The 2019 National Rugby Championship was the sixth season of the top flight of Australian domestic rugby union. The competition began on 31 August and concluded on 26 October. The match of the round was broadcast live each week on Fox Sports and Kayo Sports, with all matches streamed on rugby.com.au live. The championship featured eight professional teams, seven from Australia and one from Fiji.
Teams The eight teams for the 2019 NRC season include two from New South Wales, two from Queensland, and one each from Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, Western Australia, and Fiji: RegionTeamCoachCaptainCanberra VikingsNick ScrivenerDarcy SwainFijian DruaSenirusi SeruvakulaEremasi RadrodroRobert TaylorNed HaniganSydneyChris WhitakerLalakai FoketiBrisbane CityJim McKayFraser McReightQueensland CountryRod SeibAngus Scott-YoungMelbourne RisingPom Simona Semisi TupouWestern ForceTim SampsonIan Prior
Television coverage and streaming One NRC match per round is broadcast live via Fox Sports. All matches are also shown live on the Kayo Sports and Rugby.com.au streaming platforms.
Experimental Law Variations Two new trial variations were included for the 2019 NRC. A 50:22 kick, whereby a team kicking the ball indirectly into touch (i.e. not on the full) is awarded the resulting lineout throw if the ball is kicked: (a) from within the team's own half and finds touch in the opposition's 22; or (b) from within the team's own 22 and finds touch in the opposition's half. A goal line drop-out, awarded to the defending team if an attacking player brings the ball into the in-goal and is held up.
Existing Law of the GameVariationTelevision Match Official / Global law trial: Law 5Television match official to only be consulted about tries and in-goal plays.Conversion: Law 8 Sanction: Kick is disallowed.Time limit reduced to 60 seconds for conversion kicks.Penalty goal: Law 8 Sanction: Kick is disallowed and a scrum is awarded.Time limit reduced to 45 seconds for penalty kicks.During a maul: Law 16 Sanction: Penalty.Greater policing of this law, in order to discourage "hold up tackles", by ensuring that the tackler, who holds up a ball carrier in an effort to form a maul, does not collapse the maul as soon as it has formed.Quick throw: Law 18Players will be allowed to take quick throw-ins regardless of whether someone else has touched the ballLineout: Law 18For a 50:22 kick, where the team in possession kicks the ball indirectly into touch from either: (a) within their own half to find touch in the opposition's 22; or (b) from within their own 22 to find touch in the opposition's half; then the throw in to the resulting lineout is awarded to the kicking team at the location where the ball reached the touchline.Location of a penalty or free kick: Law 20Increased latitude will be given to where penalty and free kicks are to be takenBall held up in-goal: Law 21Play restarts with a goal-line drop out awarded to the defending team. Rationale: To reward good defence and promote a faster rate of play.Competition rule - Bonus point awarded for scoring 4 triesBonus point awarded if a winning team scores at least 3 more tries than its opponent.This particular system was first used in the French professional leagues during the 2007–08 northern hemisphere season.
Regular season The eight teams competed in a round-robin tournament for the regular season. During this section of the competition, teams also played for the Horan-Little Shield, a challenge trophy put on the line when a challenge is accepted by the holders or mandated by the terms of the competition.
The regular season standings were determined via a slightly modified version of the standard competition points system— the same system as was used for The Rugby Championship and Super Rugby—with a bonus point awarded to a winning team scoring at least 3 more tries than their opponent; and a bonus point awarded to a losing team defeated by a margin of 7 points or under. Four points were awarded for a win and none for a loss; two points were awarded to each team for a draw.
Each team's placement was based on its cumulative points total, including any bonus points earned. For teams level on table points, tiebreakers apply in the following order: Difference between points for and against during the season. Head-to-head match result(s) between the tied teams. Total number tries scored during the season.
The top four teams at the end of the regular season qualified for the title play-offs in the form of semi-finals followed by a final to determine the champion team.
Standings National Rugby Championship # Team 1 Western Force 7 6 0 1 285 213 +72 45 31 4 0 282 Canberra Vikings 7 5 0 2 238 211 +27 36 33 2 0 223 Fijian Drua 7 3 2 2 231 214 +17 33 34 1 0 174 Brisbane City 7 3 1 3 214 199 +15 34 29 1 2 175 7 3 1 3 181 172 +9 28 26 0 2 166 Queensland Country 7 3 0 4 205 235 –30 30 35 1 2 157 Melbourne Rising 7 2 0 5 206 211 –5 30 33 1 2 118 Sydney 7 1 0 6 220 325 −105 34 50 1 1 6
Team progression
NRC team progressionTeamRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4Round 5Round 6Round 7 Brisbane City2(4th)7(3rd)8(4th)12(2nd)12(4th)13(6th)17(4th) Canberra Vikings5(1st)5(5th)9(3rd)9(4th)14(3rd)18(2nd)22(2nd) Fijian Drua2(5th)2(6th)4(7th)9(5th)9(7th)13(5th)17(3rd) Melbourne Rising0(8th)0(8th)0(8th)5(8th)9(6th)10(7th)11(7th) 4(2nd)8(2nd)10(2nd)11(3rd)15(2nd)16(3rd)16(5th) Queensland Country1(6th)6(4th)6(5th)6(6th)10(5th)14(4th)15(6th) Sydney1(7th)1(7th)6(6th)6(7th)6(8th)6(8th)6(8th) Western Force4(3rd)9(1st)14(1st)19(1st)19(1st)23(1st)28(1st) The table above shows a team's progression throughout the season.For each round, their cumulative points total is shown with the overall log position in brackets.Key: win draw loss bye
Competition rounds Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
Title playoffs
Semi-finals
Final
Team details FB 15 Jack McGregor RW 14 Byron Ralston OC 13 Pama Fou IC 12 Nick Jooste LW 11 Jonah Placid FH 10 Andrew Deegan (c) SH 9 Issak Fines N8 8 Brynard Stander OF 7 Carlo Tizzano BF 6 Henry Stowers RL 5 Jeremy Thrush LL 4 Fergus Lee-Warner TP 3 Tom Sheminant HK 2 Heath Tessmann LP 1 Harrison Lloyd Replacements:HK 16 Andrew Ready PR 17 Cameron Orr PR 18 Dominic Hardman LK 19 Ben Grant FL 20 Tevin Ferris SH 21 Rory O'Sullivan FH 22 Chris Tuatara-Morrison UB 23 Jake Strachan Coach: Tim Sampson FB 15 Tom Banks RW 14 Tom Wright OC 13 Len Ikitau IC 12 Irae Simone LW 11 Andy Muirhead FH 10 Noah Lolesio SH 9 Ryan Lonergan N8 8 Angus Allen OF 7 Will Miller BF 6 Pete Samu RL 5 Nick Frost LL 4 Blake Enever (c) TP 3 Angus Wagner HK 2 Lachlan Lonergan LP 1 Bo Abra Replacements:HK 16 TP Luteru PR 17 Fred Kaihea PR 18 Tom Ross LK 19 Will Sankey FL 20 Luke Gersekowski SH 21 Joe Powell FH 22 Bayley Kuenzle OB 23 Lincoln Smith Coach: Nick Scrivener Man of the Match (Phil Waugh Medal): Fergus Lee-Warner
Assistant Referees: Graham Cooper () Jordan Way (Australia) Television match official: Alexander Ninkov (Australia)
Season attendances TeamMatcheshostedTotalAverageHighestLowest Brisbane City 4 9,450 2,363 3,000 1,500 Canberra Vikings 5 8,100 1,620 3,000 1,000 Fijian Drua 3 6,750 2,250 2,750 1,500 Melbourne Rising 4 5,250 1,313 2,000 500 NSW Country Eagles 3 3,750 1,250 1,500 1,000 Queensland Country 3 5,000 1,667 2,000 1,500 Sydney 3 2,000 667 750 500 Western Force 6 19,000 3,167 6,500 1,500 Totals (8 teams) 31
NRC Division 2 The NRC II tournament was hosted by Rugby Union South Australia on 26–29 September in Adelaide as a competition for member unions and regions in Rugby Australia without a pathway to professional rugby via the main National Rugby Championship. The tournament was a reprisal of sorts of the Australian Rugby Shield which had been disbanded ten years earlier, and most of the representative teams which had featured in the Shield were invited to participate in NRC Division 2 in 2019. The eight teams scheduled to play in the tournament were:
Third place
Div 2 final
Notes Fox Sports broadcast match.
The Northern Territory Mosquitoes team was a late withdrawal from the NRC II for 2019 and did not compete in the tournament.
References
External links NRC on Rugby.com.au NRC on Fox Sports NRC Live on twitter.com
Team webpages