Queensland Universities Residents coaches Jamie Dowse and Nathan Osborne will run the rule over several players when the University of Queensland Hounds and Griffith Dragons clash at Suncorp Stadium tonight.
The match has been chosen as the main curtain raiser to the Broncos-Raiders NRL match, with the Under 20s game to be played at Bishop Park on Saturday.
The game will be a huge opportunity for the players from both sides, who will share dressing room space with and run out onto the same field as their NRL heroes.
But it will also give Dowse and Osborne a chance to look at several trialists for the Residents side, who will meet NSW Universities Residents at Coffs Harbour in a one-off match on July 16.
Dowse, who coaches the QUT Trouts, and Logan Redbacks mentor Osborne have been reappointed to the representative coaching roles they filled in 2015.
They led the Queensland Unis Residents side to a shock 22-18 win over the touring Great Britain Armed Forces Team in July last year.
With so many players pushing for inclusion in the team chosen from the URLQ competition, a trial for this year’s side has already been set for June 25 at Bishop Park.
Meanwhile, tonight’s match will be the final fixture of Round 5 that marks the halfway point of the Universities Rugby League Queensland competition.
In the tightest URLQ in recent memory, three teams sit tied at the top of the ladder.
The Trouts and Hounds are joined at the top with the surprise packets of the season, the ACU team coached by former Broncos Jharal Yow Yeh and Justin Hodges.
The Hounds and Dragons are just one win behind that pack, and can join the leaders with a victory tonight.
