to see.”
Brisbane City started the match at a rapid pace opening the scoring through wingers Junior Laloifi and Chris Kuridrani, giving the visitors a 13–nil lead nine-minutes into the game.
City continued their excellent start when the backline showed great hands to send Laloifi away for his second try of the match in the 14th minute.
The Sydney Stars were guilty of turning over the ball on number of occasions in the opening stanza and Brisbane City capitalised on this, marching 70-metres down field with Karmichael Hunt finishing just to the right of the posts. The conversion from Jake McIntyre was successful giving City a 29–nil lead.
It didn’t take long for Laloifi to get his hat-trick after scrumhalf Nic Frisby executed a well-timed grubber kick in just the 20th minute of play to give City a 37-nil lead at the 20-minute mark.
A scrum five-metres out paved the way for number eight Scott Higginbotham to crash over in the 27th minute and once again, McIntyre was successful with the conversion to give City a 45–nil lead.
Late in the first half, Sydney Stars lock Senio Toleafoa was sin-binned for repeated infringements, signalling the end of the first half scoring and both teams went to the sheds with City 45-points ahead.
Samu Kerevi and Henry Taefu both made a number of strong runs early in the second half, allowing City to get into good field position. The territory advantage played a part in Laloifi’s fourth try of the night when he crossed in the 51st minute.
With 10-minutes to go, openside flanker Waita Setu crashed over from the back of a maul for the final try of the match to increase the lead to 58–nil. Taefu’s conversion attempt was unsuccessful.
City now travel to Canberra in Round 8 to face the undefeated University of Canberra Vikings in a match that will all but guarantee a home-final later this month. City’s final home game of the season will be against the Greater Sydney Rams at Ballymore on Saturday, 10 October. For ticketing information, visit: www.redsrugby.com.au.
“The players are all really excited for the challenge we face in Canberra next weekend. We have a team of competitors and they relish the chance to test themselves against the best and we’ll have our work cut out for us in the nation’s capital next weekend,” Stiles added.
McInnes Wilson Lawyers Brisbane City 58 (Junior Laloifi (4), Chris Kuridrani, Karmichael Hunt, Scott Higginbotham, Waita Setu; Jake McIntyre 6 conversions) defeated Sydney Stars 0 - at Leichardt Oval, Sydney
Source: Brisbane City
