Australian Provincial Championship - Overview

Overview

There had 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 Ricoh National 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 and renamed the Ricoh National Championship in 1998 to accommodate the ACT Brumbies and also ran in 1999 and 2000, respectively won by the Waratahs, the Brumbies and the Reds.

In 2006, a Western Australian team Western Force, joined New South Wales, Queensland and ACT for the Australian Provincial Championship at the completion of the Super 14, the winner of which was awarded the Bob Templeton trophy. It was suggested that in 2007 or 2008 some Japanese teams could play this competition, however the competition was discontinued beyond 2006 due to the new Australian Rugby Championship. Additionally, the Australian Rugby Shield is a national competition featuring teams from outside the traditional rugby areas.