National Rugby Championship

National Rugby Championship
Tournament information
SportRugby union
Established2014
Final year2019
TeamsAustralia (7 teams)
Fiji (1 team)
Tournament statistics
Final championWestern Force
(2019; 1st title)
Most titlesBrisbane City
(2 titles)

The National Rugby Championship, known as NRC, was an Australian rugby union competition. It was contested by eight teams, seven from Australia and one from Fiji. The tournament ran from 2014 until 2019 before being disbanded in 2020 following the change of the Australian rugby TV broadcasting deal from Fox Sports, who had funded the competition, to Stan Sport.[1] The 2020 competition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2]

Format

The National Rugby Championship was usually held between late August and early November. A round-robin tournament was scheduled first where each team played all others once. The top four teams progressed to the championship playoffs consisting of two semi-final knockout matches and a grand final to determine the champion team and winner of the NRC Trophy, nicknamed 'The Toast Rack'.

During the round-robin section of the tournament, teams would also play for the Horan-Little Shield, a challenge trophy put on the line by the holders when a challenge match was accepted or mandated according to the Shield rules.

Teams

The teams that competed in the National Rugby Championship were.

Region Team Seasons Associated union / teams
Australian Capital Territory Canberra Vikings[a] 2014–2019 ACT and Southern NSW Rugby / Brumbies, Tuggeranong Vikings
Fiji Fijian Drua 2017–2019 Fiji Rugby Union
New South Wales Greater Sydney Rams[b] 2014–2017 New South Wales Rugby / Eastwood, Parramatta, Penrith, Southern Districts, West Harbour
New South Wales Country Eagles 2014–2019 New South Wales Country Rugby / Sydney University,[c] Waratahs
Sydney[d] 2014–2019 New South Wales Rugby / Waratahs
Sydney Stars 2014–2015 New South Wales Rugby / Balmain, Sydney University
Queensland Brisbane City 2014–2019 Queensland Rugby / Reds
Queensland Country 2014–2019 Queensland Rugby / Reds
Victoria Melbourne Rising 2014–2019 Rugby Victoria / Rebels
Western Australia Perth Spirit 2014–2017 RugbyWA / Force
Western Force 2018–2019 RugbyWA / Force
Notes
  1. ^ Known as University of Canberra Vikings from 2014–2016.
  2. ^ Known as the Western Sydney Rams for 2016.
  3. ^ Sydney University, previously with Sydney Stars before their license was cancelled, formed a partnership with New South Wales Country Eagles in 2016.[3]
  4. ^ Known as North Harbour Rays from 2014–2015 and Sydney Rays from 2016–2018.

Television coverage and streaming

Two of the NRC matches each weekend were broadcast live via Fox Sports, with the remaining matches shown on the Fox Sports streaming platform.[4] Discussion of the NRC competition was included on Fox Sports' review show NRC Extra Time on Monday nights, and the Kick & Chase program on Tuesday evenings.

History

In December 2013, the ARU announced that Australia would get another tier of competition under Super Rugby in line with South Africa’s Currie Cup and New Zealand's National Provincial Championship (NPC). Eleven bids were tendered from teams wanting to participate in the tournament, with nine being accepted.[5] Applicants that were not successful were advised that they could bid again as the competition matured, as early as 2015.[6]

The National Rugby Championship followed a previous national competition, the Australian Rugby Championship, that was abandoned after the first season in 2007 due to financial losses.[7][8]

The construction company Buildcorp was the inaugural naming rights sponsor for the NRC competition,[9] with other partners including Intercontinental Hotels, Qantas, and Allianz also signed.[10] ASICS was the official apparel supplier for the first two seasons. Matches were played under approved law variations,[11] intended to increase the speed of the game.[12]

A new broadcasting deal agreed in 2015 secured the funding and future of the competition until the end of the 2020 season.[13] The competition was reduced from nine teams to eight when the ARU did not renew the NRC licence for the Sydney Stars in 2016, citing insufficient player talent to support four competitive teams in New South Wales.[3]

A team from Fiji, the Fijian Drua, joined the competition for the 2017 season.[14] For the 2018 season, the Greater Sydney Rams were dropped from the competition, leaving Sydney with just one team, the Rays.[15]

Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the competition was cancelled for the 2020 season, with the Australian Super Rugby sides playing out the Super Rugby AU competition in 2020–2021. However, once Super Rugby Pacific commenced in 2023, calls for a replacement 'third-tier' competition in Australian rugby grew.

In 2023, Force CEO Tony Lewis told The Sydney Morning Herald that an Australian third-tier competition was a necessity, stating: "All the Super coaches [in Australia] who participated in that third-tier comp [the NRC] that was running before COVID... all waxed lyrical about how good a competition it was and the number of coaches that come through it, and the number of S+C coaches [strength and conditioning], the number of analysts, the number of players. So it's just not about players, it's about coaches, about analysts, about physios. If you're not preparing them for the next level, the jump is horrendous. The first time you do economics, they do needs and wants."[16]

Following reports of several revived concepts in 2024,[17] a new domestic competition was officially confirmed to be in the works by Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh in December that year.[18] Subsequently, in June 2025 Super Rugby AUS was announced as the new domestic competition between the four Australian Super Rugby sides,[19] with its first season commencing in September that year following the conclusion of the premier grade club season.

Sponsorship

The tournament is run by Rugby Australia with the sponsorship of Foxtel which provides television coverage on its Fox Sports channels.[20] Gilbert is the official supplier of all rugby balls.[9]

Player selection

Australia's Super Rugby players participate in the NRC under a capped allocation to ensure that all NRC teams have a mix of players from local development squads and club competitions, as well as those with Super Rugby experience. Australian national team players are required for Test match rugby during the NRC season, but each player is allocated to one of the NRC teams and is able to play if released from national duty.

Seasons

Results

Ed. Year Final Semi-finalists No.
teams
Winner Score / Venue Runner-up
1 2014
Brisbane City 		37–26
Ballymore Stadium
Perth Spirit
NSW Country Eagles
Melbourne Rising 		9
2 2015
Brisbane City 		21–10
Ballymore Stadium
Canberra Vikings
Melbourne Rising
Sydney Stars 		9
3 2016
Perth Spirit 		20–16
Scully Park
NSW Country Eagles
Melbourne Rising
Sydney Rays 		8
4 2017
Queensland Country 		42–28
Viking Park
Canberra Vikings
Perth Spirit
Fijian Drua 		9
5 2018
Fijian Drua 		36–26
Churchill Park
Queensland Country
Canberra Vikings
Western Force 		8
6 2019
Western Force 		41–3
UWA Sports Park
Canberra Vikings
Brisbane City
Fijian Drua 		8
N/a 2020 Cancelled due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.[21] 8

Results summary

Team Champion Runner-up Semi-finalist
Brisbane City 2 (2014, 2015) N/a 1 (2019)
Perth Spirit 1 (2016) 1 (2014) 1 (2017)
Queensland Country 1 (2017) 1 (2018) N/a
Fijian Drua 1 (2018) N/a 2 (2017, 2019)
Western Force 1 (2019) N/a 1 (2018)
Canberra Vikings N/a 3 (2015, 2017, 2019) 1 (2018)
NSW Country Eagles N/a 1 (2016) 1 (2014)
Melbourne Rising N/a N/a 3 (2014, 2015, 2016)
Sydney Stars N/a N/a 1 (2015)
Sydney Rays N/a N/a 1 (2016)

Results summary by region

Region Champion Runner-up Semi-finalist
Queensland 3 (2014, 2015, 2017) 1 (2018) 1 (2019)
Western Australia 2 (2016, 2019) 1 (2014) 2 (2017, 2018)
Fiji 1 (2018) N/a 2 (2017, 2019)
Australian Capital Territory N/a 3 (2015, 2017, 2019) 1 (2018)
New South Wales N/a 1 (2016) 3 (2014, 2015, 2016)
Victoria N/a N/a 3 (2014, 2015, 2016)

See also

References

  1. ^ "National Club Championship concept to be \"inclusive\"". Rugby.com.au. 12 August 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  2. ^ "Sport: NRC cancellation a blow for Fijian Drua rugby team". RNZ. 4 June 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Sydney Stars victims of National Rugby Championship consolidation". The Daily Telegraph. 11 February 2016. Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
  4. ^ "Historic 2017 NRC draw released as Fiji enters the fray". Australian Rugby (Press release). 21 July 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2017.{{cite press release}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  5. ^ "ARU Board approves nine team National Rugby Championship to start in August 2014". rugby.com.au (Press release). 24 March 2014. Archived from the original on 24 March 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  6. ^ "SA Rugby misses out on an NRC Team". sarugby.com.au. 24 March 2014. Archived from the original on 25 October 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  7. ^ "Australia relaunches National Rugby Championship". rugbyweek.com. 24 March 2014. Archived from the original on 24 March 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  8. ^ "NRC update part 1: Queensland, Perth, Melbourne and Canberra". The Roar. 8 July 2014. Archived from the original on 8 July 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  9. ^ a b "Buildcorp announced as National Rugby Championship naming rights partner". Australian Rugby. 16 July 2014. Archived from the original on 16 July 2014. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  10. ^ "ARU partners with Allianz for new National Rugby Championship". Australian Rugby. 20 August 2014. Archived from the original on 24 August 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  11. ^ "Law variation". Australian Rugby Union. Archived from the original on 13 August 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  12. ^ McKay, Brett (13 August 2015). "Law variations to continue in NRC Season 2". The Roar. Archived from the original on 12 August 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  13. ^ Payten, Iain (4 March 2015). "New broadcasting deal ensures future of National Rugby Championship until at least 2020". The Courier Mail. News. Retrieved 4 March 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  14. ^ "FRU Reveals Fiji NRC Official Name and Kit" (Press release). Fiji Rugby Union. 16 August 2017. Archived from the original on 16 August 2017. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  15. ^ NSW to field two NRC teams in 2018 - Beth Newman, Rugby.com.au, 6 June 2018
  16. ^ Cully, Paul (13 August 2023). "Why new national comp is a 'need, not a want' for Australian rugby". The Sydney Morning Herald. Nine Entertainment.
  17. ^ Doran, Christy (28 October 2024). "Exclusive: Rugby Australia plot new third-tier competition involving Super teams". The Roar.
  18. ^ Williamson, Nathan (11 December 2024). "Waugh reveals third-tier competition in pipeline for 2025". Rugby.com.au. Archived from the original on 3 January 2025.
  19. ^ Wasiliev, Nick (17 June 2025). "Rugby Australia confirms new domestic Super Rugby AUS competition to kick off in September". Rugby.com.au. Archived from the original on 10 July 2025. Retrieved 3 August 2025.
  20. ^ McKay, Brett (15 July 2014). "NRC update part 3: All systems go for launch". The Roar. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  21. ^ "Sport: NRC cancellation a blow for Fijian Drua rugby team". RNZ. Radio New Zealand. 4 June 2020.

Team webpages

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