2025 Rugby League Pacific Championships

2025 Rugby League Pacific Championships
Number of teams	6 (men) 6 (women)
Host countries	New Zealand Papua New Guinea Australia
< 2024 2027 >

The 2025 Rugby League Pacific Championships are the fourth edition of the Rugby League Pacific Championships and the third under their current name (having previously been called the Oceania Cup in 2019). The championships consist of several international rugby league tournaments being played from October to November 2025 between nations of the Pacific region.

Like previous editions, a Men's Pacific Cup, Men's Pacific Bowl, Women's Pacific Cup, and Women's Pacific Bowl will be played. ^[1]

The draw was announced by the International Rugby League and National Rugby League on 6 August 2005. ^{[2] [3]}

Teams

Team changes

Following the results of the promotion / relegation playoffs in 2024, New Zealand will remain in the Men's Pacific Cup, while Samoa will be promoted to the Women's Pacific Cup after defeating Papua New Guinea. ^{[4] [5] [6]}

2025 will see the return of the Ashes. Originally, to be held in Australia, a change of host occurred due Australia hosting the 2026 Rugby League World Cup. ^[7] As a result, Australia have been confirmed as unavailable for the Men's Pacific Cup. Samoa will take their place after returning to the competition following their 2024 tour of England. ^{[8] [9]} Originally, a women's Ashes series was also scheduled, ^[10] however this never materialised and Australia were confirmed as participants for the Women's Pacific Cup on 22 July. ^{[1] [11]}

Finally, the Cook Islands (while still participating) will host South Africa on their off week in the Men's Pacific Bowl for a place in the 2026 Men's World Cup. ^[12] Conversely, Fiji are unavailable for the Women's Pacific Bowl due to competing in World Cup qualifiers in Canada. ^[13]

Squads

Main article: 2025 Rugby League Pacific Championships squads

Men's teams

Competition	Team	World ranking [1] [14]	Coach	Captain	Ref
Pacific Cup	New Zealand	2	Stacey Jones	James Fisher-Harris	[15]
	Samoa	5	Ben Gardiner	Jarome Luai	[16] [17]
	Tonga	4	Kristian Woolf	Addin Fonua-Blake and Jason Taumalolo
Pacific Bowl	Cook Islands	10	Karmichael Hunt	Brad Takairangi
	Fiji	7	Wise Kativerata	Tui Kamikamica	[18]
	Papua New Guinea	6	Jason Demetriou	Rhyse Martin and Lachlan Lam	[19]

•   Australia (ranked 1st) undertake a tour of England with three tests scheduled for consecutive Saturdays: 25 October, 1 November, and 8 November 2025. Kevin Walters was appointed coach. ^[11]
• Incumbent Cook Islands captain Brad Takairangi is playing for South West Goannas in the 2025 Macarthur Rugby League season. ^{[20] [21]}
• Incumbent Papua New Guinea captains Rhyse Martin (Hull Kingston Rovers) and Lachlan Lam (Leigh Leopards) are playing in the 2025 Super League season. ^{[22] [23]}
• All other incumbent national captains are playing in the 2025 NRL season. ^[24]

Women's teams

Competition	Team	World ranking [1] [14]	Coach	Captain(s)	Ref
Pacific Cup	Australia	1	Jess Skinner	Kezie Apps and Ali Brigginshaw	[11]
	New Zealand	2	Ricky Henry	Georgia Hale	[25] [26]
	Samoa	12	Jamie Soward	Annetta-Claudia Nuuausala	[27]
Pacific Bowl	Cook Islands	9	Rusty Matua	Kiana Takairangi
	Papua New Guinea	5	Tahnee Norris	Elsie Albert	[28] [29]
	Tonga	15	Meg Ward	Natasha Penitani	[30] [31]

•   Fiji (ranked 16th) will participate in the World Series in Canada, playing two matches, on 21 and 26 October 2025. ^[1] The current coach is Josaia Dakuitoga. ^{[32] [33]} The incumbent captain is Talei Holmes.
• Vanessa Foliaki, co-captain of Tonga in the 2024 tournament, announced her retirement in July 2025. ^[34] In mid-August, Foliaki was subsequently appointed assistant coach to Meg Ward. ^[31]
• Incumbent Cook Islands captain Kiana Takairangi was playing for Parramatta Eels in the Harvey Norman NSW Women's Premiership, initially outside the squad of 24 players, prior to her promotion into the NRLW team in Round 10 of the 2025 season. ^{[35] [36]}
• All other incumbent national captains are playing for clubs in the 2025 NRL Women's season. ^[37]

Venues

Venues in Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, and Australia have been confirmed. ^[2]

1000km
621miles

5

4

3

2

1

   

Host venues

1

PNG Football Stadium, Port Moresby

2

Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland

3

Lang Park, Brisbane

4

Eden Park, Auckland

5

Western Sydney Stadium, Sydney

Six venues across four countries were selected to host the Championships.

• Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea: PNG Football Stadium will host three Pacific Bowl double-headers on consecutive Saturdays, 18 and 25 October, and 1 November 2025.
• Auckland, New Zealand: Mount Smart Stadium will host two matches on Sunday, 19 October 2025, a women's and men's double-header between New Zealand and Samoa.
• Brisbane, Australia: Lang Park will host two matches on Sunday, 26 October 2025, Samoa playing Tonga in the women's Cup and Australia in the men's Cup.
• Auckland, New Zealand: Eden Park will host two matches on Sunday, 2 November 2025, New Zealand playing Australia in the women's Cup and Tonga in the men's Cup.
• Sydney, Australia: Western Sydney Stadium will host three matches on Sunday, 9 November 2025: a men's World Cup qualifier playoff between the Cook Islands and South Africa, the women's Cup final, and the men's Cup final.

Men's Pacific Cup

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	New Zealand	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Advance to final
2	Samoa	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Tonga	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: NRL

Fixtures

Group stage

19 October 2025 18:00 NZDT (UTC+13:00)

New Zealand	v	Samoa
	Report

Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland

---

26 October 2025 15:00 AEST (UTC+10:00)

Samoa	v	Tonga
	Report

Lang Park, Brisbane

---

2 November 2025 18:00 NZDT (UTC+13:00)

New Zealand	v	Tonga
	Report

Eden Park, Auckland

Men's final

9 November 2025 16:05 AEDT (UTC+11:00)

TBC	v	TBC
	Report

Western Sydney Stadium, Sydney

Men's Pacific Bowl

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cook Islands	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Winner
2	Fiji	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Papua New Guinea	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: NRL

Fixtures

The announced schedule for the Men's Pacific Bowl does not include a final or play-off/relegation match. ^[2]

18 October 2025 15:00 PNGST (UTC+10:00)

Fiji	v	Cook Islands
	Report

PNG Football Stadium, Port Moresby

---

25 October 2025 15:00 PNGST (UTC+10:00)

Papua New Guinea	v	Cook Islands
	Report

PNG Football Stadium, Port Moresby

---

1 November 2025 15:00 PNGST (UTC+10:00)

Papua New Guinea	v	Fiji
	Report

PNG Football Stadium, Port Moresby

Women's Pacific Cup

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Australia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Advance to final
2	New Zealand	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Samoa	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: NRL

Fixtures

Group stage

19 October 2025 16:00 NZDT (UTC+13:00)

New Zealand	v	Samoa
	Report

Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland

---

26 October 2025 13:00 AEST (UTC+10:00)

Australia	v	Samoa
	Report

Lang Park, Brisbane

---

2 November 2025 16:00 NZDT (UTC+13:00)

New Zealand	v	Australia
	Report

Eden Park, Auckland

Women's final

9 November 2025 13:35 AEDT (UTC+11:00)

TBC	v	TBC
	Report

Western Sydney Stadium, Sydney

Women's Pacific Bowl

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cook Islands	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Winner
2	Papua New Guinea	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Tonga	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: NRL

Fixtures

The announced schedule for the Women's Pacific Bowl does not include a final or play-off/relegation match. ^[2]

18 October 2025 13:00 PNGST (UTC+10:00)

Papua New Guinea	v	Cook Islands
	Report

PNG Football Stadium, Port Moresby

---

25 October 2025 13:00 PNGST (UTC+10:00)

Tonga	v	Cook Islands
	Report

PNG Football Stadium, Port Moresby

---

1 November 2025 13:00 PNGST (UTC+10:00)

Papua New Guinea	v	Tonga
	Report

PNG Football Stadium, Port Moresby

Men's World Cup qualification: Southern Hemisphere playoff

Further information: 2026 Men's Rugby League World Cup qualification § Inter-confederation play-offs

9 November 2025 11:35 AEDT (UTC+11:00)

Cook Islands	v	South Africa
	Report

Western Sydney Stadium, Sydney

References

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