Rugby Australia have announced the 2019 National Rugby Championship fixtures, with matches scheduled to fit in around the Rugby World Cup schedule.

Once again, eight teams will play each other once in a round-robin format, before the top four qualify for the semi-finals.

The tournament will start on August 31, with all four matches to be played on Saturday during the opening week. New South Wales Country and Sydney will play the opening match in Dubbo, with kick-off slated for 12pm (AEST).

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» View the full NRC draw here

The Melbourne Rising will then take on the Canberra Vikings at Box Hill from 1:30pm (AEST), while the two remaining games – Brisbane City versus Fijian Drua and Western Force versus Queensland Country at GPS Rugby Club in Brisbane and UWA in Perth respectively, will kick-off at 3pm and 5pm (AEST).

With the World Cup set to be held in Japan and most games played during the late afternoon or early evening in Australia, it means the National Rugby Championship will have plenty of lunchtime kick-offs.

In total, 11 of the 28 regular season matches will begin at 2pm (AEST) or earlier, while there will be no matches clashing with Wallabies games.

Rugby fans can also look forward to the afternoon of September 21, when the Fijian Drua will host Sydney at midday (AEST), before the Wallabies take on Fiji in their opening Rugby World Cup match about 45 minutes after full-time.

Fox Sports will again broadcast one match per round during the competition, with every match set to be shown on Kayo Sports and rugby.com.au.



The 2019 NRC will also be spread far and wide around the country. Outside of what could be considered normal home grounds, matches will be played in Dubbo, Adelaide, the Gold Coast, Ballarat, Gladstone and Port Macquarie.

Rugby Australia have also announced some rule changes to the competition, which will also serve as trials for World Rugby.

Law 21 has been amended to see the defending team be rewarded for good defence with a goal-line drop out when the ball is held up in the in-goal area, while a 50:22 kicking play has also been introduced.

This is set to reward a team that kicks the ball indirectly from open play or a free kick from within their own half and the ball reaches the touchline inside the opponents 22 or the ball reaches the touchline inside their opponent’s half.

The attacking team will then have the lineout throw, rewarding aggressive territorial kicking with defending backs having to cover the option of a 50:22 kick.