# 2015 National Rugby Championship

The 2015 National Rugby Championship (known as the Buildcorp National Rugby Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the second season of Australia's National Rugby Championship, involving nine professional rugby union teams from around Australia. The competition kicked off 20 August 2015.
The regular season was dominated by two teams, Brisbane City and University of Canberra Vikings, who went on to play in the championship final. The deciding match, played at Ballymore, was won 21–10 by Brisbane to claim their second consecutive NRC title.

## Teams

The nine teams confirmed for the 2015 NRC season include four from New South Wales, two from Queensland, and one each from Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, and Western Australia:
| Region | Team | Coach(es) | Captain(s) |
| ACT | University of Canberra Vikings | Brad Harris | Jarrad Butler |
| NSW | NSW Country Eagles | Darren Coleman | Jono Lance |
| NSW | Greater Sydney Rams | Jim Williams | Jed Holloway |
| NSW | North Harbour Rays | Geoff Townsend | Luke Holmes |
| NSW | Sydney Stars | Peter Playford | David Hickey |
| QLD | Brisbane City | Nick Stiles | Liam Gill Nick Frisby |
| QLD | Queensland Country | Jason Gilmore | James Tuttle |
| VIC | Melbourne Rising | Zane Hilton | Colby Fainga'a Scott Fuglistaller |
| WA | Perth Spirit | Tai McIsaac | Heath Tessmann Ian Prior Angus Cottrell |
Home match venues for the 2015 NRC season:
| Region | Team | Match Venue | Capacity | City |
| ACT | University of Canberra Vikings | Viking Park | 10,000 | Canberra |
| NSW | NSW Country Eagles | Ann Ashwood Park | 3,000 | Bathurst |
| NSW | NSW Country Eagles | No. 2 Sports Ground | 5,000 | Newcastle |
| NSW | NSW Country Eagles | Chillingworth Oval | 3,000 | Tamworth |
| NSW | NSW Country Eagles | Woollahra Oval | 5,000 | Sydney |
| NSW | Greater Sydney Rams | Concord Oval | 20,000 | Sydney |
| NSW | Greater Sydney Rams | Granville Park | 5,000 | Sydney |
| NSW | Greater Sydney Rams | Forshaw Park | 3,000 | Sydney |
| NSW | Greater Sydney Rams | Parramatta Stadium | 20,700 | Sydney |
| NSW | North Harbour Rays | Manly Oval | 5,000 | Sydney |
| NSW | North Harbour Rays | Pittwater Park | 10,000 | Sydney |
| NSW | Sydney Stars | Leichhardt Oval | 22,000 | Sydney |
| QLD | Brisbane City | Ballymore | 18,000 | Brisbane |
| QLD | Queensland Country | Bond University, Gold Coast | 5,000 | Gold Coast |
| QLD | Queensland Country | Rugby Park | 5,000 | Rockhampton |
| QLD | Queensland Country | Sports Ground | 9,000 | Toowoomba |
| QLD | Queensland Country | Stockland Park | 12,000 | Sunshine Coast |
| VIC | Melbourne Rising | Holmesglen Reserve | 3,000 | Melbourne |
| VIC | Melbourne Rising | Frankston Park | 8,000 | Melbourne |
| VIC | Melbourne Rising | Simonds Stadium | 34,074 | Geelong |
| VIC | Melbourne Rising | Latrobe City Stadium | 12,000 | Morwell |
| WA | Perth Spirit | UWA Rugby Club | 4,000 | Perth |

## Television coverage and streaming

One (or more) of the NRC matches each round is broadcast live via Fox Sports, typically the Thursday night match. Streaming of the three non-broadcast matches per round, usually played on Saturday or Sunday, is hosted by Fox Sports online. Discussion of the NRC competition is included on Fox Sports' Rugby HQ program on Thursday nights following the live match broadcast, and on the review show NRC Extra Time on Monday nights.

## Experimental Law Variations

The ARU was given approval by World Rugby (then known as the International Rugby Board) to conduct experimental law trials as part of the 2014 National Rugby Championship. These law variations were retained for the 2015 season. Consideration was given to reverting the value of a successful conversion kick to 2 points to restore a converted try to 7 points, but the 3 point conversion variation was retained.
| Existing Law of the Game | Variation |
| Law 9.A.1 Value of a Conversion goal - 2 points Value of a Penalty goal - 3 points Value of a Dropped goal - 3 points | Value of a Conversion goal - 3 points Value of a Penalty goal - 2 points Value of a Dropped goal - 2 points Previously trialled in South Africa's Varsity Cup. |
| Law 5.7(e) If time expires and the ball is not dead, or an awarded scrum or lineout has not been completed, the referee allows play to continue until the next time that the ball becomes dead. The ball becomes dead when the referee would have awarded a scrum, lineout, an option to the non-infringing team, drop out or after a conversion or successful penalty kick at goal. If a scrum has to be reset, the scrum has not been completed. If time expires and a mark, free kick or penalty kick is then awarded, the referee allows play to continue. | Non-offending team is allowed to kick the ball into touch after being awarded a penalty kick, which has been blown after time expires, and the lineout will take place. |
| Law 19.6 The player taking the throw-in must stand at the correct place. The player must not step into the field of play when the ball is thrown. The ball must be thrown straight, so that it travels at least 5 metres along the line of touch before it first touches the ground or touches or is touched by a player. | Latitude will be given to the throwing team if the opposing team does not compete for the ball near where the ball is received |
| Law 9.B.1(e) The kicker must take the kick within one minute and thirty seconds (ninety seconds) from the time a try has been awarded. The player must take the kick within one minute and thirty seconds even if the ball rolls over and has to be placed again. | Time limit reduced to 60 seconds for conversion kicks, and 45 seconds for penalty kicks. |
| Law 20.1(d) No delay. A team must not intentionally delay forming a scrum. | Team has 30 seconds to form a scrum from the time the referee gives the mark. |
| Law 20.12(c) When a team has won the ball in a scrum, the scrum half of the opposing team is offside if that scrum half steps in front of the ball with either foot while the ball is still in the scrum. | Opposing scrum half is not allowed to enter the gap between the flanker and number 8, even if they stay behind the ball |
| Law 21.2(a) The kicker must take the penalty or free kick at the mark or anywhere behind it on a line through the mark. | Increased latitude will be given to where penalty and free kicks are to be taken |
| Law 19.2(d) For a quick throw-in, the player must use the ball that went into touch. A quick throw-in is not permitted if another person has touched the ball apart from the player throwing it in and an opponent who carried it into touch. The same team throws into the lineout. | Players will be allowed to take quick throw-ins regardless of whether someone else has touched the ball |
| Law 17.2(d) Keeping players on their feet. Players in a maul must endeavour to stay on their feet. The ball carrier in a maul may go to ground providing the ball is available immediately and play continues. | Greater policing of this law, in order to discourage "hold up tackles", by ensuring that the tackler, who holds up a ball carrier in an effort to form a maul, does not collapse the maul as soon as it has formed. |
| Competition rule - Bonus point awarded for scoring 4 tries | Bonus point awarded if winning team scores 3 or more tries than their opponents. This particular system has been used in France's professional leagues since the 2007–08 northern hemisphere season. |
| Television match official protocols | Television match official to only be consulted about tries and in-goal plays. |

## Regular season

The nine teams compete in a round-robin tournament for the regular season. Each team has four matches at home and four away, with one bye. The top four teams qualify for the title play-offs with semi-finals and finals.
During this section of the tournament, teams can also play for the Horan-Little Shield, a challenge trophy that is played for when a challenge is accepted or offered by the holders.

### Standings

National Rugby Championship :
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TB | LB | Pts |
| 1 | Brisbane City HL | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 400 | 174 | +226 | 6 | 0 | 38 |
| 2 | Canberra Vikings | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 375 | 176 | +199 | 6 | 1 | 35 |
| 3 | Melbourne Rising | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 220 | 251 | −31 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| 4 | Sydney Stars | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 241 | 314 | −73 | 2 | 2 | 20 |
| 5 | NSW Country Eagles | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 225 | 260 | −35 | 1 | 2 | 19 |
| 6 | Perth Spirit | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 276 | 271 | +5 | 2 | 2 | 16 |
| 7 | North Harbour Rays | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 275 | 339 | −64 | 1 | 2 | 11 |
| 8 | Queensland Country | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 230 | 336 | –106 | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| 9 | Greater Sydney Rams | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 242 | 363 | −121 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Updated: 18 October 2015 Source: rugbyarchive.net • Teams 1 to 4 (Green background) at the end of the regular season qualify for the Title play-offs. HL denotes the holder of the Horan-Little Shield. |||||||||||||||
| Four points for a win, two for a draw, and no points for a bye. One bonus point for losing by eight or fewer (LB). One bonus point for the winning team scoring three or more tries than their opponent (TB) If teams are level on points in the standings, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:  • Difference between points for and against  • The match result between the tied teams  • Total number of tries scored in the competition |||||||||||||||

### Competition rounds
#### Round 1

* Bye/s: University of Canberra Vikings

#### Round 2

* Bye/s: Greater Sydney Rams

#### Round 3

* Bye/s: NSW Country Eagles

#### Round 4

* Bye/s: Melbourne Rising

#### Round 5

* Bye/s: North Harbour Rays

#### Round 6

* Bye/s: Brisbane City

#### Round 7

* Bye/s: Queensland Country

#### Round 8

* Bye/s: Sydney Stars

#### Round 9

* Bye/s: Perth Spirit

## Title play-offs

The top four sides in the regular season advanced to the semifinals of the knock-out stage, which was followed by the final to decide the National Rugby Championship title.

### Final

| Brisbane City | Canberra Vikings |
| FB | 15 | Karmichael Hunt |
| RW | 14 | Chris Kuridrani | 64' |
| OC | 13 | Samu Kerevi |
| IC | 12 | Henry Taefu |
| LW | 11 | Junior Laloifi |
| FH | 10 | Jake McIntyre |
| SH | 9 | Nick Frisby |
| N8 | 8 | Adam Korczyk |
| OF | 7 | Liam Gill (c) |
| BF | 6 | Luke Beauchamp | 53' |
| RL | 5 | Cadeyrn Neville |
| LL | 4 | Ben Hyne | 53' |
| TP | 3 | Sam Talakai |
| HK | 2 | Andrew Ready |
| LP | 1 | Matt Mafi | 64' |
| Replacements: ||
| HK | 16 | Ryan Freney |
| PR | 17 | Markus Vanzati | 64' |
| PR | 18 | Feao Fotuaika |
| LK | 19 | Corey Thomas | 53' |
| FL | 20 | Waita Setu | 53' |
| SH | 21 | Moses Sorovi |
| FH | 22 | Alex Gibbon | 64' |
| WG | 23 | Mika Tela |
| Coach: ||
| Nick Stiles ||
Isaac Thompson :
| RW | 14 | James Dargaville |
| OC | 13 | Nigel Ah Wong |
| IC | 12 | Rodney Iona |
| LW | 11 | Francis Fainifo | 60' |
| FH | 10 | Christian Lealiifano |
| SH | 9 | Joe Powell | 65' |
| N8 | 8 | Ita Vaea | 43' 47' 55' |
| OF | 7 | Jarrad Butler (c) |
| BF | 6 | Jordan Smiler |
| RL | 5 | Blake Enever |
| LL | 4 | Rory Arnold | 54' |
| TP | 3 | Ben Alexander | 51' |
| HK | 2 | Robbie Abel | 71' |
| LP | 1 | Allan Alaalatoa | 66' |
| Replacements: |||
| HK | 16 | Albert Anae | 43' 47' 71' |
| PR | 17 | Sione Taula | 66' |
| PR | 18 | Leslie Leulua’iali’i-Makin | 51' |
| LK | 19 | Dean Oakman-Hunt | 54' |
| FL | 20 | Rowan Perry | 55' |
| SH | 21 | Brent Hamlin | 65' |
| FH | 22 | Mitch Third |
| WG | 23 | Jerome Niumata | 60' |
| Coach: |||
| Brad Harris ||||
* Man of the Match:
* Nick Frisby
* Assistant Referees:
* Rohan Hoffmann (Australia)
* Will Houston (Australia)
* Television match official:
* Greg Milne (Australia)

## Total season attendances

| Club | Home Games | Total | Average | Highest | Lowest | % Capacity |
| Brisbane City | 6 | 15,523 | 2,587 | 4,327 | 1,816 | 14% |
| Greater Sydney Rams | 4 | 2,900 | 725 | 1,200 | 300 | 25% |
| Melbourne Rising | 4 | 2,620 | 655 | 1,140 | 480 | 9% |
| North Harbour Rays | 4 | 7,000 | 1,750 | 3,000 | 800 | 26% |
| NSW Country Eagles | 4 | 6,323 | 1,581 | 2,623 | 1,000 | 47% |
| Perth Spirit | 4 | 4,500 | 1,125 | 1,500 | 600 | 28% |
| Queensland Country | 4 | 7,055 | 1,764 | 2,204 | 1,151 | 27% |
| Sydney Stars | 4 | 2,350 | 588 | 800 | 400 | 3% |
| University of Canberra Vikings | 5 | 8,276 | 1,655 | 2,178 | 1,200 | 18% |

## Players

The leading scorers in 2015 over the regular season and finals combined were:

## Barbarians tour

After the NRC finals, an Australian Barbarians team selected from the NRC played a two-match tour against the New Zealand Heartland XV. NRC players that were not contracted for Super Rugby were eligible for the Barbarians. The series was won 2–0 by the Australian Barbarians.