Mazda ARC scores (Live)

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Perth Spirit 18 - 6 West Sydney Rams (current 65 mins...)
Its pissing down and not a pretty game... :smiley18: :smiley11:


Sydney fleet 25 - 19 Central Coast Rays (final score)

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Spirit 21 - 13 Rams (final score)


against a talent laden Rams outfit.. apparently if it wasnt for the rain Spirit would have walked all over them...

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Spirit v Rams (match report)

Perth Spirit has kicked off their Mazda Australian Rugby Championship in grand style, cruising to a convincing 21-13 victory over the Western Sydney Rams at a wet Members Equity Stadium on Friday night.
The talent-laden Spirit, possessing four Wallabies and 11 players with Super Rugby experience in its starting XV, took a stranglehold on the contest from the outset, running in two first-half tries to set up the win in front of 3543 fans.
Perth fullback Cameron Shepherd received man-of-the-match honours for a try, conversion and three penalty goals, while Nick Cummins was the other try scorer for the Spirit.
Rams centre Chris Siale crossed in the dying minutes of the contest to add respectability to the scoreboard after the Spirit had sprinted out to a 21-6 lead, but in reality it was Perth who dominated the match and deserved to win.
With rain pelting down before the game, players initially struggled to cope with the slippery conditions, with Perth's Ryan Cross fumbling the ball just metres before the try line in the seventh minute.
Spirit winger Cummins scrambled his way over the line 11 minutes later but was denied the try after his right boot snuck over the touch line in his final thrust for glory.
But persistence eventually paid off for the home side, with Shepherd crossing in the 23rd minute to break the deadlock.
The Spirit swung the ball to the left where the Rams were badly exposed. Any one of three Perth players could have crossed for the try with only one opponent standing in their way but it was Shepherd who did the honours, making it 7-0 with the conversion.
The Rams hit back through a Richard Brown penalty in the 35th minute, but it did little to halt the Spirit's ascendancy.
Cross inspired the next try as he ran 25m and fended off three opponents before cleverly dishing off to Cummins, who dived unopposed over the line to make it 12-3.
Shepherd missed the conversion but nailed a penalty goal in the final act of the first half as Perth headed to the break with a commanding 15-3 lead.
The Spirit struck first blood after the restart through another Shepherd penalty goal but the Rams hit back in the same fashion through Martin to make it 18-6 after 53 minutes.
Another Shepherd penalty goal after Rams scrumhalf Joshua Holmes laid a crude tackle on winger Ratu Nasiganiyavi made it 21-6 in the 61st minute, before Siale's try in the dying minutes closed the final margin to just eight points.

Perth Spirit 21
Tries: Shepherd, Cummins 1
Conversions: Shepherd 1
Penalties: Shepherd 3
Sydney Rams 13
Tries: Siale 1
Conversions: Martin 1
Penalties: Martin 2
Crowd: 3643 at Member's Equity Stadium, Perth.

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Fleet v Rays (match Report)

The Sydney Fleet have come from behind to beat the Central Coast Rays 25-19 in the first match in the Mazda Australian Rugby Championship at North Sydney Oval on Friday night.
The home side fought back from an eight-point deficit at the break scoring three second-half tries to claim victory in front of over three and a half thousand spectators.
The Fleet, who did not hold the lead until the 69th minute of the match, were able to stave of a last-minute raid from the Rays to secure the hard-fought win in the Mazda Australian Rugby Championship opener.
The Rays had the perfect start to the second half when replacement forward Ross Duncan crossed, extending the lead to 16-3.
But the Fleet began to control possession and were able to assert their dominance up front as the match wore on.
The Fleet scored their first five-pointer in the 53rd minute when lock Adam Byrnes completed a driving maul with Halangahu adding the extras from in front to close to within three.
The Rays hit straight back with a penalty goal to Brett Sheehan to extend the lead to 19-13, but the Fleet began to look ominous at the midway point of the half.
Fleet flyhalf Daniel Halangahu crossed in the 64th minute after sustained pressure from the Sydneysiders but was unable to convert from out wide leaving the Rays clinging to a one-point lead before No.8 Chris Houston's converted try in the 69th minute sealed the deal for the home side.
Despite dominating possession in the first half, the visiting Rays had to wait until the 35-minute-mark to post their first try, with winger Jordan Macey bagging the first try in the history of the Mazda Australian Rugby Championship.
The Fleet's desperate defence kept them within striking distance at the break despite enjoying virtually no ball and seemingly less field position.
Wallabies No.8 Wycliff Palu was heavily involved in his return match following six-weeks out with a shoulder injury, but was substituted just before the interval with a minor hamstring complaint.
Fleet inside centre Tom Azar was awarded man-of-the-match honours after a strong performance against the Rays Waratahs centre pairing of Sam Harris and Ben Jacobs.

Sydney Fleet 25
Tries: Adam Byrnes, Daniel Halangahu, Chris Houston
Conversions: Daniel Halangahu 2/3
Penalty Goals: Daniel Halangahu 2/2
Central Coast Rays 19
Tries: Jordan Macey, Ross Duncan
Penalty Goals: Brett Sheehan 3/4
At North Sydney Oval
Crowd: 3,547
Half Time: Rays 11-3

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Rebels v Vikings (match report)

The Melbourne Rebels got off to an ideal start in the Mazda Australian Rugby Championship by defeating the Canberra Vikings 32-27 at Manuka Oval in Canberra on Saturday.
The Rebels, fielding such Super 14 stars as Western Force excitement machine Digby Ioane and Queenslander David Croft, started slowly but found their feet and gained the advantage early in the second half.
The Vikings, with a host of Brumbies stars including Wallaby Mark Chisholm, looked effective in patches but will need to improve their consistency if they are to have an impact in the competition.
The match was characterised by stages of excitement, overshadowed by handling errors and defensive lapses.
The Vikings opened the scoring in the eighth minute through the boot of Matt Carraro after a tentative period in which both teams tried to find their feet.
Vikings number eight Jone Tawake was put in the sin bin by referee Brett Bowden for a blatant professional foul only a minute later and Rebels centre Jack Farrer was able to level the scores with the resulting penalty.
The Vikings hit back with some exciting play that culminated in the first try down the right wing. Second-rower Adam Wallace-Harrison broke a tackle and drew a player before feeding the ball to his lock partner Alister Campbell who ran in untouched to give the hosts a five-point advantage on 15 minutes.
In the 28th minute, the Vikings added another five-points to the total.
The Vikings took a quick tap out wide and spread the ball quickly to the left with Gene Fairbanks throwing a long cut-out pass to winger Francis Fainifo who crossed in the corner under the attention of Rebel Peter Playford.
Four minutes later, Playford got revenge as he stormed through the middle of the park and passed to prop Scott Cameron, who managed to barge over the line to score the first ever try for the Melbourne Rebels.
Farrer added the extras to reduce the Vikings lead to only three-points, which they carried into the break.
The second half kicked off in extraordinary fashion. The Vikings failed to gather a long kick from the Rebels and the Melbourne side gathered the ball 20-metres from the Vikings line. The ball went through a series of hands and backrower David Haigh was awarded with the try among a sea of bodies.
Farrer added the extras.
Playford then gave Melbourne a nine-point lead soon after when he was given the ball on the right wing and used his pace to get outside his marker before crossing in the corner.
The game then hit a point of stalemate until Vikings fullback Tim Wright burst down the line and Eddie McLaughlin outpaced the Rebels' outside backs to crash the ball down next to the corner flag in the 62nd minute. Carraro converted.
However, the Rebels hit back with a try to Farrer only two minutes later. The Rebels gained the bonus point when replacement Damon Murphy charged down a Vikings clearance kick and it made its way over to the Rebels centre who scored his side's fourth try of the match.
A runaway try to Luke Burgess against the run of play sealed the match with seven minutes remaining.
Saia Faingaa scored for the Vikings after the siren to give the Canberra two bonus points of their own.
Canberra Vikings 27
Tries: Campbell, Fainifo, McLaughlin, Saia Faingaa
Conversions: Carraro 2/4
Penalties: Carraro 1/1
Melbourne Rebels 32
Tries: Cameron, Haigh, Playford. Farrer, Burgess
Conversions: Farrer 2/5
Penalties: Farrer 1/1
Crowd: 4,355 at Manuka Oval, Canberra.
Referee: Brett Bowden

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Aces v Tornados (match report)

A seesawing affair on the Gold Coast has capped a memorable opening round of the Mazda Australian Rugby Championship with the East Coast Aces desperately holding on to defeat the Ballymore Tornadoes 27-21.
The Aces were 27-0 ahead 10 minutes into the second-half thanks to tries from forward quartet Ole Avei, Ben Mowan, AJ Gilbert and Rodney Blake before the Tornadoes had the 2490-strong local crowd on the edge of their seats with brisk revival as the East Coast tired.
Aces in-form flyhalf Ben Lucas only kicked three-from-seven to compound a nervy finish to the absorbing season opener.
With a proliferation of Queensland Reds team-mates on each team, many expected the first round clash to start with the feel of an intra-squad practice match.
But with four World Cup-bound Wallabies among the run-on sides as well as the likes of Blake, James Horwill, Lloyd Johansson and Clinton Schifcofske, the match got off to a frenetic beginning.
The Carrara crowd was denied the chance to see Berrick Barnes in action after the Reds and Australia flyhalf withdrew on the cusp of kick-off citing a minor groin strain but he should be available for next week’s home meeting with Sydney Fleet.
Wallabies trio Greg Holmes, Sam Cordingley and fullback Chris Latham are also expected to be in ARC action in round two although hooker Sean Hardman will be rested.
Bathed in glorious sunshine, the scores were deadlocked until the 17th minute when Avei crossed less than a minute after the Tornadoes turned down a certain three points when Latham was penalised for not releasing the ball.
Retreating teenager Blair Connor allowed the ball to roll away from his grasp and with Gilbert spreading the play wide, East Coast captain Johansson fed Avei who bundled over for his fourth try in two competitive outings.
Avei scored a notable hat-trick of tries for local side Sunnybank in their Queensland Premier Rugby grand final demolition of the Gold Coast Breakers a fortnight ago.
A crisp pass from the increasingly influential Lucas then set Charlie Fetoai loose with only Schifcofske's last-gasp tackle stopping another score before left winger Henari Veratau was also held up inches short of the line.
But the home side's constant pressure paid off when from Latham's quick tap, Andrew Walker raced away down the right and towering flanker Mowan dived over in the corner for a 13-0 half-time lead.
That advantage was quickly doubled after the restart when the Aces took full advantage of Holmes' yellow card for a swinging arm.
With the Wallaby frontrower in the sin bin just 34 seconds into the half, firstly Gilbert danced through a cavernous Tornadoes defence then loosehead prop Tama Tuirirangi fed his tighthead counterpart for the Aces' fourth.
But with floodlights now illuminating the Gold Coast ground, the recharged visitors discovered a hidden reserve of power to blast back into the match with three converted tries in eight minutes.
Energised by the return of Holmes and a Blake mistake, Ballymore backs Elia Tuqiri, 18-year-old Connor and Anthony Sauer all sauntered in with Schifcofske converting each one to drag the deficit back to six points.
But the Aces held on - even surviving the reduction to 14 players when substitute Quade Cooper was sent to the bin for a late hit on Tim Sampson - to record their maiden ARC victory.

East Coast Aces 27
Tries: Ole Avei, Ben Mowan, AJ Gilbert, Rodney Blake
Conversions: Ben Lucas 3

Ballymore Tornadoes 21
Tries: Elia Tuqiri, Blair Connor, Anthony Sauer
Conversions: Schifcofske 3

Crowd 2490 at Carrara Stadium, Gold Coast.