Brisbane City have played out a thrilling 22-22 draw with defending NRC champions Fijian Drua, with neither side able to capitalise on attacking raids after the 80th minute.
Young gun Isaac Lucas put Nick Chapman over in the 76th minute to level the scores but could not slot the conversion, pushing the ball out to the left to leave the teams sharing the points from an entertaining opening round.
Lucas fired the first shots in what will be a season-long audition for the Reds' no.10 jersey, finding Chapman with a neat cutout pass, as well as setting up Teti Tela's first-half try after darting through a gap before finding the trailing centre with a neat pop-up ball.
He will be disappointed with his kicking though, making just one of his four conversion attempts to leave City just shy of an opening-round upset.
After a free-flowing opening half in which five tries were scored, the teams engaged in an physical arm wrestle in the opening stages of the second term, with neither team able to score in the third quarter.
But a glut of possession for the Drua paid off, with Peceli Nacebe crossing for his second try of the match after inside centre Cyril Reece skipped across field and found his no.10 on the burst.
After struggling at the set piece for much of the day, the Brisbane City scrum saved their best push of the day for the dying minutes, winning a penalty that handed them possession and they were eventually able to capitalise when Chapman dived over.
Both teams had chances to seal the match, with City holding the threatening Drua out in what looked to be the final play of the match before being handed a final chance of their own in the 83rd minute.
They won the ball from the scrum but could not control possession, leaving the deadlock unbroken.
The Drua scored the opening try of the match after some quick work at the breakdown, with flanker Jone Navori outpacing his opposite number Fraser McReight before finding flyhalf Nacebe to cross for the opening try.
McReight combined with Junior Wallabies teammate Michael Wood to create his team's first chance though, bursting into space and making good ground before Isaac Lucas held up a nice pass for Hunter Paisami to race over.
While the Drua are best known for their free-flowing play, they took the opportunity for points on offer midway through the opening term following a scrum penalty, with City struggling at the set piece.
Serupepeli Vularika slotted the three points to take an 8-5 lead but City gained the upper hand with a heads-up play from Lucas, who darted through a gap before finding a trailing Teti Tela who crossed for their second try.
Despite some good pressure around the ruck leading to turnover ball, Brisbane conceded the next try when a misfired pass deep in their own territory ricocheted off McReight's shoulder and into the hands of prop Joel Veitayaki Jr who strolled over to score.
It seemed enough to give the Drua a halftime lead but City hit back just before the break, with Sefa Naivalu beating two defenders and reaching out to score in the corner to leave Brisbane on top 17-15 after the first 40.
RESULT
BRISBANE CITY 22
Tries: Paisami, Tela, Naivalu, Chapman
Cons: Lucas
FIJIAN DRUA 22
Tries: Necebe 2, Veitayaki Jr
Cons: Vularika
Pens: Vularika
