Rugby League Pacific Championships

Last updated
Oceania Cup
Current season or competition:
Rugby football current event.svg 2024 Rugby League Pacific Championships
Sport Rugby league
Instituted2019
Inaugural season2019
Number of teams7
Region Oceania (APRL)
HoldersFlag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia (Men's)
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia (Women's) (2024)
Most titlesFlag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia (Men's; 2 titles)
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia (Women's; 1 title)
Broadcast partner Nine Network
Fox League
Sky Sport
Related competition Pacific Cup

The Rugby League Pacific Championship is a rugby league tournament for national teams in Oceania. Its inaugural tournament was in 2019 as the "Oceania Cup".

Contents

The tournament replaced the Anzac Test Series (1997–2017), which solely featured Australia and New Zealand as a single match annual test. Before the Pacific Championships, regular regional competition between the other Oceanian countries was sporadic since the cessation of the Pacific Cup (1974–2009) which served as a development competition for the Pacific Islands.

History

The tournament was created in 2019 as the Oceania Cup with a two tiered format. [1] The top tier (cup) consisted of Australia, New Zealand and Tonga and the second tier (shield) consisted of Fiji, Samoa and Papua New Guinea. Australia won the Cup in the inaugural season while Fiji won the shield and got promoted for the 2020 competition.

For the 2020 edition, Cook Islands were scheduled to take Fiji's place in the shield. [2] No team was relegated from the cup as Australia were going to go on a tour of England that year. The competition was scheduled to begin in June and conclude in November, but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [3]

The tournament returned in 2023, following the pandemic and postponed 2021 Rugby League World Cup, under the name Pacific Championships. The tournament came as part of a $7 million investment by the NRL and Australian Government to develop rugby league in the surrounding countries, [4] [5] in addition to forming part of the International Rugby League new seven year international calendar. [6]

2024 saw the introduction of the women's competition. [7] [8] Note women's games were held in 2023, but as a series of friendlies and in no structured competition. [6] The 2024 Women's Bowl also acted as the Asia-Pacific qualification tournament for the 2026 Women's Rugby League World Cup. [9] [10] For 2024 onwards, promotion and relegation would not be automatic and would occur via a playoff. [11]

Format

The Pacific Rugby League Championship is a competition for men's national teams of the seven full member of International Rugby League (IRL) located in Oceania:

The tournament currently is divided into two divisions of three teams based on IRL rankings, while the seventh team tours a European Rugby League nation.

Each team plays two matches in a single round robin with the top two advancing to the division final.

The women's competition, introduced in 2024, followed a very similar format and similarly is for women's national teams of the Oceanian IRL full members:

Like the men's, the tournament is divided into two divisions. Though, unlike the men's, the lower tier contains four teams as no regular touring schedule has been planned for the women's sides.

Men's Tournaments

CupBowlTeam on Tour
YearChampionsRunners-upThird placeYearChampionsRunners-upThird place
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Flag of New Zealand.svg
2019 		Flag of Australia (converted).svg
Australia 		Flag of New Zealand.svg
New Zealand 		Flag of Tonga.svg
Tonga 		Flag of Australia (converted).svg Flag of New Zealand.svg
2019 		Flag of Fiji.svg
Fiji
(Promoted)		Flag of Samoa.svg
Samoa 		Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg
Papua New Guinea 		None [b]
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Flag of New Zealand.svg
2020 		Cancelled: [c]
Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand, Flag of Tonga.svg  Tonga, and Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji (R)		 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Flag of New Zealand.svg
2020 		Cancelled: [c]
Flag of Samoa.svg  Samoa (P), Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea, and Flag of the Cook Islands.svg  Cook Islands 		Flag of Australia (converted).svg Kangaroo tour of England [c]
2021–2022: No tournament due to the 2021 Rugby League World Cup (held in 2022)
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Flag of New Zealand.svg
2023 		Flag of New Zealand.svg
New Zealand 		Flag of Australia (converted).svg
Australia 		Flag of Samoa.svg
Samoa 		Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg
2023 		Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg
Papua New Guinea 		Flag of Fiji.svg
Fiji 		Flag of the Cook Islands.svg
Cook Islands 		Flag of Tonga.svg Tonga tour of England
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Flag of New Zealand.svg
2024 		Flag of Australia (converted).svg
Australia 		Flag of Tonga.svg
Tonga 		Flag of New Zealand.svg
New Zealand 		Flag of Fiji.svg Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg
2024 		Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg
Papua New Guinea 		Flag of Fiji.svg
Fiji 		Flag of the Cook Islands.svg
Cook Islands 		Flag of Samoa.svg Samoa tour of England [d]
2025 Flag of Tonga.svg  Tonga, Flag of Samoa.svg  Samoa, and Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 2025 Flag of the Cook Islands.svg  Cook Islands, Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji, and Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea Flag of Australia (converted).svg Kangaroo tour of England
2026: No tournament due to the 2026 Rugby League World Cup
Promotion and relegation anomalies

Results by team

Team / Year 2019 2023 2024
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia 1st2nd1st
Flag of the Cook Islands.svg  Cook Islands —6th6th
Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji 4th5th5th
Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 2nd1st3rd
Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea 6th4th4th
Flag of Samoa.svg  Samoa 5th3rd Tour
Flag of Tonga.svg  Tonga 3rd Tour 2nd
2024–present promotion/relegation playoff winners

Women's Tournaments

CupBowl
YearChampionsRunners-upThird placeYearChampionsRunners-upThird placeFourth place
Flag of Australia (converted).svg Flag of New Zealand.svg Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg
2024 		Flag of Australia (converted).svg
Australia 		Flag of New Zealand.svg
New Zealand 		Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg
Papua New Guinea
(Relegated)		 Flag of Fiji.svg Flag of New Zealand.svg
2024 		Flag of Samoa.svg
Samoa
(Promoted)		Flag of Fiji.svg
Fiji 		Flag of the Cook Islands.svg  Cook Islands and Flag of Tonga.svg  Tonga

Results by team

Team / Year 2024
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia 1st
Flag of the Cook Islands.svg  Cook Islands 6/7th
Flag of Fiji.svg  Fiji 5th
Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand 2nd
Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  Papua New Guinea 3rd
Flag of Samoa.svg  Samoa 4th
Flag of Tonga.svg  Tonga 6/7th
Promotion/relegation playoff winners

Notes

  1. ↑ The Cook Islands did not participate in the inaugural 2019 edition
  2. ↑ New Zealand and Papua New Guinea hosted a tour by Great Britain in which Tonga also played, however all teams still participated in the 2019 Oceania Cup.
  3. 1 2 3 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
  4. ↑ It was expected that Samoa would also play in the Pacific Championships having reduced the length of their tour from three games to two. [12] [13] However, following an announcement from New Zealand Rugby League regarding the tournament, Samoa was omitted from the fixture list. [7]

References

  1. ↑ "RLIF Oceania Cup confirmed for 2019". rlif.com. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
  2. ↑ "Oceania Cup is back with three cracking Double Headers". Asia Pacific Rugby League Confederation. 2020-02-25. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
  3. ↑ "Oceania Cup cancelled for 2020". Asia Pacific Rugby League Confederation. 2020-09-04. Retrieved 2020-09-04.
  4. ↑ "Pacific Rugby League Championships". Prime Minister of Australia. 16 Aug 2023. Retrieved 13 Aug 2024.
  5. ↑ Evans, Kyle (18 Aug 2023). "Pacific State of Origin: PNG and Fiji to co-host to new international rugby league tournament". ABC. Retrieved 13 Aug 2024.
  6. 1 2 "IRL - News".
  7. 1 2 "2024 rugby league Pacific Championships schedule announced with three Tests in Aotearoa". NZRL. 23 Aug 2024. Retrieved 23 Aug 2024.
  8. ↑ "Kiwis to host Pacific Championships fixtures".
  9. ↑ "Rugby League World Cup 2026 women's qualifying process announced". Rugby League International Federation.
  10. ↑ "2026 Rugby League World Cup: Women's qualification process announced, with four nations' places already secured". LoveRugbyLeague. December 15, 2023.
  11. ↑ Walter, Brad (30 Aug 2024). "Penitani primed for World Cup qualifiers with Tonga". NRL. Retrieved 30 Aug 2024.
  12. ↑ "Venues revealed for England-Samoa rugby league Test series". Love Rugby League. June 13, 2024.
  13. ↑ McHugh, Robert (June 13, 2024). "Revealed: England set to confirm end-of-season opponents for historic Test Series".
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