This year sees a return to Petersfield RFC in Hampshire who were fantastic hosts for the fixture in 2018 so it is great to be back. The game will be played on Friday 13t Of May kicking off at 7.30 under the floodlights to add to the atmosphere.
For those new to RNRL including many of the players from the ‘class of 22’ the history of the fixture goes back to 2002 when the concept of the game was devised. We needed to hold an internal RN fixture to identify those players in contention for the annual Inter Services Series with the senior coaches taking a back seat from the game to watch the performance of the players on show. We initially struggled with a name for the fixture, ditching ‘Possibles v Probable’s etc so we looked across the world to Australia. The inaugural tour to Australia in 2002 gave us a lot of ideas as to how to move the Association forwards, not least how much their State Of Origin fixtures means to the fans and players alike. In Australia, Origin is three match series played between the Maroon of Queensland and the Blue of New South Wales. As a result, and with a bit of tweaking, the RNRL State Of Origin fixture came into being. The two ‘states’ in our fixture, Easts and Wests, are defined by a line running north to south from Scotland down to Southampton. So, players serving west of the line are eligible for the Maroon shirt of the Wests and those serving East of the line will wear the Blue of the Easts. The fixture has always had a nomadic feel to it being played at HMS Temeraire, Gosport & Fareham RFC, Yeovil RFC, HMS Excellent and Petersfield RFC. Perhaps most notably we enjoyed a run of 6 straight seasons playing Origin at Headingley Stadium home to the Leeds Rhinos. These matches were played as curtain raisers to Super League fixtures and were loved by the Leeds fans with the half time march around the pitch being a massive highlight for everybody involved with both home and away fans showing their appreciation for the Naval Service as well as for the Origin match itself.

Head Of Operations Dave Garner has worked hard to get this fixture up and running and whilst it would have been great to be going to a Super League or Championship club it was not to be this year, luckily for us Petersfield RFC have opened their doors to us again so its game on! In 2018 we to staged Orgin16 at the superb facilities Petersfield RFC have at their Penns Place ground and we are delighted and grateful to be returning there again this year.

For the ‘stattos’ amongst you the current state of play is that of the 17 previous fixtures the Blues have 12 wins to the Maroons 5 victories. It should be noted that the Maroons have had a good run recently and since winning their first match in 2009 they have triumphed 5 times in the last 10 outings so its all to play for as they try to close the gap on the Blues.

More details will follow in the next few weeks but if you are in the area do not be frightened of the date and get down to Penns Place for another cracking Origin clash between the Blues and the Maroons.