The premier gay and inclusive rugby tournament in Australasia will be back for its 15th iteration this weekend in Auckland, with six teams set to converge on Western Springs Rugby Stadium in Tāmaki Makaurau.
Two divisions will see the Purchas Cup and the Shield up for grabs, with the Melbourne Chargers and Sydney Convicts bringing two sides to feature in each division.
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Defending Cup champions Sydney will enter with a target on their back after coming away from the last tournament in Perth with their tenth title and finishing the 2024 Bingham Cup in Rome as Runners Up.
However, they will have plenty of competition in what is shaping up to be the biggest iteration of the tournament so far.
Lots of eyes will also be on hosts New Zealand Falcons, who claimed their inaugural Cup title when they last hosted the event back in 2015.
The Brisbane Hustlers will also be in the mix for top division, having claimed two Purchas Cups in the last six competitions.
With the side hosting their first ever Bingham Cup next year in Brisbane, the Hustlers will be looking to add a third title to the mix.
The Melbourne Chargers will be hunting for their maiden Purchas Cup, having come close on several occasions since their admittance to the competition in 2009 - knocking off the Convicts to win their first Bingham Cup in 2016.
Completing the Shield division are the Perth Rams and the Adelaide University Sharks, who will also be chasing their maiden silverware.
With more eyes on rugby than ever thanks to the Wallabies recent success and the Women’s Rugby World Cup, the chance to see inclusive teams in action is an opportunity not to be missed according to the tournament’s namesake, Andrew Purchas.
Even more so, with the Bingham Cup being played in Brisbane in 2026.
“Australian rugby in the last 12 to 18 months has kind of staged a significant revival. It's really encouraging,” he said to Rugby.com.au.
“Rugby Australia, the New South Wales Rugby Union and New South Wales suburban rugby, they've been really supportive of us.
“We hosted the [Bingham] Cup here in Sydney in 2014, I chaired that organisation and the amount of support we had from all of those entities was just fantastic.”
The profile and engagement of the Women’s Rugby World Cup has fostered growth in this conversation, with Purchas feeling that the men’s game “has something to learn from the women's sport”.
Dan Palmer, who now works as set piece coach for the Waratahs after coaching stints at the Brumbies, Wallabies and Leicester Tigers, became the first former Wallaby player to come out.
Players like former rugby league player Ian Roberts have also championed conversations around inclusion in the men’s game at a professional level, with former West Coast Eagles player Mitch Brown coming out as bisexual in August this year.
“We've had Dan Palmer in rugby, [he] came out a few years ago,” Purchas said.
“[He] obviously played for the Wallabies, he's a senior coach, both provincial and also national level. Dan did it after he retired.
“[Former rugby league player] Ian Roberts is a beacon in that regard – he did this back in the Nineties, but still playing at an extremely high level.”
In addition to the six teams making the journey over, there will also be a gay refereeing group as as part of the International Society for Inclusive Rugby Referees (ISIRR) also involved in the event.
“Huge props to the Falcons in terms of what they've done already,” Purchas added.
“Their social media presence has been great. There's certainly a huge level of excitement and [I’m] very much looking forward to getting over there.”
Day 1 - Friday, 12th September
Shield:
- 9:00am - Sydney Convicts 2 v Melbourne Chargers 2
- 10:00am - Perth Rams v Adelaide University Sharks
- 1:00pm - Sydney Convicts 2 v Perth Rams
- 2:00pm - Melbourne Chargers 2 v Adelaide University Sharks
Purchas Cup:
- 11:00am - Melbourne Chargers 1 v Sydney Convicts 1
- 12:00pm - New Zealand Falcons v Brisbane Hustlers
- 3:00pm - Brisbane Hustlers v Sydney Convicts 1
- 4:00pm - New Zealand Falcons v Melbourne Chargers 1
Day 2 - Saturday, 13th September
Shield:
- 9:00am - Sydney Convicts 2 v Adelaide University Sharks
- 10:00am - Melbourne Chargers 2 v Perth Rams
- 2:00pm - Shield Final
Purchas Cup:
- 11:00am - New Zealand Falcons v Sydney Convicts 1
- 12:00pm - Brisbane Hustlers v Melbourne Chargers 1
- 3:00pm - Cup Final
1pm - Exhibition Match
