New Zealand and South Africa have famous and (in the US) televised regional tournaments in the NPC and Curie Cup, respectively. I have been nosing around the Australian rugby website http://www.rugby.com.au/ and came across this competition http://www.rugby.com.au/aus.rugby/pages/109 call the Telstra Australian Rugby Shield. Since there is one team from each Australian state, it sure looks like a regional tournament. Does anybody know anything about this? Do Wallabies play?
The Shield is a competition for the "non-rugby" states, and also incorporates NSW & Queensland Country representative teams. Practically no-one knows it exists (or really cares). No Wallabies play in it. The main competitions in Australia are the New South Wales and Queensland club rugby union premierships. Once the Super 12 is finished the NSW, Queensland and ACT Brumbies players go back to playing for their clubs in these competitions. Main clubs are ones like Randwick, Eastwood, Sydney University, Manly etc in NSW and Brothers, University, Souths etc in Queensland.
Some further clarification: The "Non-Rugby" states (& territory) in this competition are Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory (I am unsure if Tasmania & the ACT are represented in the competition yet). The "Country" representatives are teams representing the rest of NSW (minus the Sydney Premiership teams) and QLD (minus the Brisbane Premiership teams). Andy T.