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2017 National Rugby Championship

The 2017 National Rugby Championship was the fourth season of Australia's National Rugby Championship. It involved nine professional rugby union teams, one more than the previous year, with eight teams from Australia and one team from Fiji.

The two leading teams in the regular season, Canberra Vikings and Queensland Country, went on to play in the championship final. The deciding match, played at Viking Park in Canberra, was won 42–28 by Queensland Country to claim their first NRC title.[1]

Teams

A major change made for the 2017 season was the inclusion of the Fijian Drua in the competition. Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama met with the Australian Rugby Union, and World Rugby earlier in the year about establishing a pathway for developing Fijian rugby players. World Rugby financed the Fijian Drua.[2]

The nine teams for the season included three from New South Wales, two from Queensland, and one each from Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, Western Australia, and Fiji:

Home match venues scheduled for the 2017 NRC season:

Television coverage and streaming

Two of the NRC matches each weekend were broadcast live via Fox Sports, with the remaining matches shown on the Fox Sports streaming platform.[19] Discussion of the NRC competition was included on Fox Sports' review show NRC Extra Time on Monday nights, and the Kick & Chase program on Tuesday evenings.

Experimental Law Variations

The trialed changes to the point scoring system adopted in previous years were not continued for the 2017 NRC season, and scoring reverted to the standard values of five points for a try, two for a conversion and three for a penalty or drop goal.[20]

The remaining law variations used in 2016 were retained for the 2017 season.[21] Also adopted were World Rugby's six amendments to the program of trial laws for 2017,[20] relating to the tackle/ruck (Law 15.4 (c), 16, and 16.4 variations) and scrum (Law 20, 20.5 (d), and 20.9 (b) variations).[22][23]

NRC Law Variations 2017

Regular season

The nine teams played in a round-robin for the regular season, each team having four matches at home and four away. The top four teams qualified for the semi-finals with the respective winner meeting in the final.[27]

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 competition for the shield.

Points for the regular season standings were accumulated by the same method as for The Rugby Championship and Super Rugby. A slightly modified version of the standard competition points system was used, with a bonus point awarded to a winning team scoring at least 3 tries more than their opponent; and a bonus point awarded to a losing team defeated by a margin of 7 points or under.[28] Four points were awarded for a win and none for a loss; two points were awarded to each team if a match was drawn.

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:[29]

  1. Difference between points for and against during the season.
  2. Head-to-head match result(s) between the tied teams.
  3. 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.[19]

Standings

Competition rounds

All kick-offs listed are in local time.

Round 1




Round 2




Round 3




Round 4




Round 5




Round 6

Pasifika Round




Round 7




Round 8




Round 9




Finals

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

References

  1. ^ a b "Queensland Country complete fairy tale season upsetting Canberra Vikings in NRC grand final". The Sydney Morning Herald. 12 November 2017. Archived from the original on 18 May 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  2. ^ "NRC: Fiji to join Buildcorp NRC from 2017". Australian Rugby. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  3. ^ "Seruvakula Appointed NRC Coach". Fiji Sun. 25 July 2017. Archived from the original on 25 July 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  4. ^ "Stewart Leads Drua". Fiji Sun. 29 August 2017. Archived from the original on 29 August 2017. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  5. ^ "Canberra Vikings name squad for the 2017 National Rugby Championship season". The Canberra Times. 14 August 2017. Archived from the original on 15 August 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  6. ^ "Why change a winning formula? The Country Eagles coaching staff and captain confirmed for 2017". NSW Country Eagles. 17 July 2017. Archived from the original on 17 July 2017. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  7. ^ "Rams rebranded Q&A with John Manenti". 30 August 2017. Archived from the original on 30 August 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  8. ^ "NRC Team of the week". Australian Rugby. 4 September 2017. Archived from the original on 4 September 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  9. ^ "Huxley to coach Rays". Australian Rugby. 13 July 2017. Archived from the original on 13 July 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  10. ^ "Team announcement". twitter.com/SydneyRays. 28 August 2017. Archived from the original on 29 August 2017. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  11. ^ "McInnes Wilson Lawyers Brisbane City squad and coaches announced for 2017 National Rugby Championship". Reds Rugby. 3 August 2017. Archived from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
  12. ^ "Andrew Ready to captain McInnes Wilson Lawyers Brisbane City in 2017 National Rugby Championship". Reds Rugby. 28 August 2017. Archived from the original on 28 August 2017. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  13. ^ "Brad Thorn to coach Queensland Country in National Rugby Championship". Fox Rugby. 2 August 2017. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  14. ^ "Duncan Paia'aua to captain Bond University Queensland Country in 2017 National Rugby Championship". Reds Rugby. 28 August 2017. Archived from the original on 28 August 2017. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  15. ^ "From Rising player to coach for Pom Simona". Melbourne Rebels. 13 August 2017. Archived from the original on 13 August 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  16. ^ "Ultimate guide to the National Rugby Championship: Teams, fixtures, odds, live stream". The Herald Sun. Melbourne. 1 September 2017. Archived from the original on 4 September 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  17. ^ "Kevin Foote appointed Road Safety Perth Spirit head coach". RugbyWA. 2 August 2017. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  18. ^ "NRC 2017: Perth Spirit Season Preview". Green and Gold Rugby. 28 August 2018. Archived from the original on 28 August 2017. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  19. ^ a b "Historic 2017 NRC draw released as Fiji enters the fray". Australian Rugby (Press release). 21 July 2017. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  20. ^ a b McKay, Brett (28 August 2017). "What to expect from the NRC in 2017". Australian Rugby. Archived from the original on 28 August 2017. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  21. ^ "All other law interps from previous seasons remain". twitter.com/BMcSport. 24 August 2017. Archived from the original on 28 August 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  22. ^ "World Rugby announce six law changes". England rugby. 20 July 2017. Archived from the original on 28 August 2017. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  23. ^ McKay, Brett (31 August 2017). "Eight-point tries are gone, but attacking focus to remain for 2017 NRC". The Roar. Archived from the original on 4 September 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  24. ^ Laws of the Game Rugby Union (PDF). World Rugby. 2017. ISBN 978-1-907506-78-9. Archived from the original (PDF 9.3 MB) on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  25. ^ "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.
  26. ^ "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.
  27. ^ "Fixtures: Fiji's NRC journey begins at Ballymore". Australian Rugby. 21 July 2017. Archived from the original on 1 August 2017. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  28. ^ "Rugby Championship to adopt bonus-point system used by Super Rugby". Sky Sports. Reuters. 23 June 2016. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
  29. ^ McKay, Brett (6 October 2016). "NRC tie breaker method". Green and Gold Rugby. Archived from the original on 8 October 2016.
  30. ^ "National Rugby Championship 226 vs 221". Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  31. ^ "National Rugby Championship: 220 vs Fijian Drua". Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  32. ^ "National Rugby Championship: 224 vs 225". Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  33. ^ "National Rugby Championship: 228 vs 227". Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  34. ^ "National Rugby Championship: Fijian Drua vs 221". Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  35. ^ "National Rugby Championship: 220 vs 224". Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  36. ^ "National Rugby Championship: 228 vs 222". Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  37. ^ "National Rugby Championship: 227 vs 225". Retrieved 2 January 2023.

External links

Team webpages