2019 Oceania Rugby Women's Championship

Last updated
2019 Oceania Women's Championship
Tournament details
HostFlag of Fiji.svg  Fiji
VenueChurchill Park, Lautoka
Date18 November 2019 (2019-11-18)
30 November 2019 (2019-11-30)
Teams6
Final positions
ChampionsFlag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand
2018
2022

The 2019 Oceania Rugby Women's Championship that was held in Fiji, was the 2021 Rugby World Cup qualifier for the Oceania region. [1] The tournament was played at Churchill Park in Lautoka from 18 to 30 November 2019, with six teams entered. Australia and New Zealand sent development teams, having already qualified for the 2021 World Cup. [2]

Contents

Teams

Format

A split pool format was used for the Oceania tournament, with the teams seeded into two pools of three. Each team was scheduled to play one match against each of the teams in the opposite pool. [3] However, following a measles outbreak in Tonga, the Tongan women's team had to withdraw from competition after one of their players arriving in Fiji was suspected of having measles. [4] The tournament continued without playing their fixtures but a revised qualification process was put in place to allow Tonga to challenge later for the Oceania berth at the Rugby World Cup repechage qualifier. [4]

The Black Ferns Development XV were undefeated in the tournament and won the 2019 Oceania Rugby Women's Championship [5] based on the combined pool standings, with Australia A as runner-up. Qualification to the World Cup remained up for grabs in Lautoka for the remaining three nations (excluding Australia and New Zealand). Fiji won direct entry to the World Cup by defeating Samoa in the qualifying playoff match. [6]

Arrangements were made for a playoff match in early 2020 between Tonga and Papua New Guinea, with the winner to meet Samoa in another playoff match to decide the World Cup repechage berth. [4]

Tournament

Pool stage

Pool A
PosTeamPWDLPFPAPDPts
1Flag of New Zealand.svg  Black Ferns Dev. XV 33002340+23415
2Flag of Samoa.svg  Samoa 31027765+125
3Flag of Tonga.svg  Tonga 10100002
Pool B
PosTeamPWDLPFPAPDPts
1 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Australia A31112755−287
2Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji 21012660−345
3Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea 200212196-1840

Round 1

18 November Australia A  Flag of Australia (converted).svg 0–0 a Flag of Tonga.svg  Tonga Churchill Park, Lautoka  
Report [7]
Test: 137018 November Samoa  Flag of Samoa.svg65–12Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea Churchill Park, Lautoka  
Report [8]
18 November Black Ferns Dev XV  Flag of New Zealand.svg53–0Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji Churchill Park, Lautoka  
Report [9]

Notes:

^a The match was cancelled and called a draw. [7]

Round 2

22 November Australia A  Flag of Australia (converted).svg0–50Flag of New Zealand.svg  Black Ferns Dev XV Churchill Park, Lautoka  
Report [10]
Test: 137222 November Samoa  Flag of Samoa.svg7–26Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji Churchill Park, Lautoka  
Report [11]
Bye/s: Papua New Guinea  

Round 3

26 November Black Ferns Dev XV  Flag of New Zealand.svg131–0Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea Churchill Park, Lautoka  
Report [12]
26 November Australia A  Flag of Australia (converted).svg27–5Flag of Samoa.svg  Samoa Churchill Park, Lautoka  
Report [13]
Bye/s: Fiji  

Playoffs

Samoa and Fiji played in the World Cup qualifier match at Lautoka. [6] Due to Tonga's absence, a consolation match was arranged for Papua New Guinea against a Fiji developmental team. [6]

Consolation match

30 November Fijiana Dev XV  Flag of Fiji.svg40–22Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea Churchill Park, Lautoka  
Report [14]

World Cup qualifier

Test: 137930 November to RWC       Fiji  Flag of Fiji.svg41–13Flag of Samoa.svg  Samoa Churchill Park, Lautoka  
Report [15]

Repechage qualifiers

Tonga traveled to Port Moresby in March the following year and defeated Papua New Guinea to set up a playoff against Samoa to determine who qualified for the repechage tournament.

Test: 13891 March 2020 Papua New Guinea  Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg24–36Flag of Tonga.svg  Tonga Bava Park, Port Moresby  
Report [16]
Test: 139714 November 2020 to repechage Samoa  Flag of Samoa.svg40–0Flag of Tonga.svg  Tonga The Trusts Arena, Auckland, New Zealand  

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References

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  3. Birch, John (18 November 2019). "Samoa open qualifier with big win". Scrum Queens. Archived from the original on 24 March 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 "Oceania-qualification for women's Rugby World Cup revised". Loop. 24 November 2019. Archived from the original on 27 November 2019.
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  6. 1 2 3 Birch, John (19 November 2019). "Fiji qualify for World Cup". Scrum Queens. Archived from the original on 10 February 2020.
  7. 1 2 greenwood, Emma (17 November 2019). "Oceania Rugby cancel Australia A-Tonga clash after suspected measles case". rugby.com.au. Archived from the original on 20 December 2019. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
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