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.
Video New South Wales Country Eagles
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. 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.
Maps New South Wales Country Eagles
Sponsorship
The major naming sponsor of the Country Eagles for the 2014 and 2015 seasons was Charles Sturt University (CSU).
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. A group of rugby patrons headed by businessmen Rick Hutchinson and Peter Tonkin founded the bid for a New South Wales Country team. On 24 March 2014, it was announced that New South Wales Country would be in the new competition.
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. Sydney clubs Easts and Randwick also have a direct link as feeder clubs for the NSW Country team in the NRC. 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.
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.
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. He was also the assistant coach of the Central Coast Rays team which won the ARC in 2007. Matthew Carraro was named as captain of the Eagles' team for the opening match of the 2014 season.
Coleman continued as head coach for the 2015 and 2016 seasons.
Grounds
The Country Eagles team plays its home games in regional centres of New South Wales. In previous seasons, the team has also hosted some matches in Sydney. The team played home matches at the following locations for the 2017 season:
Other home venues used in previous seasons:
Current squad
The squad for the 2017 National Rugby Championship season:
(c) Denotes team captain, Bold denotes player is internationally capped, 1 denotes allocated national player additional to the contracted squad.
Records
Honours
- National Rugby Championship
- Runners-up: 2016
- Playoff appearances: 2014
- Horan-Little Shield
- Season winners: 2016
Season standings
National Rugby Championship
Head coaches
- Darren Coleman (2014-present)
Captains
- Paddy Ryan (2016-present)
- Jono Lance (2015)
- Matthew Carraro, Cameron Treloar (2014)
Squads
Gallery
See also
- New South Wales Rugby Union (NSWRU)
- New South Wales Country Cockatoos
- Combined New South Wales-Queensland Country
References
External links
- Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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