PERTH Spirit claimed the National Rugby Championship title for the first time by upsetting minor premiers NSW Country Eagles 20-16 at Scully Park in Tamworth on Saturday night.

NSW Country dominated the second half but for all their possession and territory, the home team and hot favourites couldn’t turn pressure into points.

Perth openside flanker Richard Hardwick won the inaugural Phil Waugh Medal as the player of the final.

Spirit captain Heath Tessmann paid tribute to his side’s phenomenal defence.

“It’s the old cliche that defence wins championships and each guy from one to 23 really stood up,” Tessmann told Fox Sports at fulltime.

“We were hard, we were physical which is what we needed to do.”

After a scoreless opening half-hour, it was the visitors who scored first when captain Luke Morahan dotted down following an error at the back from fly-half Andrew Deegan.

The visitors had their second five-pointer just two minutes later when scrum-half Ryan Louwrens finished off an excellent team try.

Sam Figg brought the home side back into the contest on the stroke of halftime when he barged his way over from close range.

Sam Figg celebrates after scoring for the NSW Country Eagles in the NRC final. Source: Getty Images

Louwrens then got the visitors off to the perfect start in the second half when the No 9 grabbed his second try.

After dominating the set-piece for most of the match, the Spirit opted for a scrum close to the Eagles’ line and with a man in the sin0bin, the crafty halfback exploited the 14-man opposition and ran down the blindside to score.

Despite giving away two yellow cards midway through the second half, the Spirit managed to repel the Eagles’ raids on their own line.

Replacement outside back Tom Hill did give the home side hope of a come-from-behind win when he crossed the line in the 75th minute.

But the visitors then shot themselves in the foot when they kicked too long from the restart which gave the Eagles a scrum on halfway.

And when impressive scrum-half Jake Gordon dropped the ball in the 79th minute, deep inside the opposition’s half, the Eagles’ hopes of overturning the four-point deficit went up in smoke.

The Spirit wound down the clock and held on for their maiden NRC championship.

Spirit captain Heath Tessmann holds aloft the NRC after defeating NSW Country Eagles in Tamworth. Source: Getty Images

“We don’t mind making it a little bit hard for ourselves near the end,” Tessmann said.

“The last few weeks we’ve got away to a lot of good leads and let some teams back in.

“But (I) couldn’t be happier with how we ended, closing that game out and the guys have done an excellent job.”

Country Eagles captain Paddy Ryan described the match as the best final the competition has seen.

“On a positive note for the NRC, that’s probably our best and most competitive final yet.

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