Tasmania have named a strong 28-man squad to tackle Australia’s best amateur players at the upcoming Australian Rugby Shield (ARS) competition in Brisbane
The JackJumpers kick off their four-game campaign on Wednesday 27 September against South Australia before further pool games against Perth (Friday 29 September) and NSW Country (Saturday 30 September).
They’ll also feature in a final placing fixture on Monday 2 October against one of Victoria, ACT/SNSW, QLD Country & QLD Suburban.
Launceston halfback and experienced state representative TJ Pieters will again lead the JackJumpers with Tigers teammate Callum Lyall, Burnie captain-coach Brett Bentley, and Taroona pair Ant Lean and James Holman named as deputies.
Tasmania coach Chris Noble said he was pleased with the available squad after a high-quality year of intrastate rugby.
🐜🐜🐜 MEN'S REPRESENTATIVE SQUAD DROP 🐜🐜🐜 Please join us in congratulating the 28 players named by coach Chris Noble for...
Posted by Tasmanian Rugby Union on Sunday, September 17, 2023
“We’re excited about this squad and believe we can put forward four strong performances at this year’s ARS,” Noble said.
“It’s a great opportunity for these men to take on some of Australia’s best amateur players at the newly redeveloped Ballymore Stadium and we’re keen to showcase Tassie rugby on the big stage.”
“TJ is our incumbent skipper and he’s coming off a terrific year with Launceston, so he’s well placed to lead the squad alongside senior players like Callum, Brett, James and Ant.”
The Australian Rugby Shield will be hosted at Brisbane’s Ballymore Stadium with Tasmania among the first amateur teams to access the redeveloped National Rugby Training Centre.
Please consider supporting our squad with a small donation via our GoFundMe page.
ALPHABETICAL SQUAD LIST BELOW:
- Nicholas Allardice
- Enzo Balducci
- Brett Bentley (VC)
- Ollie Bird
- Jone Chand
- Ish Duindam
- Jordan Eddington
- Aiden Fenney
- Jake Harris
- Tenaka Harrison
- James Holman (VC)
- Noah Kazarine
- Ali Lameta
- Anthony Lean (VC)
- Christo Le Grange
- Kyle Lombard
- Mick Lovell
- Cal Lyall (VC)
- Austin McNaughton
- Marika Nadaulevu
- Matthew Noble
- Ed Nordstrom
- Theuns TJ Pieters (C)
- Wilfred Sandys Tupou
- Remi Sawtell
- Kivalu Tangi
- Simione Tokomaata
- Peni Vea
