Canberra Vikings

Canberra Vikings
Founded

1995

Canberra Kookaburras[1]
Location Canberra, Australia                                        
Region Australian Capital Territory and Southern New South Wales
Ground(s)

2014 Viking Park

(Capacity: 10,000)


2007 Manuka Oval

(Capacity: 15,500)


2007 Canberra Stadium

(Capacity: 25,011)

Coach(es) Dan McKellar
Captain(s) Fotu Auelua
League(s) National Rugby Championship
2014 6th
Team kit
Union website
www.brumbies.com.au/ucvikings/Home.aspx

The University of Canberra Vikings (formerly the Canberra Vikings and Canberra Kookaburras) is an Australian rugby union football team that competes in the National Rugby Championship (NRC). The team is based at Viking Park in Wanniassa, and is backed by a three-way partnership between the Tuggeranong Vikings Group, the ACT Brumbies and the University of Canberra.

The University of Canberra Vikings team in the NRC takes its identity from the Canberra Vikings side that played in the previous national competition, the Australian Rugby Championship (ARC). The ARC was discontinued following the first season in 2007, but after an absence of six years the national competition was relaunched as the NRC in 2014.[2]

The coaching and training programs used by the Brumbies for Super Rugby are extended to players joining the NRC team from the Brumbies, the ACTRU Premier Division competition, and junior players from the ACT and Southern NSW Rugby Union catchment area.

Colours and logo

The name and logo of ACT local club Tuggeranong Vikings has been used since foundation, when the team played in the Tooheys New Cup. The NRC team takes its colours of red, white and black from the Vikings club.

History

In 1989 the then Canberra Kookaburras defeated Fiji's national side 34-9 at Seiffert Oval.[3] The Canberra Vikings represented Canberra in the Tooheys New Cup and Queensland Premier Rugby championships and won three consecutive titles; 2001, 2002 and 2003 in the Queensland Premier Rugby competition. They competed in the only Australian Rugby Championship in 2007 where they failed to progress out of the robin-round stages, with only three from eight wins; 17–8 win over Perth Spirit, 53–8 win over Ballymore Tornadoes and a 56–29 win over Sydney Fleet.

Revival: NRC

In 2014 it was announced that the Canberra Vikings team, named as University of Canberra Vikings, would play in the National Rugby Championship in 2014. The team's licence is held by a joint venture between the Brumbies, University of Canberra and the Tuggeranong Vikings club. Dan McKellar was named as the coach.[4]

Stadium

For their revival in 2014, the UC Vikings played at Viking Park.[4] Many rugby union matches have been played at the stadium including two Australia women's matches against New Zealand women's.

In the 2007 Australian Rugby Championship, the Canberra Vikings played at two locations; Manuka Oval and Canberra Stadium. Manuka Oval was constructed in 1929 and hosts the annual Prime Ministers XI cricket match, as well as senior club AFL and cricket. Originally Manuka Oval was not just a cricket ground, but was also used for International rugby matches, mainly between a Canberra Invitational XI and the touring international side. Canberra Stadium (originally Bruce Stadium) was constructed in 1977 and is the home of the ACT Brumbies and Canberra Raiders.

Current squad

The squad for the 2014 National Rugby Championship season:[5][6]

 

Props

Hookers

Locks

  

Loose Forwards

Scrum-halves

Fly-halves

  • Australia Rodney Iona
  • New Zealand Isaac Thompson
  

Centres

Wingers

Fullbacks

(c) Denotes team captain, Bold denotes player is internationally capped, 1 denotes allocated national player additional to the contracted squad.

Records

Honours

Season standings

National Rugby Championship

Year Pos Pld W D L F A +/- BP Pts   Play-offs  
2014 6th 8 2 2 4 210 238 −28 2 14   Did not compete

Australian Rugby Championship

Year Pos Pld W D L F A +/- BP Pts   Play-offs  
2007 6th 8 3 0 5 217 191 26 7 19   Did not compete

Head coaches

Captains

Squads

Gallery

See also

References

  1. ↑ Whyte, Julia (11 August 2007). "Return from exile". The Canberra Times. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2007.
  2. ↑ "Australia relaunches National Rugby Championship". rugbyweek.com. 24 March 2014. Archived from the original on 24 March 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  3. ↑ "Fiji vs Canberra Kookaburras". Fiji Rugby. 12 April 1989. Archived from the original on 1 August 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Gaskin, Lee (24 March 2014). "Brumbies to dominate University of Canberra Vikings squad for new competition". The Canberra Times (Fairfax). Archived from the original on 24 March 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  5. ↑ "Vikings squad announced for 2014 NRC" (Press release). Brumbies Rugby. 1 August 2014. Archived from the original on 1 August 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  6. ↑ Qantas Wallabies player alignments unveiled for 2014 Buildcorp National Rugby Championship
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Navy Canberra Vikings set for Mazda ARC debut" (Press release). Brumbies Rugby. 8 August 2007. Archived from the original on 31 August 2007. Retrieved 20 October 2014.

External links