One of the benefits of the Gold Cup is pitting up and coming rugby stars against others from around Australia.

Today the Northern Inland Bushrangers will host South Australia for two matches at The Armidale School.

The under 15s kick off proceedings at 3.30pm on TAS Back Field, followed by the under 17s fixture at 5pm.

It will be a busy week for the South Australians.

They left their home state yesterday and were scheduled to arrive in Armidale on this morning for the two matches that afternoon.

The South Australian squad will then travel to Sydney tomorrow for two more matches on Sunday, followed by a long trek to Canberra for two more games against the ACT on Tuesday.

Northern Inland Gold Cup manager Jamie Moore said there was an excited vibe around the squad in the lead up to the South Australian visit.

“It’s a great event for the town,” he said.

“To be part of a national competition and to host games is great for sport in Armidale.”

In the inaugural year of the competition in 2014, results were hard to come by for the Bushrangers, but they do have fond memories from the first time they took on South Australia.

“We had two close wins against them last year,” Moore said.

“They were our only wins for the season.” The under 17 Bushrangers have a win and two losses from three matches in 2015, but a victory today would leave them in strong stead in the competition.

“It would be a great result and a just reward for a consistent season,” Moore said if the under 17s were to beat South Australia.

Northern Inland’s under 15s are winless so far this season, but not from a lack of effort according to Moore. “A win would be a great boost for them,” he said.

“Especially going into the final round against the ACT who are always incredibly strong.”

Moore is hoping for a large local contingent of supporters to make their way to TAS for the two matches.