Rugby
AAP 7y

Fiji to host NRC games at multiple venues in maiden season

Rugby

Fiji's maiden National Rugby Championship campaign will kick off against Brisbane City at Ballymore Stadium on September 2.

The draw for the new NRC season has been released with the new entrants handed four home games at three different venues across the Pacific island nation.

The Fijians will host the NSW Country Eagles at Sigatoka's Lawaqa Park in round three, before taking on Perth Spirit at Suva's ANZ Stadium the following weekend. They head to Churchill Park in Lautoka to face Queensland Country in round eight and then return to Suva for their final home clash against the Sydney Rays. Their other away games are in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney.

Fiji's roster will be made up of locally-based players drawn from the Fiji Warriors, the country's second representative team.

World Rugby and the Fijian Rugby Union are underwriting the side's entry into the NRC following discussions driven by Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama last year. It is seen as a possible precursor towards Fiji making a bid to join a restructured Super Rugby competition in future, either as part of a combined Pacific Islands team or on their own.

Australian Rugby Union high-performance manager Ben Whitaker believes Fiji's flamboyant style of play will add a strong international flavour to the NRC, which increased viewership by 65 percent and attendances by 10 percent last year.

"The NRC continues to grow and with the inclusion of Fiji the 2017 season will have an international flavour which will boost the appeal of the competition for fans even further," Whitaker said.

"The quality of rugby has improved dramatically from year to year and it is bound to go up another notch as the NRC enters its fourth season.

"Importantly, the NRC has proven to be a successful platform for player and coach development with graduation into Super Rugby positions at its highest in 2016. Both the players and coaches have overwhelmingly backed the competition, as have the fans, who watched the NRC in record numbers last season."

Full draw here

^ Back to Top ^