The Beginning
Casuarina Rugby Union Club (Cougars) was established in 1976 and is a founding member of the Northern Territory Rugby Union Inc. The Cougars were founded as a result of the aftermath of Cyclone Tracy when the main single men’s accommodation was established to house the clean-up crews. As a result, the location of the club was first named Tracy Village. As the cleaning up progressed along with the enormous task of rebuilding Darwin, there were more and more service personal and civilian contractors setting in Darwin, and as a direct consequence so did the club members. With the impact of rebuilding Darwin and the face that Tracy Village was so close to the suburb of Casuarina, it was decided the club should reflect the main area of conception thus being the district of Casuarina.
The club has now been contesting Rugby in the Northern Territory for nearly 50 years and has produced some of the NT’s best representative players. We have had over 100 home grown players represent the Northern Territory at both senior and junior levels. Two of those players are also life members of the Club. John Connolly (former Australian Wallabies Coach and former Queensland Reds coach) and Bruce Kennon who represented the Queensland Reds with 9 caps as a brilliant & elusive back rower in the early 80’s. Bruce can boast to be 1 of only 22 players to ever beat the All Blacks in a provincial game on Australian soil. Ex Wallaby, Jim Williams played two seasons with the Cougars. John Connolly played and coached the Cougars for a period of 4 years during the early 80’s.
Honours
The Cougars also had the distinct honour of receiving a standing invitation to compete at the Singapore Cricket Club Sevens every year. This honour came about when the Cougars were invited to participate in the 1983 tournament, going through and winning the final undefeated, which a tournament score of 135 - 0. To date this record has not been met or surpassed by any team contesting the SCC 7’s.
The SCC 7’s is now a real calendar event for rugby teams and rugby nations throughout the world and is fast becoming known as one of the best sevens tournaments in the world.
Affiliations
The club has an affiliation membership base of more than 100 registered senior players and over 170 registered junior players. The club fields every grade that the Northern Territory Rugby Union allows with A Grade men, B Grade men and a women’s teams competing in the senior competition and Under 5s to Under 17s in the junior ranks.
The Cougars also boast a very active Old Boys team made up of past and current players. This group are strong competitors in the Darwin Masters 10’s every year. They are also active supporters of the senior and junior club competition, including providing financial support to junior players who are selected to represent the NT.