The 2025 Buildcorp Australian Rugby Shield is set to light up Newcastle this week with 14 teams from across the nation descending on No.2 Sportsground.
Commonly referred to as the ARS - or just the "Shield" - the Buildcorp Australian Rugby Shield pits the top country, regional and suburban representative sides against each other across four days of tournament rugby.
Get your $5 tickets to the 2025 Buildcorp Australian Rugby Shield in Newcastle.
Celebrating its 15th edition in 2025, this year's ARS is hosted by Hunter Rugby, who will also field a Wildfires Development team in the men's tournament.
Both the NSW Country Cockatoos (men) and Corellas (women) also have a healthy Hunter flavour with 11 local players set to wear the gold jersey in Newcastle.
Here's everything you need to know about this week's tournament:
The 2025 ARS features 14 teams - eight men's and six women's - from seven states and territories.
The men's Shield consists of two pools of four teams, who will play each other once to determine a ranking before playing their equivalent from the opposite pool in a final (e.g. 1 v 1, 4 v 4).
The men's Shield final will be contested between the winner of Pool A and the winner of Pool B.
Pool A features NSW Country Cockatoos, Tasmania Jack Jumpers, Queensland Suburban, and a Wildfires Development Team, comprised of local Hunter Rugby players.
Pool B features reigning men's Shield holders Queensland Country Heelers, South Australia's Black Falcons, NSW Suburban, and the Australian Defence Rugby Union.
The women's Shield will see each team play three ranking games before a final round.
The women's Shield final will be contested by the two highest-ranked sides after three games (1 v 2).
Reigning women's Shield holders ACT & SNSW Kestrels, Queensland Country Orchids, NSW Country Corellas, South Australia's Black Falcons, Sydney Women, and Queensland Suburban are also taking part.
The ARS was first contested as a men's tournament back in 2000 and ran until 2008 with NSW Country the dominant force, winning four Shields.
South Australia helped drive its resurgence in 2018 in an NRC Emerging States format before the ARS was brought back to life fully in 2022 with both a men's and women's draw.
Queensland Country Heelers are current men's Shield holders after defeating NSW Country Cockatoos in last year's decider, while ACT & SNSW Kestrels hold the women's Shield following their grand final win over Queensland Country Orchids.
The 2025 ARS kicks off 9:30am AEST on Wednesday 1 October with the final match commencing at 4:00pm AEST on Sunday 5 October at No.2 Sportsground in Newcastle.
Ranking games will be played Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday with finals held on Sunday.
Tickets are available for purchase here or upon entry with all proceeds going back to support grassroots rugby in the Hunter.
You can also watch every game live and free via rugby.com.au/videos and the Rugby Xplorer App.
