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I suspect I wasn’t alone in feeling a bit uneasy earlier in the year when NSW Rugby announced that they would be represented by just two teams in the National Rugby Championship this season.
When the NRC kicked off back in 2014, the inclusion of four NSW-based sides – the Sydney Stars, Greater Sydney Rams, North Harbour Rays, and NSW Country Eagles – was recognition of the strength of the Shute Shield competition in Sydney, we were told at the time. Coming the same year the Waratahs won their maiden Super Rugby title, it was a not unreasonable position.
But by the 2016 season, we were back to three teams, with the Stars no longer required despite having finished in the top four the season before. It seemed to have an immediate uplift, too, with the Eagles and the now Sydney Rays finishing first and second that year, and a last-round loss preventing the Rams from finishing in the top four.
Come last year, however, some horrible luck with injury – to the Rays in particular – meant that no NSW-based sides played in the NRC finals. From supposedly being so strong four teams were needed to no teams finishing in the top four, it was something of a comedown.
Matt Lucas playing for the Sydney Rays. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
So the confirmation came this year that two teams would be the way forward for NSW Rugby, and with it came a rather uncomfortable conundrum.
On one hand, NSW Rugby and the Waratahs were finally becoming significantly more invested in the NRC than had been the case in the first four seasons. So many of us had been calling for exactly this to happen, and finally it was going to. This should have been good news.
But with it came the bad news that in the same season that the Sydney Rugby Union clubs voted overwhelmingly in favour of excluding Penrith from the Shute Shield, NSW Rugby was now removing the Greater Sydney Rams – the next level along the elite pathways for players in Western Sydney – as well.
I still don’t know why the Waratahs and NSW Rugby couldn’t have become more heavily invested in the NRC and the Rams remain in the competition, too. Quite how the Sydney Rugby Union and NSW Rugby and the Waratahs and Rugby Australia maintain elite development in the west now without a couple of rungs on the ladder is anyone’s guess.
But then the announcement this week of the Sydney and Country NRC squads shows that once again a consolidation has produced stronger squads, and I’ll be surprised if at least one isn’t in contention for a top four finish in 2018.
For one thing, where once Waratahs and Super Rugby experience was thin on the ground for the NSW sides, even with the odd Wallaby appearance, each squad has eleven players each (by my count) who have either player Super Rugby or have been involved in programs.
Now-former Waratah Paddy Ryan will again lead NSW Country, and will have Harry Johnson-Holmes with him up front, but with plenty of pressure from guys like Matt Gibbon and Chris Talakai. Will ex-Rams skipper Jed Holloway pack down in the ‘row alongside Tom Staniforth? Because if he does, a Brad Wilkin-Will Miller-Sam Ward backrow looks pretty promising.
Jake Gordon will team up with Mack Mason in the halves, you’d think, and Waratahs fans will be watching that combination very closely indeed. And there’s plenty of speed out wide with Alex Newsome, Alex Gibbon, and Warringah flyer Seb Wileman. To name but a couple.
Andrew Kellaway runs the ball back for the NSW Country Eagles (Loryn Ettridge/Rugby Australia)
For the Rays, Damien Fitzpatrick will again lead the side, and won’t be short of front row talent, with Cameron Betham, Rory O’Connor, Matt Sandell, and Shambeckler Vui all vying for a start. Locks Ryan McCauley and Nick Palmer are both well-performed at NRC level and Lachie Swinton was very good in Sydney University’s Grand Final win last weekend.
All eyes will be on Jack Dempsey’s return – which can’t be far away if he’s been named – but Connor Vest, Maclean Jones, Pat Sio, and Hugh Sinclair have decent NRC experience too.
Out wider, Curtis Rona and Latu Latunipulu stick out as centre options, but Harry Burey comes with big raps. There will be no shortage of speed on the wings, either, with Cam Clark and another Sevens flyer, Pama Fou quite likely. And all this is without wondering where ex-Parramatta NRL back and brother-of-you-know-who John Folau fits in.
One interesting omission from both squads is hooker Hugh Roach, who as I mentioned on Tuesday has apparently finished up with the Waratahs and headed to Melbourne in search of opportunity.
Both sides have only just come together this week, but there won’t be any time to build into their campaign, with both sides now to play seven games in the next six weeks. Those who hesitate this weekend could find themselves up against it from the outset.
Of the two squads, Country looks the stronger to me. But we’ll find out soon enough for ourselves if the consolidation was really worth it.
NRC Round 2:
SATURDAY
3pm FST / 1pm AEST: Fiji Drua v Brisbane City; Churchill Park, Lautoka, Fiji – live streamed on www.foxsports.com.au
3pm AEST: Sydney Rays v Canberra Vikings; Concord Oval, Sydney – LIVE on Fox Sports 503
SUNDAY
3pm AEST: Queensland Country v Melbourne Rising; Mike Carney Park, Townsville – LIVE on Fox Sports 503
5pm AWST / 3pm AEST: Western Force v NSW Country Eagles; UWA Sports Park, Perth – live streamed on www.foxsports.com.au
NRC Table
Fiji 5, Western Force 4, Queensland Country 4, NSW Country 0*; Sydney Rays 0*, Canberra 0, Brisbane City 0, Melbourne 0.
(* Sydney Rays v NSW Country Eagles to be play their Round 1 match on Wednesday 19 September).
TIPS
Fiji should be too strong at home again, and I think Canberra’s combinations and another week together makes them to strong for the Rays on Saturday.
On Sunday, I can’t see Melbourne breaking their drought in Mackay, and even stronger combinations and togetherness will make the Force pretty hard to topple at McGillivray.
Enjoy your rugby, hope you can get to a game somewhere.