The National Rugby League has officially launched the Auckland 9’s Rugby League tournament.
The competition will be played at Eden Park in Auckland on February 15-16 and will include all 16 NRL clubs. There will be a prize pool of $2 million on offer.
The tournament has been locked in for five years, which is a huge commitment by the game but I believe a good one.
The tournament structure will see the 16 NRL clubs divided into groups of 4. Each team will play the team in their own pool once, with the top 2 teams from each pool then going on to progress in the tournament.
Games will be played over two 9 minute halves. There is the possibility that Rugby League 9’s will adopt experimental rules for the tournament but they were not announced today.
It is very disappointing to see that only NRL clubs will be involved. The best part about the old World Sevens was seeing teams from all over the world take part in the competition.
With that much money on offer though, it was always going to be a closed competition.
Click here to see the 2014 Auckland Nines draw
Link: Official NRL Press Release
