New South Wales Country Eagles

Last updated

New South Wales Country Eagles
NSW Country Eagles logo 2016.png
NSW Country Eagles
Union NSW Country Rugby [1]
Founded2014
Disbanded2020 (competition disbanded)
Region NSW Regions,
excl. Sydney & Southern NSW
Ground(s) Caltex Park
Regional Stadium
WIN Stadium
Coach(es) Robert Taylor
Captain(s) Ned Hanigan
League(s) National Rugby Championship
20187th
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1st kit
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2nd kit

The New South Wales Country Eagles is an Australian rugby union football team competes in the National Rugby Championship (NRC). The team was founded by a group of patrons associated with country rugby in New South Wales. The Eagles team plays home matches in regional centres of New South Wales including Armidale, Goulburn, Orange, and Tamworth. [2]

Contents

History

The ARU announced in December 2013 that the National Rugby Championship (NRC) would commence in 2014. Expressions of interest were open to all parties, with the accepted bids announced in early 2014. [3] A group of rugby patrons headed by businessmen Rick Hutchinson and Peter Tonkin (son of former Wallaby Arthur Tonkin) [4] founded the bid for a New South Wales Country team. [5] [6] On 24 March 2014, it was announced that New South Wales Country would be in the new competition. [7]

The first general manager of the NSW Country Eagles, former Wallabies player James Grant, stated in 2014 that the team would be based in Sydney but travel to regional centres in New South Wales to play home games. Cities including Orange, Dubbo, Mudgee, Lismore, Tamworth, Moree, Armidale and Newcastle expressed an interest in staging matches. [6]

Originally it was thought that the NSW Country team for the NRC would be wholly composed of city-based players of country origin, but a goal of recruiting between four and eight players that were country-based was announced. [7] In the early years of the competition. Sydney clubs Easts and Randwick had a direct link as feeder clubs for the NSW Country team in the NRC. [8] Ahead of the 2016 season, the Sydney University club took a 25% stake in the team and provided many Eagles players from that season onwards. [9]

Darren Coleman was appointed as the first head coach of NSW Country team in 2014. Coleman had previously guided Japanese team Toyota Shokki to Top League promotion for the 2013–14 season. [10] [11] Prior to that, he was also the assistant coach of the Central Coast Rays team which won the ARC in 2007. [12] Coleman continued as head coach through to 2018. [13] [14] [15]

Name and colours

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2014–2015 NSW Country Eagles kit and logo

The Country Eagles are named for the wedge-tailed eagle, the largest bird of prey found in Australia. The team logo features a wedge-tailed eagle and, as the bird's feathers are mainly black with deep golden coloured highlights on the neck and wings, black and gold were adopted as the team's original colours. [8] The logo and mascot, “Wedgie”, were chosen in consultation with the NSW Country Rugby Union to differentiate the team from the existing Cockatoos representative side. The Eagles colours, however, remain similar to the traditional black and gold (amber) colours worn by NSW Country. [2]

Sponsorship

Elders Limited formed a partnership with NSW Country Eagles in 2015, and has been the team's main front-of-jersey sponsor since 2016. [16] The major naming sponsor of the Country Eagles for the 2014 and 2015 seasons was Charles Sturt University (CSU). [17]

Grounds

Location of NSW Country's home venues for 2019

The NSW Country team plays its home matches in regional centres of New South Wales. In previous seasons, the team has also hosted some games in Sydney. [2] The team has its training base at the University of NSW in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, the same facility used by the Waratahs. [1]

The team has scheduled home matches at the following locations:

CityVenueCapacity
Home venues for the current season
Dubbo Caltex Park [18] 12,000
Port Macquarie Regional Stadium 10,000
Wollongong WIN Stadium 23,000
Home venues for previous seasons
Armidale Bellevue Oval3,000
Bathurst Ann Ashwood Park3,000
Camden Camden Rugby Park3,000
Gosford Central Coast Stadium 20,059
Goulburn Simon Poidevin Oval3,000
Lismore Oakes Oval [19] 10,000
Mudgee Glen Willow Stadium 10,000
Newcastle Sports Ground No. 25,000
Orange Wade Park [20] 8,000
Tamworth Chillingworth Oval3,000
Scully Park 11,000
Magpies Rugby Park3,000
Sydney Concord Oval 20,000
Coogee Oval [21] 5,000
University Oval No. 25,000
Woollahra Oval5,000

Current squad

The squad for the 2019 NRC season:

NSW Country squad – NRC 2019
Notes:
The initial squad was named in late August. [23] Players joining in subsequent rounds were:
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Den Hoedt, Walker, Nowlan (Rd 1), [upper-alpha 3] Ah Wong, Manuofetoa (Rd 2), [upper-alpha 4] and Hall (Rd 3). [upper-alpha 5]
  2. 1 2 Robertson and Tuala (Rd 4). [22]
  3. "NRC Team Hub - Round One: All the teams, times and RUGBY.com.au stream details". Rugby.com.au. 29 August 2019.
  4. "NRC Team Hub: All the lineups, kick-off times and broadcast info for round two". Rugby.com.au. 5 September 2019.
  5. "NRC Team Hub: All the teams, kick-off times and broadcast info for round three". Rugby.com.au. 12 September 2019.
Ned Hanigan NRC 2016.jpg
Flanker Ned Hanigan.
Jake Gordon NRC 2016 (cropped).jpg
Scrum-half Jake Gordon.

Records

Honours

Season standings

National Rugby Championship

YearPosPldWDLFA+/-BPPts  Play-offs
2018 7th7106140280−14026  Did not compete
2017 5th8413219217+2220  Did not compete
2016 1st7601280190+90428  Grand final loss to Perth Spirit by 20–16.
2015 5th8404225260−35319  Did not compete
2014 2nd8602251202+49327  Semi-final loss to Brisbane City by 26–32.

Head coaches

Captains

Squads

See also

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References

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  3. "ARU unveils new domestic competition, a third tier of rugby". The Australian. News. 10 December 2013. Archived from the original on 3 July 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  4. "Tonkin's dream turns to reality". The Daily Examiner. 30 April 2010. Archived from the original on 27 February 2019.
  5. Adams, Hugh (15 August 2014). "NSW Country Eagles Preview". Green and Gold Rugby. Archived from the original on 15 August 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  6. 1 2 Findle, Matt (26 March 2014). "Country players to audition for National Rugby Championship side". Central Western Daily. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  7. 1 2 "Australian Rugby Union says National Rugby Championship to start in August". ABC. 24 March 2014. Archived from the original on 25 March 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
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