The Australian Provincial Championship (APC) is an Australian rugby union tournament that will commence in 2006. Each team will play every team twice throughout the six week round robin tournament.
Overview
There has previously been no national rugby union club competition in Australia because of a lack of player depth outside of the rugby strongholds of Sydney,Canberra and Brisbane, where there are strong local competitions. In order to expose fringe state players to a high level of rugby, the state teams New South Wales Waratahs, the Brumbies and Queensland Reds, have previously played for the National Ricoh Championship at the completion of the Super 12. Before the professional rugby era, the NSW Waratahs and Queensland Reds played annually in a competition known as the State of the Union, a name which is still commonly used to refer to Australian interstate games. This was expanded in 1996 to accommodate the ACT Brumbies. From 2006, a Western Australian team Western Force, will also compete for the Australian Provincial Championship at the completion of the Super 14. The winner of which is awarded the Bob Templeton trophy. In 2007 or 2008 some Japanese teams could play this competition, however, the future of this competition beyond 2006 is in doubt due to the new Australian Rugby Championship. Additionally, the Australian Rugby Shield is a national competition featuring teams from outside the traditional rugby areas.
Format
The points system used for the APC will be the same as the one that is used for the Super 14; with bonus points being awarded to teams who score four tries or more in one match and/or lose by seven points or less. The standard system is four points for a win, two for a draw and zero for a loss (depending on bonus points). The four teams will be as strong as possible, but will be without their respective Wallabies, due to the South African leg of the 2006 Tri Nations Series. The Western Force ended up having all-away fixtures, whilst the Brumbies will be playing all their games on Friday nights, the Waratahs will take games to Gosford and Bathurst, whilst the Reds will kick off in the afternoon at Ballymore.[1]
2006 tournament
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See also
References
- ^ 2006 APC (Australian Provincial Championship). nswrugby.com.au. Retrieved on August 10, 2006.
External links
View More Summaries on Australian Provincial Championship
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