Warringah Rugby Club is a

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 it ...

club based on the

Northern Beaches The Northern Beaches is a region within Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, near the Pacific coast. This area extends south to the entrance of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), west to Middle Harbour and north to the en ...

of Sydney,

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 ...

. Only located 25 km from the city centre, the club is close to many magnificent beaches, the Sydney Academy of Sport and

Narrabeen Narrabeen is a beachside suburb in northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Narrabeen is 23 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Northern Beaches Council and is ...

Lake. The club currently competes in the New South Wales Rugby Union competitions, the

Shute Shield The Shute Shield is a semi-professional rugby union competition in Sydney, Australia. It is the premier club competition in New South Wales. The Shute Shield is awarded to the winning team from the Sydney premiership grand final held at the end ...

and

Tooheys New Cup {{Use dmy dates, date=November 2019 The Tooheys New Cup, or TNC, was a rugby union competition established by the New South Wales Rugby Union (NSWRU) in 2002. Played in the second half of the rugby season after the Super 12 competition was comple ...

. Warringah Rugby has one of the largest numbers of registered junior players in Australia.

Club history

The club was formed in 1963 due to a high demand of junior rugby players searching for clubs on the northern peninsula. Being one of the most rapidly developing areas in Sydney at the time this subsequently led to the establishment in the 1962/1963 season of the Warringah Junior Rugby Union. The Senior Club was formed to supplement the already established Warringah Junior Rugby Union and commenced playing in the Sydney second division in 1964. Its aims were to provide rugby for juniors, colts and grade players and to eventually join the 1st Division Championship competition. In 1970 the Club won the 2nd Division 1st grade Premiership and was promoted to the 1st Division for the 1971 season. More affectionately known as the Rats or Ratties, the club took on this tag after experiencing many difficult years with many humiliating defeats. The players were reminded by Doug Leslie Snr ( Rats of Tobruk), that to give up in the face of adversity is never an option. The tradition of the Rats of Tobruk, of bonding together and making commitments in the true spirit of mateship should always be remembered and will prevail just in the same way as the Desert Rats of Tobruk prevailed. From that time on the Club became known as the Green Rats and their long held friendship with the ‘Rats of Tobruk Veterans Association’ and their legacy is honoured by a memorial on the hill at the southern end of ‘Rat Park’.

Honours

2005, 2017

International players

Australia

* Hugh Pyle *

Brett Sheehan Brett Sheehan (born 16 September 1979) is an Australian rugby union and rugby league footballer. He was also included in Australia's squad for matches during the 2006 Tri Nations Series. Sheehan previously played for the Queensland Reds, play ...

Mark Gerrard Mark Gerrard (born 4 September 1982) is a former Australian professional rugby union footballer. He currently is the assistant coach for the Austin Gilgronis in Major League Rugby (MLR) competition in the United States. In 2011, he was one o ...

Rod Macqueen Roderick Ian Macqueen, AM is an Australian former rugby union coach. He coached Australia at the Rugby World Cup, and the Waratahs, Brumbies and Rebels in the Super Rugby competition. Career One of Macqueen's first major coaching positions was ...

* Dominic Vaughan * Stephen Lidbury * Mark Bell * Manuel Edmonds * Lachlan Mackay *

Wycliff Palu Wycliff Palu (born 27 July 1982), known as Cliffy Palu, is an Australian former professional rugby union footballer of Tongan descent. He played for the New South Wales Waratahs in Super Rugby and represented in 58 tests. Early life Palu was ...

* Pat McCabe * Pekahou Cowan * Beau Robinson * Sam Harris * Scott Fardy

Australia A

* Mark Catchpole * George Websdale * Andrew Apps * Craig Coffey * Ray Smith

Female international players

* Bronnie Mackintosh * Genevieve Delves * Lisa Fiaola * Jamie Blazejewski * Cheryl Soon * Jenny Williams * Brownyn Calvert * Helen Theunissen * Chris Ross * Alex Hargreaves * Cobie-Jane Morgan * Tui Ormsby

Other international players

Gregor Townsend Gregor Peter John Townsend, (born 26 April 1973) is a Scottish rugby union coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of the Scotland national team having previously been an assistant coach from 2009 to 2012. As a player, he won ...

* Abdel Benazzi * Michael Lipman * Danny Cipriani * Enrique Rodríguez * Francis Bindschedler * Michael Ehrentraut * James Cunningham * Sailosi Tagicakibau *

Mungo Mason Mungo Mason (born 4 October 1995) is a Scottish professional rugby union player who plays as a flanker (back row) for Old Glory DC in Major League Rugby (MLR). He previously played for the San Diego Legion in the MLR and Edinburgh in the Pro14. ...

(Sevens)

References

External links

* www.warringahrugby.com.au {{Shute shield Rugby union teams in Sydney Rugby clubs established in 1963 1963 establishments in Australia Northern Beaches