Australian Rugby Shield
Conducted under rules and regulations similar to the Super Rugby, the competition aimed to assist players, coaches, managers and referees in their professional development.The New South Wales and Queensland Country teams met in the final, played as the curtain-raiser to the Bledisloe Cup match held at Stadium Australia in front of a record rugby crowd of 109,874.[5] The tournament was rebranded as NRC Division 2 for 2019, with eight representative teams invited:[6] During the coronavirus pandemic, Rugby Australia suffered severe economic hardship, nearing bankruptcy.These financial issues were quickly turned around by a new board and led to the reintroduction of the Australian Rugby Shield and Australia ‘A’ competitions from the 2022 season.The ACT and Southern New South Wales Griffins were crowned champions defeating NSW Country 34–31 in the Grand Final at Brighton Oval, Adelaide.