The 2016 National Rugby Championship draw has been released two months ahead of the opening round of the competition. Eight teams will contest a shortened seven round regular season with matches to be played across 14 locations including regional areas such as Tamworth and Orange in New South Wales, Frankston in Victoria and Toowoomba in Queensland. The announcement officially confirmed that NSW Country and Sydney Stars will merge and play as the NSW Country Eagles, while the Sydney Rays and the Western Sydney Rams have both been renamed. Fox Sports will televise two matches per round at 3pm on Saturday and Sunday afternoon each week, with the remaining matches to be streamed live online. The ARU has also introduced a revised points structure seeing six points awarded for a try, two points for a conversion and two points for a penalty goal and drop goal. “We’re confident that with the confirmation of eight teams, and the learning off the back of the first two seasons the overa