When the dust settles on Super Rugby AUS, the Women's World Cup and a hard-fought Bledisloe Cup, there's one tournament yet for Australian rugby fans to look enjoy before summer takes hold.
Since 2000, the Australian Rugby Shield has brought together the best regional and suburban players from across the country for a week of brutal bush rugby on the big stage.
For some, the ARS is a launchpad to professional contracts. For others, Shield rugby represents a region's highest playing honour and an opportunity to renew Australian rugby's fiercest interstate rivalries.
The ARS hasn’t been without its hiccups but Shield rugby doesn’t die easily.
Two weeks out from this year's ARS kicking off in Newcastle, rugby.com.au casts an eye back on the tournament's rich 15-year (or so) history and why fans will fall in love with Shield rugby in 2025.
The bitter rivalry between Queensland Country Heelers and NSW Country Cockatoos can be traced back to 1964 and helped sow the seeds of the inaugural ARS.
Buoyed by the success of Australia's 1999 World Cup victory, the then-Australian Rugby Union sought to broaden its prospective player pool outside the traditional strongholds of Sydney and Brisbane.
A plan was devised to host a men's tournament for top regional sides and identifying talent - and thus the Australian Rugby Shield was born.
Queensland Country and NSW Country headlined the first ever ARS in 2000 with Victoria, South Australia, Northern Territory and Perth Gold also taking part.
Fittingly, it was the Country rivals who met in the final - played as a curtain raiser to the famous 2000 Sydney Bledisloe Cup Test - with the Heelers emerging 23-17 victors and inaugural Shield winners.
From there, the Cockatoos dominated the ARS, winning four of the next eight Shields to stamp their authority as Australia’s top regional outfit.
Perth Gold (two) and newcomers ACT & SNSW also lifted wood in the early days while Tasmania were popular underdogs upon their entry in 2006.
Shield games were taken all across the country with Mackay, Perth, Bundaberg, Toowoomba, Gold Coast, Newcastle, Kalgoorlie, Melbourne, Adelaide and Darwin hosting alongside Brisbane, Sydney and Canberra.
The ARS enjoyed off-field success too, attracting major sponsorships and naming rights partnership with Bundaberg Rum and Telstra, while select games were broadcast on television via the ABC.
Sadly, financial constraints saw the Shield gradually shrink between 2006-2008 before eventually folding ahead of the 2009 edition.
More than a decade later, calls from South Australian rugby to revive the Shield were partially answered.
With the then-National Rugby Championship in full swing, South Australia led the charge to host an Emerging States Championship to provide representative fixtures for non-NRC states, territories and regions.
The first - and only - Emerging Rugby Championship was subsequently held in 2018 with hosts South Australia taking the title over Tasmania, Victoria Country and the Northern Territory.
Buoyed, South Australia successfully pushed for an expanded tournament in 2019 and earned hosting rights for the inaugural National Rugby Championship II (NRC II) - a tier below the existing NRC structure.
NSW Country, Queensland Country and Perth all returned to the fold in 2019 alongside a South Australia U23 outfit with Perth running out 15-5 victors over NSW Country in a hard-fought decider.
The 2018 and 2019 tournaments were both broadcast in partnership with South Australia's Spacequake Sports, NITV and the ABC.
Perth Gold - Chris Miller turns on the jets!Miller turns on the jets! 🚀 What a highlight from Palmyra Rugby Union Club's Chris Miller as he dots over for Perth Gold’s first try over NSW Country Cockatoos! 💛🖤 #NRCII #GrowingTheGame
Posted by Rugbywa on Monday, September 30, 2019
Like many Australian sporting tournaments, the fledgling NRC II was a Covid-19 casualty.
However, the appetite for regional rugby was greater than ever and Rugby Australia was quick to act.
The Australian Rugby Shield was re-launched in 2022 and expanded to include an inaugural women's Shield tournament that ran alongside the eight-team men's format.
Victoria, NSW Country, South Australia and an Australian Defence Force side all contested the women's Shield with Victoria emerging unbeaten while ACT & SNSW took out the men's Shield in a 34-31 thriller over NSW Country.
Since then, the ARS has continued to grow and develop with subsequent tournaments held at Ballymore and Caloundra Rugby Club being streamed live and free via Rugby.com.au and the Rugby Xplorer app.
Queensland Country are reigning men's Shield winners following an all-time 2024 final against rivals NSW Country while ACT & SNSW hold the women's Shield after denying Queensland Country a rare double title.
The future of Shield rugby is brighter than ever following a historic partnership with naming rights sponsor Buildcorp for the 2025 ARS in Newcastle.
Next month, 14 teams (six women’s, eight men’s) will descend on the Steel City with three newcomers - NSW Suburban Men, Sydney Women and a men's Wildfires Development side.
With fourteen teams laden with talent, who knows what gems will be uncovered this year?
Super Rugby Women's trio Bonnie Brewer, Martha Fua and Lily Bone are among the many Brumbies who've cut their teeth for ACT & SNSW while Wallaroos flyer Biola Dawa shot to prominence in the 2023 ARS.
The Shield also serves to develop off-field roles with Rugby Australia investing heavily into coaching and referee mentors.
Each ARS side will be provided with a coaching mentor while additional resources have been piled into match official development and broadcast.
"I've always believed in it. It's a bloody good tournament," Rugby Australia's Head of Community Coaching, Michael Magriplis, told rugby.com.au.
"People are seeing the value again in this level of community rugby and it's heading in the right direction.
"The ARS provides a genuine pathway and opportunity for smaller states - it's an aspirational environment for players to be the best they can be."
The 2025 ARS kicks off Wednesday October 1 at Newcastle No. 2 Sportsground and will be live streamed exclusively via rugby.com.au/videos and the Rugby Xplorer App.
