The South Coast Rugby Union competition is officially back with a four-week tournament set to kick off in September with six teams.
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After years of having a strong competition through the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, South Coast Rugby Union merged with the small Monaro Division 2 competition in 2016 to create the South Coast Monaro competition.
Unfortunately, that move has seen several South Coast sides fall into 'hibernation', with Batemans Bay being the only active club in the competition in 2022.
Five of those hibernating sides (Milton, Broulee, Bermagui, Cobargo and Braidwood) have worked with the Batemans Bay Boars over the past six months on the spring competition with the view of having a full-time South Coast competition restart in 2023.
"Currently teams on the South Coast participate in the South Coast Monaro Rugby competition but the huge weekly travel needed has restricted teams ability to commit to the weekly long trips," a South Coast Rugby Union spokesperson said.
"Organisers have acknowledged this and have now planned a four-week September competition for teams on the coast to enable teams to reform, recruit, and then participate in a regular coast competition 2023."
The new proposed competition would have all teams agree to 'match numbers' on game day. Games would be played as a minimum of 10-a-side during the September comp, but can be played up to 15-a-side using Rugby Australia's 'Game on Global' guidelines.
"As President of South Coast Rugby Union I'm excited by the prospect of regular Saturday Rugby Union games on the South Coast," South Coast Rugby President Peter Ryan said.
"With five local teams plus Cooma already nominating it's a good start with the ability for other teams like Bega, Tuross & Narooma to join in."
The comp will start on Saturday, September 3, with a gala day at Hanging Rock Oval, Batemans Bay. Each side will play at least two games of 15-minute halves.
The following three weeks will have games in Cobargo, Braidwood, Milton, and Broulee.
The Milton Platypi have already started training and the Batemans Bay Boars have scheduled training to begin on Thursday, August 27, in preparation for the competition.
For any further information please visit South Coast Rugby Facebook site, email rugbymail@bigpond.com or phone 0409 470 295.