New South Wales Country Eagles

This article is about the National Rugby Championship team. For the amateur representative team, see New South Wales Country Cockatoos.

New South Wales Country Eagles

NSW Country Eagles
Founded 2014
Region NSW Regions, excl. Sydney & Southern NSW
Ground(s)

Endeavour Oval


Magpies Rugby Park


University Oval No. 2

Coach(es) Darren Coleman
Captain(s) Paddy Ryan
League(s) National Rugby Championship
1st kit
2nd kit
Official website
nswcountryeagles.com
Sam Figg runs the ball against the Rams in 2016.

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 Orange, and Tamworth.[1]

Name and colours

The Country Eagles' name derives from the wedge-tailed eagle, a large bird of prey found across all areas of Australia. Golden hackles highlight the eagle's predominantly black feathers and these have been adopted as the team's colours.[2] The team's logo features a wedge-tailed eagle. 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, however, still wear the traditional black and gold (amber) colours of NSW Country.[1]

Sponsorship

The major naming sponsor of the Country Eagles for the 2014 and 2015 seasons was Charles Sturt University (CSU).[3]

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.[4] A group of rugby patrons headed by businessmen Rick Hutchinson and Peter Tonkin 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]

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2014 NSW Country Eagles kit and logo.

Originally it was thought the 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] Sydney clubs Easts and Randwick also have a direct link as feeder clubs for the NSW Country team in the NRC.[7] The Sydney University club took a 25% stake of the team ahead of the 2016 season and provided many of the Eagles players from that season onwards.[8]

General manager of the NSW Country Eagles in 2014, former Wallabies player James Grant, indicated that the team would be based in Sydney but would 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 country matches.[6]

Darren Coleman was appointed as the first head coach of NSW Country team. Coleman had previously guided Japanese team Toyota Shokki to Top League promotion for the 2013–14 season.[9][10] He was also the assistant coach of the Central Coast Rays team which won the ARC in 2007.[11] Matthew Carraro was named as captain of the Eagles' team for the opening match of the 2014 season.[12]

Coleman continued as head coach for the 2015 and 2016 seasons.[13][14]

Grounds

NSW Country Eagles home venues for the 2016 National Rugby Championship

The Country Eagles team schedules home games in regional centres of New South Wales and slso as Sydney.[1] The team played home matches at the following locations for the 2016 season:

City   Venue   Capacity
Tamworth Magpies Rugby Park 3,000
Scully Park 11,000
Sydney University Oval No. 2 5,000
Concord Oval a 20,000
Newcastle Sports Ground No. 2 5,000

Other home match locations used in previous seasons:[15]

City   Venue   Capacity
Bathurst Ann Ashwood Park 3,000
Dubbo Caltex Park [16] 12,000
Gosford Central Coast Stadium 20,059
Orange Wade Park [17] 8,000
Lismore Oakes Oval [18] 10,000
Tamworth Chillingworth Oval 3,000
Sydney Coogee Oval [19] 5,000
Woollahra Oval 5,000

Notes

^a The venue for the 2016 Round 5 fixture between NSW Country Eagles and Perth Spirit was moved from Orange due to heavy rains causing Endeavour Oval to become waterlogged. The match was relocated to Concord Oval in Sydney.[20]

Current squad

The squad for the 2016 National Rugby Championship season:[21]

Props

Hookers

Locks

  

Loose Forwards

  • Australia Mark Baldwin
  • Australia Sam Croke
  • Australia Tom Cusack
  • Australia Rohan O’Regan
  • Australia Rowan Perry
  • Australia Jake Wainwright
  • Australia Sam Ward

Scrum-halves

Fly-halves

  

Centres

Wingers

  • Australia Joel Brooks
  • Australia Jarome McKenzie
  • Australia Tom Merritt

Fullbacks

(c) Denotes team captain, Bold denotes player is internationally capped, 1 denotes allocated national player additional to the contracted squad.

Records

Honours

Season standings

National Rugby Championship

Year Pos Pld W D L F A +/- BP Pts   Play-offs  
2016 1st 7 6 0 1 280 190 +90 4 28   Grand final loss to Perth Spirit by 20–16.
2015 5th 8 4 0 4 225 260 −35 3 19   Did not compete
2014 2nd 8 6 0 2 251 202 +49 3 27   Semi-final loss to Brisbane City by 26–32.

Head coaches

Captains

Squads


See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "NRC update part 2: NSW Country and the Sydney teams". The Roar. 9 July 2014. Archived from the original on 9 July 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  2. ↑ "About Us". NSW Country Eagles. 2014. Archived from the original on 27 July 2014. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  3. ↑ "CSU supports NSW Country Eagles". Charles Sturt University. 12 August 2014. Archived from the original on 22 August 2014. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
  4. ↑ "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.
  5. ↑ Adams, Hugh (15 August 2014). "NSW Country Eagles Preview". 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 3 "Australian Rugby Union says National Rugby Championship to start in August". ABC. 24 March 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  8. ↑ McKay, Brett (16 November 2016). "Comment @ 2:31pm". The Roar. Archived from the original on 16 November 2016.
  9. ↑ "Ashley-Cooper to stay in Australia". msn Sport. 22 March 2013. Archived from the original on 6 May 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  10. ↑ "Toyota Shokki promoted, Sanix relegated". Rugby Redefined. 3 February 2013. Archived from the original on 6 May 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  11. ↑ "Coleman to coach Brumbies Academy". Rugby Week. 19 September 2008. Archived from the original on 6 May 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  12. ↑ "NSW Country Eagles team to play Greater Sydney Rams". NSW Country Rugby. 21 August 2014. Archived from the original on 22 August 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  13. ↑ "The Eagles haven't landed ... yet: Orange in fight to host NRC game". Central West Daily. 16 April 2015. Archived from the original on 31 July 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  14. ↑ "Coaching staff announcement". NSW Country Eagles. 4 June 2016. Archived from the original on 19 July 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  15. ↑ McKay, Brett (15 July 2014). "NRC update part 3: All systems go for launch". The Roar. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  16. ↑ "Apex Oval". Austadiums. 9 December 2010. Archived from the original on 29 March 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  17. ↑ "Wade Park". Austadiums. 5 July 2007. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  18. ↑ "Oakes Oval". Austadiums. 25 January 2010. Archived from the original on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  19. ↑ "Coogee Oval". Austadiums. 22 March 2005. Archived from the original on 29 March 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  20. ↑ "Rams and Eagles to host NRC double header in Sydney this Saturday". Rugby News. 22 September 2016. Archived from the original on 22 September 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  21. ↑ NSW COUNTRY EAGLES PLAYING SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT
  22. ↑ "Jono Lance and Will Miller named CSU Country Eagles captains". NSW Country Eagles. 19 August 2015. Archived from the original on 19 August 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  23. ↑ "CSU NSW Country Eagles announce 2015 NRC squad". NSW Country Eagles. 10 August 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  24. ↑ "Meet the team". NSW Country Eagles. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  25. ↑ "NSW Country Eagles announce NRC Squad for 2014". The Roar. 1 August 2014. Archived from the original on 1 August 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  26. ↑ Qantas Wallabies player alignments unveiled for 2014 Buildcorp National Rugby Championship
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