Sydney Rays

The Sydney Rays is an Australian rugby union team that competes in the National Rugby Championship (NRC). The team is one of two sides from New South Wales in the competition; the other being the NSW Country Eagles.

The current Rays team in the NRC takes its identity from the Central Coast Rays side that played in the earlier national competition, the Australian Rugby Championship (ARC). The Rays drew players mainly from four Shute Shield clubs; Gordon, Manly, Northern Suburbs, and Warringah. The Central Coast Waves club was also aligned with the Rays for the ARC, but the competition was disbanded following the first season in 2007. After an absence of six years, the national competition was relaunched as the NRC in 2014.

A consortium of the same four Shute clubs from the ARC reformed the team as the North Harbour Rays in 2014 to play in the NRC. The team was renamed the Sydney Rays in 2016.

History

Rays played at Bluetongue Stadium in 2007.
In 2007, an attempt was made to form a third tier of rugby in Australia, similar to New Zealand's ITM Cup and South Africa's Currie Cup. The newly formed competition included eight teams and was called the Australian Rugby Championship. Three of those teams were based in New South Wales, including a Central Coast team.