There was plenty of open rugby and not a lot of defence, but the Melbourne Rising did enough to overcome a spirited North Harbour Rays 55-34 in its opening game of the National Rugby Championship.
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The Rising, with a team stacked with players from its Super Rugby parent the Melbourne Rebels, have a mission to instil a winning culture after four underwhelming seasons for the Rebels.
It took a first step towards that on Sunday in a fast-paced but at times muddled game that was highlighted by 13 tries, where the play was so free-flowing that it occasionally became error-riddled and chaotic.
But there were many bright points for the Rising, not least the first on-field appearance of Irish hooker Tom Sexton, who missed the Super Rugby season because of a knee injury, and the performance of the players from the local Dewar Shield competition, who did not look out of place in the team.
Played in front of 2187 fans at AAMI Park, the lead changed repeatedly until the Rising secured the win with four tries in the final 20 minutes.
Telusa Veainu, Jack Debreczeni, who impressed at five-eighth, and Sefanaia Naivalu, who was one of two Dewar Shield players who were named in the starting line-up, scored doubles for the Rising, while Nic Stirzaker and another local player, Reuben Rolleston, who came on as a second-half substitute, added the others.
The NPC, with its rule changes, has delivered on its promise of attacking rugby, with all the games during the first round providing plenty of tries. Defence on the other hand was an ingredient that was in short supply.
Rising coach Sean Hedger said he was happy with the performance but expected a rapid improvement in defence throughout the competition.
"There was a lot of what we expected; a lot of open, fast, free-flowing rugby, which seems to be the mantra of the competition," he said.
"But I'm sure that will tighten up as the rounds go on."
Hedger said he was pleased with the performances of the local players. "I think they were great contributions, the two guys who started especially.
"Sione [Taufa] did everything that was required of him in his role [at openside breakaway], and Sefa [Naivalu] provided exactly what we thought with a little bit of spark out wide, and then the guys who came off the bench all fulfilled their roles fantastically. They fit in really well."
Rays coach Geoff Townsend said an interrupted lead-up to the competition had affected his team.
"At no stage really did we do 15-on-15 [training] and that showed in our set piece defence in some ways," he said.
