NRC Announcement 16 July 2014

[travelling_gerry]

You heard it here!

Twitter
https://twitter.com/NRC_Rugby
https://twitter.com/PerthSpirit


http://www.rugby.com.au/FixturesResu...mpionship.aspx

[The InnFORCEr]

PERTH SPIRIT MEDIA RELEASE
Wednesday, 16 July 2014

SPIRIT HOSTS GAMES ACROSS PERTH IN INAUGURAL NRC

The Perth Spirit will host three matches of the National Rugby Championship (NRC) at suburban venues across Perth as a means of bringing the new competition to the Western Australian rugby public.

The Spirit, a team to be formed from Western Force players and leading players from Perth’s Pindan Premier Grade, will play home matches at McGillivray Oval (Sunday, 31 August), Joondalup’s HBF Arena (Sunday, 28 September) and Rockingham Rugby Union Club (Saturday, 4 October). The Spirit’s fourth home fixture will be played in Adelaide (Saturday, 6 September) against the Greater Sydney Rams as a means of assisting to grow rugby in South Australia.

The Spirit will kick off its NRC campaign against the Canberra Vikings in Canberra on Saturday, 23 August.

RugbyWA CEO Mark Sinderberry said it was the organisation’s aim to share Spirit matches across Perth.

“The Spirit represents all of Perth and WA and, as a result, we wanted to make the games as accessible to our rugby community as possible,” he said.

“We’re very pleased to be hosting two home matches at two of our local clubs in UWA and Rockingham, and as one of the fastest growing rugby regions in the country, it was important that we take a match to the Joondalup, Wanneroo and North Coast area at HBF Arena.

“Through our scheduling of home matches, we’re very pleased to be hosting one match each in the north, central and south regions of Perth.”

Sinderberry says the third-tier competition is valuable for the development of rugby in Western Australia.

“Similar to New Zealand’s ITM Cup and the Currie Cup in South Africa, a competition like this provides additional high level rugby opportunities for our aspiring local players and Super Rugby players alike,” he said.

“In addition to Force squad members, the Spirit will feature a significant number of our talented local club players, Australian Under 20 stars, and Future Force recruits.

“This competition is a great opportunity for our rugby community to not only continue to follow their Force favourites, but watch the next generation of Western Australia’s Super Rugby talent come through.”

According to the 2014 National Rugby Championship draw released today (click here to view), the competition will kick off in Brisbane on Thursday, 21 August and will feature a number of law variations designed to enhance exciting play while maintaining the fabric of the game.

One match from each round and the finals series will be broadcast live on Fox Sports.

2014 Perth Spirit Draw – National Rugby Championship

Round Date Home Team Away Team Venue Time (local)
1 Sat 23 Aug Canberra Vikings Perth Spirit Viking Park, Canberra 2.30pm
2 Sun 31 Aug Perth Spirit Brisbane City University of WA, Perth 3.30pm
3 Sat 6 Sept Perth Spirit Greater Sydney Rams Adelaide Airport Stadium, Adelaide 2.00pm
4 Thurs 11 Sept Melbourne Rising Perth Spirit AAMI Park, Melbourne 7.30pm
5 Sat 20 Sept North Harbour Rays Perth Spirit Brookvale Oval, Sydney 5.30pm
6 Sun 28 Sept Perth Spirit Sydney Stars HBF Arena, Perth 3.30pm
7 Sat 4 Oct Perth Spirit Queensland Country Rockingham RUC, Perth 3.30pm
8 Perth Spirit BYE
9 Sat 18 Oct NSW Country Eagles Perth Spirit Caltex Park, Dubbo 3.00pm
Semi Finals TBC 1st 4th TBC (1st Team venue) TBC
TBC 2nd 3rd TBC (2nd Team venue) TBC
Final TBC Semi 1 Winner Semi 2 Winner TBC (Top team venue) TBC

[jono]

Nice stuff!
Pity about no game at ballymore though. I can get over it though

[UnionThug]

http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/nrc...res-announced/

The NRC hey? I know it was always gonna happen but its looks to me more like the N(SW)RC or the S(ydney)RC. I know they have 3 out of the 9 teams but whats with the fixturing? We have to give up one of our 4 home games for Adelaide? Check out the breakdown on where the games are being played:

13 - Sydney
5 - Brisbane
4 - Canberra & Melbourne
3 - Perth
2 - Gold Coast
1 - Adelaide, Lismore, Orange, Dubbo, Townsville

All 3 Sydney Teams play their home games in Sydney with NSW Country playing one there too.

Why is it that Perth are the only team that has to give up a home game?

But really we shouldn't be surprised this is just a continuation of the WA rugby loving public getting shafted by the masters from over east!

[The InnFORCEr]

I think you will find that Perth "opted" to play in Adelaide rather being "forced" to do so.

It's the same weekend as Boks at Subi.

[GAFFA]

It's bloody stupid that they have given a game away I don't care if it was the ARU or RWA either way the wa fans get shafted.

The even dumber thing is that the week after we then have to play to Melbourne FFS the force travel enough as it is let along making the spirit now did it week in week out.

Why not run it as a double header at subi before the boks game RWA better have got a ton of money from someone for doing something so stupid.

[UnionThug]

It's the same weekend as Boks at Subi.

But who's choice was it to opt to have us play a home game that weekend? Fixturing 9 teams over 9 rounds aint that bloody hard...

[James]

Come on guys. Building a strong following for the Force in South Australia is a good thing. One game isn't the end of the world. Besides we will make up for it with a home final

[jargan83]

When your trying to build interest in a new competition taking home games interstate is retarded.

Maybe they should have taken it to a regional centre here in WA before taking it interstate.

[UnionThug]

Or as suggested played it as the curtain raiser...

You know like they've done with Qld Country v North Harbour before the Argies test on the Gold Coast (13/09) or Bris City v Vikings before the 3rd Bledisloe at Suncorp (18/10)

[Darren]

Come on guys. Building a strong following for the Force in South Australia is a good thing. One game isn't the end of the world. Besides we will make up for it with a home final

Spirit share the same colours as one of Adelaide's premier clubs http://www.brightontigers.com.au/

[UnionThug]

Spirit share the same colours as one of Adelaide's premier clubs http://www.brightontigers.com.au/

Geez in that case I guess we should be thankful that our home games aren't all being played at Balmain!

[Alison]

Our first home game is the same day as the City to Surf - going to be a busy day for some :-))

[Buddha Handy]

It seems like there is a game every Thursday night and this is the televised game. So round 4 Sep 11 we will get to see the Spirit game vs Melbourne on Foxtel.

I like the idea of the suburban grounds and taking the kids to Joondalup for example to sit on the grass and run around. Hopefully lots of people embrace it.

[travelling_gerry]

The NRC has announced their law variations for the new competition:
- Instead of a four try bonus point, a bonus point will be awarded for finishing three tries or more ahead of their opponents
- Time limits reduced for shots at goal
- After a successful or unsuccessful penalty goal attempt, play is restarted with a scrum to the non-kicking team at the place of the penalty
- Time limit for both teams to form a scrum
- No option to kick for goal from a scrum penalty (kick to touch allowed). If penalty becomes a ‘repeated infringement’ then kick at goal is allowed
- Scrum-half of non-feeding team is compulsory, must stay within 1m of the scrum, and cannot move past the mid-line of the scrum
- If a yellow card is given for repeated team infringement (excluding dangerous play), the non-offending captain chooses the opposition player who is temporarily suspended for 10 mins
- Players arriving through the gate may ‘drive out’ opponents past the ruck, creating more space behind the ruck for attack
- If non-throwing team does not contest for the ball, the straightness of the throw is not considered
- A ‘mark’ can be awarded any place on the field
(you've got to be f-ing kidding me)
- After half-time and full-time, if awarded a Penalty Kick, you can kick to touch and play the lineout
- Free Kick for kick-off infringements as per Sevens