National Rugby Championship

The National Rugby Championship (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. The 2020 competition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background and 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. Applicants that were not successful were advised that they could bid again as the competition matured, as early as 2015.

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.

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

A new broadcasting deal agreed in 2015 secured the funding and future of the competition until the end of the 2020 season. 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.

A team from Fiji, the Fijian Drua, joined the competition for the 2017 season. For the 2018 season, the Greater Sydney Rams were dropped from the competition, leaving Sydney with just one team, the Rays.NSW to field two NRC teams in 2018 - Beth Newman, Rugby.com.au, 6 June 2018

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."

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

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 Canberra Vikings 2014–2019 ACT and Southern NSW Rugby / Brumbies, Tuggeranong Vikings Fijian Drua 2017–2019 Fiji Rugby Union Greater Sydney Rams 2014–2017 New South Wales Rugby / Eastwood, Parramatta, Penrith, Southern Districts, West Harbour 2014–2019 New South Wales Country Rugby / Sydney University, Waratahs Sydney 2014–2019 New South Wales Rugby / Waratahs Sydney Stars 2014–2015 New South Wales Rugby / Balmain, Sydney University Brisbane City 2014–2019 Queensland Rugby / Reds Queensland Country 2014–2019 Queensland Rugby / Reds Melbourne Rising 2014–2019 Rugby Victoria / Rebels Perth Spirit 2014–2017 RugbyWA / Force Western Force 2018–2019 RugbyWA / Force

Notes

Seasons Results Ed. Year Final Semi-finalists Winner Score / Venue Runner-up 1 2014 Brisbane City37–26Perth SpiritNSW Country Eagles Melbourne Rising 9 2 2015Brisbane City21–10Canberra VikingsMelbourne Rising Sydney Stars 9 3 2016 Perth Spirit20–16NSW Country Eagles Melbourne Rising Sydney Rays84 2017 Queensland Country42–28Canberra VikingsPerth SpiritFijian Drua95 2018 Fijian Drua36–26Queensland CountryCanberra VikingsWestern Force 8 6 2019 Western Force41–3Canberra VikingsBrisbane CityFijian Drua8 2020 colspan=5 8

Results summary Team Champion Runner-up Semi-finalist Brisbane City2 (2014, 2015)1 (2019) Perth Spirit1 (2016)1 (2014)1 (2017) Queensland Country1 (2017)1 (2018) Fijian Drua1 (2018)style=background:#C0C0C0 2 (2017, 2019) Western Force1 (2019)style=background:#C0C0C0 1 (2018) Canberra Vikingsstyle=background:#FFD700 3 (2015, 2017, 2019)1 (2018) NSW Country Eaglesstyle=background:#FFD700 1 (2016)1 (2014) Melbourne Risingstyle=background:#FFD700 style=background:#C0C0C0 3 (2014, 2015, 2016) Sydney Starsstyle=background:#FFD700 style=background:#C0C0C0 1 (2015) Sydney Raysstyle=background:#FFD700 style=background:#C0C0C0 1 (2016)

Results summary by region Region Champion Runner-up Semi-finalist 3 (2014, 2015, 2017)1 (2018)1 (2019)2 (2016, 2019)1 (2014)2 (2017, 2018)1 (2018)2 (2017, 2019)3 (2015, 2017, 2019)1 (2018)1 (2016)3 (2014, 2015, 2016)3 (2014, 2015, 2016)

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

Two of the NRC matches each weekend were broadcast live via Fox Sports, with the remaining matches shown on the Fox Sports streaming platform. 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.

National Rugby Championship

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