Led by RNRL Chairman Cdr Sean Heaton MBE RN, the playing squad of 25 plus coaching and backroom staff have travelled to Australia setting up camp at Australian Defence Force Base Randwick, in the south Sydney suburbs in preparation for three games epic games of Rugby League. The playing squad will be coached by CPO Darren Bamford, whilst on the field PO Ben Taylor will skipper the side. The playing squad is made up of a mixture of RN and RM Senior and Academy players who swept the board at last season’s Inter Services competition, achieving unprecedented back-to-back triumphs at both grades. This tour is a step up for most of the players who have not toured in RNRL colours before, however all involved are relishing the challenge to test themselves against Southern Hemisphere opposition.

All those selected for the tour, and RNRL as an Association, are very grateful to our sponsors, notably tour sponsors the ACPL Group, RBL, the RN Sports Lottery as well as individual Units for their financial support for the tour. Notwithstanding outside funding, the tour party have also made significant personal financial contributions in order to make the tour a reality. Whilst by no means a holiday this tour has been a year in the making and is just rewards for the ‘class of 22’, who have brought so much success to RNRL as RN Sports Team of the Year, and RN sport as UK Armed Forces Team of the Year, and since the return to competitive sport post the Covid Pandemic

The climax of the three-match series will be a rematch against the Royal Australian Navy Tridents, who will be desperate for a win after being whitewashed 3-0 in 2018 on their tour to England. The two preceding matches will be against Renown United and Coogee Dolphins who are feeder clubs for NRL clubs St George Illawarra Dragons and South Sydney Rabbitohs respectively. The final fixture of the series will be as a curtain raiser for the Manly Sea Eagles and Parramatta Eels NRL fixture being part of the annual ANZAC commemorative round of NRL fixtures.

Opening the tour on the field will see the Brothers face off against Renown United who play in the St George Illawarra Junior League. The Renown club has been established for over 70 years and boasts many former players who have gone on to NRL and Country representation with Mark Gasnier probably the most recognizable name to UK RL supporters. RNRL has a bit of history with the Renown club having first played them in 2002 at the St George-Illawarra stadium. The match was part of the first ever RNRL overseas tour however the Brothers, led by Chris Richards, went down to the home side on the day. To find out more about the Renown club their website is as follows
https://renownunited.com.au/

The second programmed game for the Brothers is against a representative side from the Coogee Dolphins who compete in the South Sydney Juniors competition. As they prepare for the new season the Dolphins received a massive boost with the appointment of NRL and South Sydney Rabbitohs legend Roy Asotasi as their 1st Team Captain/Coach. The Brothers will face the Dolphins reserve grade side as a curtain raiser for the Dolphins A Grade match against Bondi United side for the Adam Howard shield. Adam was one of the six players the club tragically lost in the Bali Bombings of 2002 and in their memory the club redesigned their logo to include the individuals squad numbers. A full history of the Dolphins can be found at https://www.coogeedolphins.com.au/

The climax of the three-match series will be a return meeting between the Royal Australian Navy Tridents (RAN) and RNRL. The game, on the 26th of April, is a highly anticipated curtain raiser for the Manly Warringa Sea Eagles v Parramatta Eels NRL ANZAC Round at Four Pines Park, Brookvale. ANZAC day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations. The most recent meetings between the two sides saw the Brothers complete a 3-0 series win in England in the 2018 Armistice Cup series so the Tridents will be out for revenge whilst the Brothers equally determined to maintain the dominance in the fixture all of which makes for a very tasty match indeed.
https://www.facebook.com/Navy.Tridents

Although ‘downtime’ will be limited the squad will take the opportunity to see as much ‘RL footy’ action as possible whilst in Sydney, with the obligatory Harbour Bridge climb also on the agenda. Regular updates from the tour will be posted on RNRL Social Media