On the eve of ANZAC Day, New Zealand Defence Force Rugby League the have gifted NZRL with a signed jersey from the charity match played at Iraq’s Camp Taji between the NZDF and Australian Defence Force in 2018.

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In a charity league match held on a sweltering ANZAC Day in 2018, New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel beat their Australian counterparts 32-20.

“Both teams played with passion, despite the heat and the hard surface they had to play on. It was all good fun and for a good cause, and the camaraderie was great,” Task Group Taji’s Regimental Sergeant Major said.

The charity league match raised US$2,373 (about NZ$3,350) for the New Zealand Fallen Heroes Trust, an organisation that provides support for the families of military personnel killed or injured on operations overseas, and US$2,638(about NZ$3,720) for Legacy Australia, an Australian charity supporting families of service personnel.

About 100 New Zealand and 300 Australian troops comprise Task Group Taji, the combined New Zealand-Australian training mission which has trained around 34,000 Iraqi Security Forces personnel since May 2015.