Gold Coast

About 100 noisy but peaceful protesters were contained by police outside the venue some 90 minutes before the official start of the ceremony, attended by Britain's Prince Charles, his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

The protesters, carrying signs that read "colonisation is not a game", had earlier disrupted a leg of the Queen's Baton Relay and demanded Britain's royal family members ask them for permission to visit "stolen" land.

But come Wednesday it will officially become the host of the 21st Commonwealth Games.

It'll be the fifth time Australia has hosted the event.

Gold Coast's Games will cost $2 billion.

Hosting the Games is seen as a coming of age for Gold Coast as it seeks to move out of the shadow of Brisbane.

More than 6,600 athletes and officials from 70 Commonwealth nations and territories will take part in 11 days of competition from 4^th to 15^th of April 2018.

Team PNG, consisting of 56 athletes and 32 officials, including the General Management Team, has arrived in Gold Coast and are gearing up for the event.

They will participate in 10 of the 23 sports offered during the Games.

The 10 sports are; Athletics (para-athletics), boxing, lawn bowls, rugby 7s, shooting, squash, swimming, table tennis (para-table tennis), triathlon and weightlifting.

World Rugby has welcomed the announcement of the schedule for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (GC2018) rugby sevens competitions, which get underway at the Robina Stadium on 13 April, 2018.

In a fitting way to mark the start of the first ever women’s sevens competition at a Commonwealth Games, GC2018 ticket holders will be treated to eight matches of high octane women’s sevens on the opening night, where each competing nation will play two of their three pool matches.

The Baby Manu has been training together for six weeks in preparation for the Oceania tournament and the upcoming World Rugby Under 20 Championship in Georgia.

Samoa won the second tier Under 20 Trophy last year to earn promotion back to the elite division.

Head coach Junior Leota said testing themselves against Australia, New Zealand and Fiji will tell them exactly where there preparations are at.

"It's crucial that we get preparation right and I guess Oceania it's a first step on our journey," he said.

The schedule of sporting events has been released and for the next month people are being encouraged to consider which events they would like to attend.

Isolated falls of 600mm were gauged in 24 hours and winds picked up to a maximum 120kph — the strength of a category one cyclone — as the worst of the low-pressure system passed over the south-east on Thursday evening.

It moved off the coast early Friday morning, but has left a trail of damage and is pushing half a dozen rivers to a major flood level.

The Logan and Albert river catchments are overflowing after isolated falls in the Scenic Rim of 500mm overnight.

The launch, watched by thousands of people gathered in front of the palace under blue skies, starts the countdown to the Games opening ceremony on April 4th 2018.

Australian athletes Anna Meares and Kurt Fearnley helped launch the relay watched by thousands of people gathered in front of the palace under blue skies.

The relay is the start of the countdown to the Games opening ceremony on April 4th 2018.

Simpkins has been named on an extended bench for the Titans' clash with Manly-Warringah at Cbus Super Stadium on Monday night after playing six games off the bench for Gold Coast last season.

In that time he became a favoured utility option for coach Neil Henry before a ruptured ACL against Penrith in Round 7 brought his season to a premature end. A broken jaw early in the season whilst playing for Tweed Heads in the Intrust Super Cup delayed his NRL return even further but he travelled with the team on their cross-country expedition to Perth and Darwin.

Hayne quit the NFL on Monday in a bid to play rugby union sevens at the Rio Olympics later this year.

Speculation is rife he will return to rugby league next year, after leaving in 2014 to pursue his American dream.

Sydney Roosters, who are around $600,000 under this year's salary cap - money that could be used a sign-on fee for Hayne - remain the favourites to snare the former Parramatta superstar.