Super Rugby Pacific will this week shine a spotlight on the all-important grassroots of the game as the clubs unite behind the inaugural Club Rugby Round.<\/p>\n
The round is an opportunity for the competition to celebrate the hundreds of community clubs across the Pacific, and the thousands of volunteers, coaches, match officials and players brought together by community rugby.<\/p>\n
This weekend will see Super Rugby Pacific players take the field wearing the socks of community clubs that have played important roles in their rugby journeys.<\/p>\n
Across the week all clubs will be using their social media channels to promote their players\u2019 connections to club rugby and to showcase stories of the heroes at the heart of their communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery professional player in our competition started at a local club,\u201d Super Rugby Pacific CEO Jack Mesley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cClub Rugby Round is our opportunity to recognise the volunteers, coaches, referees and families who make our game possible, and to help drive club registrations ahead of their upcoming seasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom early morning minis to third grade on a Saturday afternoon, club rugby is where the values of our game are learned and where powerful lifelong connections are formed. This round is a celebration of those communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want all our members and fans to wear their club colours proudly this week, to share their best club rugby stories across social media, and to gather their club mates and get to a game.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Club Rugby Round action kicks off on Friday night with the Chiefs welcoming Moana Pasifika to FMG Stadium Waikato where clubs can take advantage of group ticket discounts.<\/p>\n
The Waratahs have officially called on fans to wear their club colours to the game, with the best represented club on the night to win a coaching clinic with head coach Dan McKellar and captain Matt Philip.<\/p>\n
It will be festival atmosphere on Saturday in Dunedin with a rugby fun day featuring Highlanders players taking place outside Forsyth Barr Stadium for the two hours leading up to kick-off.<\/p>\n
At half-time in their game against the Western Force, there will be a sprint race to crown the fastest premiership club player, followed by a 40-metre dash for the over-40s.<\/p>\n
The Crusaders kicked off their week with players running skills and drills with local juniors at three \u2018club hub\u2019 events across the Canterbury region ahead of their Saturday night showdown against the Blues at Eden Park.<\/p>\n
Prop James Slipper is set to equal Wyatt Crockett\u2019s all-time Super Rugby appearance record as the Brumbies take on the Queensland Reds at GIO Stadium to close out the round.<\/p>\n
The Canberra crowd will get a taste of club rugby action as Uni-North Owls and Gordon play a curtain raiser, while more than a dozen local clubs participate in a march past and half-time relay race.<\/p>\n
CLUB RUGBY ROUND FIXTURES<\/p>\n
FRIDAY 6 MARCH
\n\tChiefs v Moana Pasifka \u2013 5.05pm AEDT \/ 7.05pm NZDT \u2013 FMG Stadium Waikato, Hamilton
\n\tNSW Waratahs v Hurricanes \u2013 7.35pm AEDT \/ 9.35pm NZDT \u2013 Allianz Stadium, Sydney<\/p>\n
SATURDAY 7 MARCH
\n\tHighlanders v Western Force \u2013 2.35pm AEDT \/ 4.35pm NZDT \u2013 Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
\n\tBlues v Crusaders – 5.05pm AEDT \/ 7.05pm NZDT \u2013 Eden Park, Auckland
\n\tACT Brumbies v Queensland Reds \u2013 7.35pm AEDT \/ 9.35pm NZDT \u2013 GIO Stadium, Canberra<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Super Rugby Pacific will this week shine a spotlight on the all-important grassroots of the game as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-515237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}