 | |||
| Union | Rugby Australia | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2007 | ||
| Disbanded | 2018 (pre-season) | ||
| Location | Perth, Western Australia | ||
| Ground(s) | UWA Rugby Park | ||
| League(s) | NRC, ARC | ||
| 2016 | Champions | ||
| |||
The Perth Spirit is a former rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, that played in the National Rugby Championship (NRC) from 2014 to 2017, winning the competition in 2016. The team was formed in 2007 to compete in the Australian Rugby Championship (ARC).
The Perth Spirit team was organised and managed by RugbyWA. The high performance programs utilised by the Western Force in Super Rugby were extended to players joining the Spirit from the Force, the Perth Premier Grade competition and the Future Force rugby academy.
The identity of the Perth Spirit remained the same throughout team's participation in the ARC and NRC. The team disbanded when the ARC was discontinued after the first season in 2007 but, after an absence of six years, the national competition was relaunched in 2014 as the NRC,[1] and the Perth Spirit was revived. In 2017, however, the Western Force was excluded from the Super Rugby competition. The reformed RugbyWA then decided to enter the Western Force in the National Rugby Championship, replacing the Perth Spirit for the start of the 2018 season.[2]