2016 National Rugby Championship

2016 National Rugby Championship
Date 27 August – 22 October 2016
Champions Perth Spirit  (1st title)
Runners-up NSW Country Eagles
Matches played 31
Official website
buildcorpnrc.com.au
2015
2017 →

The 2016 National Rugby Championship (known as the Buildcorp National Rugby Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the third season of Australia's National Rugby Championship. It involved eight professional rugby union teams, one team fewer than in the previous two seasons. The competition kicked off on 27 August 2016.

Teams

   WSR
Location of teams in the 2016 National Rugby Championship

Legend:

BC  Brisbane City
CV  Canberra Vikings
CE  Country Eagles
MR  Melbourne Rising
PS  Perth Spirit
QC  Queensland Country
SR  Sydney Rays
WSRWestern Sydney Rams

A major change was made for the 2016 season with the scrapping of the Sydney Stars team. The Australian Rugby Union did not renew their licence for the competition to consolidate playing strength of the teams in New South Wales.[1] The North Harbour Rays subsequently changed their name to become the Sydney Rays.[1] Prior to the season it was also reported that the Canberra Vikings would be renamed the Canberra Kookaburras in a return to the traditional name of the ACT team, but this change was postponed until at least the 2017 season.[2]

The eight teams for the 2016 NRC season include three from New South Wales, two from Queensland, and one each from Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, and Western Australia:

Region Team Coach(es) Captain(s) Refs
ACT Canberra Vikings Australia Wayne Southwell Australia Jarrad Butler [2]
NSW NSW Country Eagles Australia Darren Coleman Australia Paddy Ryan [3]
Sydney Rays Australia Simon Cron Australia Matt Lucas [4]
Western Sydney Rams Australia John Muggleton Australia Paul Asquith [5]
QLD Brisbane City Australia Rod Seib Australia Sam Talakai [6]
Queensland Country Australia Toutai Kefu Australia James Tuttle [6]
VIC Melbourne Rising Australia Zane Hilton Australia Nic Stirzaker [7]
WA Perth Spirit Australia Dwayne Nestor Australia Heath Tessmann [8]

Home match venues scheduled for the 2016 NRC season:

Region Team Match Venue Capacity City
ACT Canberra Vikings Viking Park 8,000 Canberra
NSW NSW Country Eagles Endeavour Oval a 3,000 Orange
Magpies Rugby Park 3,000 Tamworth
Scully Park 11,000
Sports Ground No. 2 5,000 Newcastle
Sydney University 5,000 Sydney
Sydney Rays North Sydney Oval 20,000
Pittwater Park 10,000
Western Sydney Rams Concord Oval 20,000
QLD Brisbane City Ballymore 18,000 Brisbane
Queensland Country Bond University 5,000 Gold Coast
Sports Ground 9,000 Toowoomba
VIC Melbourne Rising Holmesglen Reserve 3,000 Melbourne
Frankston Park 8,000
WA Perth Spirit UWA Rugby Club 4,000 Perth

Television coverage and streaming

Two of the NRC matches each weekend are broadcast live via Fox Sports. Discussion of the NRC competition is included on Fox Sports' review show NRC Extra Time on Monday nights,[9] and the Rugby 360 program on Wednesday evenings.

Experimental Law Variations

The ARU was given approval by World Rugby (then known as the International Rugby Board) to conduct experimental law trials as part of the 2014 National Rugby Championship.[10] These law variations, including the changing the scoring value of conversions to three points and penalties to two points, were retained for the 2015 season.[9] For the 2016 season, however, scoring values were changed again to make tries worth six points and any form of goal worth two points.[11]

Regular season

The eight teams compete in a round-robin tournament for the regular season. Each team has four matches at home and four away. The top four teams qualify for the title play-offs with semi-finals and finals.

During this section of the tournament, teams can also play for the Horan-Little Shield, a challenge trophy that is played for when a challenge is accepted or offered by the holders.

Standings

National Rugby Championship
Pos Team P W D L PF PA PD TB LB Pts
1 NSW Country Eagles HL 7 6 0 1 280 190 +90 3 1 28
2 Sydney Rays 7 6 0 1 258 174 +84 3 0 27
3 Perth Spirit 7 5 0 2 250 210 +40 2 0 22
4 Melbourne Rising 7 3 0 4 260 262 −2 1 3 16
5 Canberra Vikings 7 3 0 4 254 276 −22 2 1 15
6 Western Sydney Rams 7 2 0 5 264 266 −2 1 4 13
7 Brisbane City 7 2 0 5 216 306 −90 0 1 9
8 Queensland Country 7 1 0 6 248 346 −98 0 3 7
Updated: 9 October 2016

Source: rugbyarchive.net
  Teams 1 to 4 (Green background) at the end of the preliminary competition rounds qualify for the Title play-offs.
HL denotes the holder of the Horan-Little Shield.

Four points for a win, two for a draw, and no points for a bye.
One bonus point for the winning team scoring three or more tries than their opponent (TB), one bonus point for losing by eight or less (LB).
If teams are level on points in the standings at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:[Table notes 1]
  Difference between points for and against
  Match result between tied teams
  Total number of tries scored in the competition

  1. McKay, Brett. "NRC tie breaker method". Green and Gold Rugby. Archived from the original on 8 October 2016.

Competition rounds

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Title play-offs

The top four sides in the regular season advanced to the semifinals of the knock-out stage, which was followed by the final to decide the National Rugby Championship title.

Semi-finals

Final

22 October 2016 NSW Country Eagles 16–20 Perth Spirit Scully Park, Tamworth  
19:45 AEDT Try: Figg 37'
Hill 75'
Con: Deegan (1/1) 37'
Adams (1/1) 75'
Cards: Perry 43' to 53'
Try: Louwrens (2) 33', 44'
Morahan 31'
Con: Tapuai (1/1) 45'
Lance (0/2)
Cards: Cowan 48' to 58'
Stander 64' to 74'
Referee: Nic Berry

Players

The leading scorers in 2016 over the regular season and finals combined were:

See also

Notes

^a The venue for the Round 5 fixture between NSW Country Eagles and Perth Spirit was moved from Orange due to heavy rains causing Endeavour Oval to become waterlogged. The match was relocated to Concord Oval in Sydney.[16]

References

  1. 1 2 "Fixtures for streamlined NRC announced". Nine MSN. 29 June 2016. Archived from the original on 19 August 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  2. 1 2 Dutton, Chris (3 June 2016). "Canberra Vikings postpone Kookaburras shift as Wayne Southwell takes coaching reins". The canberra Times. Archived from the original on 3 June 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  3. "Coaching staff announcement". NSW Country Eagles. 4 June 2016. Archived from the original on 19 July 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  4. "Simon Cron takes over as Rays head coach". Rays Rugby. 13 June 2016. Archived from the original on 30 June 2016. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  5. "Locke in Kevin for NRC". Australian Rugby. 28 June 2016. Archived from the original on 19 July 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  6. 1 2 Tucker, Jim (8 August 2016). "Wallaby World Cup winner Toutai Kefu joins Queensland Country coaching ranks". Courier-Mail. Archived from the original on 9 August 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  7. "Rugby News". Melbourne Rising training squad announced. 13 July 2016. Archived from the original on 19 July 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  8. Smith, Fraser (25 July 2016). "Local talent set for Perth Spirit call up". RugbyWA. Archived from the original on 25 July 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  9. 1 2 McKay, Brett (13 Aug 2015). "Law variations to continue in NRC Season 2". The Roar. Archived from the original on 13 August 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  10. "LAW VARIATION". Australian Rugby Union. Archived from the original on 13 August 2014. Retrieved 2014-08-13.
  11. Newman, Beth (29 June 2016). "Tries more valuable in new NRC". Australian Rugby. Archived from the original on 29 June 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  12. "Law trials for NZ domestic competitions in 2016". Heartland Championship. 5 April 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  13. "French try out new bonus point system". Planet-Rugby.com. 27 June 2007. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 13 August 2007.
  14. "Article 330, Section 3.2. Points "terrain"" (PDF). Règlements de la Ligue Nationale de Rugby 2008/2009 (in French). LNR. Chapitre 2 : Règlement sportif du Championnat de France Professionnel. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2008.
  15. "Referees to 28 August 2016". SA Referees. 22 August 2016. Archived from the original on 23 August 2016. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  16. "Rams and Eagles to host NRC double header in Sydney this Saturday". Rugby News. 22 September 2016. Archived from the original on 22 September 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2016.

External links

Team webpages

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