DUBBO, Orange and Lismore will host three of the NSW Country Eagles' four home games during the inaugural National Rugby Championship.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Confirming one of the worst kept secrets in country rugby, NSW Country Eagles general manager James Grant said his side's spectacle against Perth Spirit at Caltex Park on October 18 and the clash with Melbourne Rising at Orange's Wade Park on Saturday, September 20, was sure to be a hit among the communities' strong rugby population.
The move to bring top-flight rugby union to the central west is a huge coup for the code, with interest already at a high following the Australian Rugby Union announcing back in May the Wallabies will tour the region prior to this year's Bledisloe Cup match in Sydney.
That tour will begin at Dubbo on August 3 and 4 before the Wallabies head to Orange and Bathurst.
Grant said, rugby union, already a stronghold on the central west sporting landscape, now had the potential to lift to another level.
"It's great that the ARU is identifying the central west region and its importance to rugby in general," the former Wallaby said.
In the draw released yesterday, NSW Country Eagles play their first game of the revamped NRC competition against the Greater Sydney Rams at Coogee Oval, Sydney.
That clash is the first of the Eagles' four scheduled home games.
They travel to Lismore's Oakes Oval on September 14 to play the Brisbane City, then host the Rising at Wade Park the following week before tackling the Perth Spirit at Caltex Park.
Grant said the competition had the benefit of linking top level rugby with an area largely untapped in terms of localised support.
Drawing on players from Randwick and Eastern Suburbs rugby union clubs, Grant was endeavouring to ensure the majority of the Eagles players would have had some link to country rugby in the past.
"There's a number of boys playing in Sydney with good strong country roots, and we're hoping to tap into that," he said, with Waratahs and Wallabies loose forward Stephen Hoiles one of the certainties to play for NSW Country.
"This also gives the country a chance to link in with a top-end rugby team.
"I think the sport is solid as it is, but what this does is give those players who have the potential to be budding Super 15 players the chance to experience higher level rugby.
"It's good for the kids to see there is a pathway."
The NRC competition kicks off on Thursday, August 21.
