Queensland Country (NRC team)

This article is about the National Rugby Championship team. For the amateur representative team, see Queensland Country Heelers.

Queensland Country
Founded2014
Disbanded2020 (competition disbanded)
RegionQueensland Regions,
excluding Brisbane  
Ground(s)Marley Brown Oval, Gladstone
(Cap: 5,000)
Bond Field No. 1, Robina
(Cap: 6,000)
Coach(es)Rod Seib
Captain(s)Angus Scott-Young
League(s)National Rugby Championship
2018Runner-up (finals)
2nd placed (regular season)
Team kit

Queensland Country is an Australian rugby union football team that competed in the National Rugby Championship (NRC). The team is one of two Queensland sides in the competition, the other being Brisbane City. Queensland Country is organised and managed by the Queensland Rugby Union (QRU), with the coaching and training programs used at the Queensland Reds extended to players joining the team from the Reds, Premier and Country rugby teams.[1][2][3]

The Queensland Country team in the NRC draws its identity from the Queensland Country representative team that has played in regular City-Country fixtures in Queensland since 1902.[1][4] The same colours have been adopted for the team in the NRC competition and, while the Heelers' cattle dog logo is not used, an emblem based on the traditional Cooktown Orchid logo of the Queensland Country Rugby Union has been adopted. The Queensland Country uniform is blue and white, with a crest of the orchid logo inside Queensland Rugby's traditional 'Q' on the jersey's chest.[1]

The NRC was launched in 2014, reinstating the national competition after the Australian Rugby Championship (ARC) was discontinued following the first season in 2007.[5] The Queensland Country NRC team plays in various Queensland regional centres. Existing QRU staffing roles and infrastructure are utilised, and the training base for the team is at QRU's headquarters at Ballymore.[1][2][3]

  1. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference qru-nrc-faq-2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b QRU Annual Report 2013, p. 5.
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference roar-nrc-pt1-2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Purcell 2002, p. 2–4.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference rugbyweek-2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).