Details Rugby

Description: Australian National Rugby Championship

The National Rugby Championship, known as the NRC, is Australia's national professional rugby union football competition. The NRC is administered by the Australian Rugby Union (ARU), and is contested by nine teams from around Australia. The NRC is the highest tier of competition below the transnational Super Rugby tournament, which also involves New Zealand and South Africa. The championship provides an important competition for Australian players following the Super Rugby season. One (or more) of the NRC matches each round is broadcast live via Fox Sports, typically the Thursday night match. Streaming of the three non-broadcast matches per round, usually played on Saturday or Sunday, is hosted by Fox Sports online. Discussion of the NRC competition is included on Fox Sports' Rugby HQ program on Thursday nights following the live match broadcast, and on the review show NRC Extra Time on Monday nights. 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. These law variations were retained for the 2015 season. Consideration was given to reverting the value of a successful conversion kick to 2 points to restore a converted try to 7 points, but the 3 point conversion variation was retained. The nine teams compete in a round-robin tournament for the regular season. Each team has four matches at home and four away, with one bye. 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.