The 2016 National Rugby Championship (known as the Buildcorp National Rugby Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the third season of Australia's

National Rugby Championship The National Rugby Championship, known as NRC, was an Australian rugby union competition. It was contested by eight teams, seven from Australia and one from Fiji. The tournament ran from 2014 until 2019 before being disbanded in 2020 following t ...

. It involved eight professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

teams, one team fewer than in the previous two seasons. The competition kicked off on 27 August 2016.

Teams

A major change was made for the 2016 season with the scrapping of the

Sydney Stars The Sydney Stars is a former Australian rugby union football team that competed in the National Rugby Championship (NRC) in 2014 and 2015. The Stars team was established as a joint venture between the Sydney University and Balmain rugby clubs, ...

team. The

Australian Rugby Union Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named the Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It ...

did not renew their licence for the competition to consolidate playing strength of the teams in New South Wales. The North Harbour Rays subsequently changed their name to become the

Sydney Rays Sydney is an Australian rugby union team that competes in the National Rugby Championship (NRC). Formerly known as Sydney Rays, the team is one of two sides from New South Wales in the competition; the other being the NSW Country Eagles. T ...

. Prior to the season it was also reported that the

Canberra Vikings The Canberra Vikings, formerly the Canberra Kookaburras, is an Australian rugby union football team that competes in the National Rugby Championship (NRC). The team is based at Viking Park in Wanniassa, and is backed by the Tuggeranong Viking ...

would be renamed the Canberra Kookaburras in a return to the traditional name of the ACT team, but this change was postponed until at least the 2017 season. The eight teams for the 2016 NRC season include three from

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, two from

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, and one each from

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, and

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

: Home match venues scheduled for the 2016 NRC season:

Television coverage and streaming

Two of the NRC matches each weekend were broadcast live via

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

, with the other matches shown on the Fox Sports streaming platform. Discussion of the NRC competition was included on Fox Sports' review show NRC Extra Time on Monday nights, and the Rugby 360 program on Wednesday evenings.

Experimental Law Variations

The most significant new law variation adopted for the 2016 season was the further change in point scoring values, with tries made worth six points and any form of goal worth two points. Two of the scrum law variations trialed since the since the inaugural season of the National Rugby Championship in 2014 were adopted (along with other minor amendments) into World Rugby's laws in 2016 and were thus no longer law variations. These changes to Law 20.1(d) and Law 20.12(c) sanctioned against delay in forming a scrum, and against a scrum half whose team has not won the ball stepping onto the space between the position flanker and No. 8 while the ball is in the scrum. The other law variations used in 2014 and 2015, were retained for the 2016 season.

Regular season

The eight teams compete in a

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero ...

for the regular season. Each team has four matches at home and four away. 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 The Horan-Little Shield is a trophy in Australia's domestic rugby union competition. Proposed to the Australian Rugby Union, now known as Rugby Australia, by members of the Green and Gold Rugby supporters website, it was first played for in 201 ...

, a challenge trophy that is played for when a challenge is accepted or offered by the holders.

Standings

Competition rounds

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

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.

Semi-finals

Final

Players

The leading scorers in 2016 over the regular season and finals combined were:

Notes

The venue for the Round 5 fixture between NSW Country Eagles and Perth Spirit was moved from Orange due to heavy rains causing Endeavour Oval to become waterlogged. The match was relocated to Concord Oval in Sydney.

References

External links

*
NRC
on Fox Sports

Team webpages

{{DEFAULTSORT:National Rugby Championship 2016

2016 National Rugby Championship The 2016 National Rugby Championship (known as the Buildcorp National Rugby Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the third season of Australia's National Rugby Championship. It involved eight professional rugby union teams, one team fewer t ...

2016 in Australian rugby union 2016 rugby union tournaments for clubs