2024 Rugby League Pacific Championships
| 2024 Rugby League Pacific Championships | |
|---|---|
| Number of teams | 6 or 7 (men) 7 (women) |
| Host countries |  Australia Fiji |
< 2023 | |
The 2024 Rugby League Pacific Championships are to be the third edition of the Rugby League Pacific Championship and the second under its current name (having previously been called the Oceania Cup in 2019). The championship will include a collection of international rugby league tournaments to be played from October to November 2024 between nations located in the Pacific region.
The competition is to be played in four groupings, two for men and two for women:
- the men's Pacific Cup for higher ranking men's teams
- the men's Pacific Bowl for lower ranking men's teams
- Matches for higher ranking women's teams that have already qualified for the 2026 Women's Rugby League World Cup.
- Matches for lower ranking women's teams which will serve as qualifiers for the World Cup.
Teams
Squads
Playing squads will be announced closer to the tournament's October 2024 commencement.
Men's teams
| Competition | Team | World ranking[1] |
Coach | Captain | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pacific Cup | Australia |
1 | Mal Meninga |
James Tedesco | |
 New Zealand |
2 | Stacey Jones |
James Fisher-Harris | [2][3] | |
 Tonga |
5 | Kristian Woolf |
Addin Fonua-Blake | ||
| Pacific Bowl |  Cook Islands |
10 | Karmichael Hunt |
Brad Takairangi | |
| Fiji |
6 | Wise Kativerata |
Tui Kamikamica | ||
 Papua New Guinea |
7 | Justin Holbrook |
Kyle Laybutt |
Notes:
Samoa (ranked 4th) expressed their intention to be involved in this 2024 version of the tournament in addition to undertaking a tour of England.[4][5]- If Samoa are to be included in the Pacific Championships, scheduling will necessarily need to work-around the following confirmed dates:
- Coaches and captains listed in the above table are the incumbents from the 2023 tournament and Tonga's tour of England, with the exception of Stacey Jones who was appointed as New Zealand men's national coach in February 2024.[2]
Women's teams
| Competition | Team | World ranking[1] |
Coach | Captain | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams Qualified for 2026 Women's RLWC |
Australia |
1 | Brad Donald |
Kezie Apps and Ali Brigginshaw | |
| New Zealand |
2 | Ricky Henry |
Georgia Hale and Raecene McGregor | ||
| Papua New Guinea |
5 | Ben Jeffries |
Elsie Albert, Sera Koroi, and Belinda Gwasamun | ||
| Qualifiers for 2026 Women's RLWC |
Cook Islands |
6 | Rusty Matua |
Ngatokotoru Arakua | |
| Fiji |
26 | Josaia Dakuitoga |
Josephine Maejiirs | ||
| Samoa |
24 | Jamie Soward |
Niall Williams Guthrie | ||
| Tonga |
14 | Kelvin Wright |
Tiana Penitani |
Notes
- For the four lower-ranked nations, the tournament is to also serve as qualifiers for the 2026 Women's Rugby League World Cup.[8]
- Scheduling of fixtures for the four lower-ranked nations is required to identify a winner, who qualifies for the World Cup, and a runner-up who qualifies for a four-team World Series, to be held in 2025. The winner of the World Series becomes that eighth and final team to qualify for the World Cup.
- As at 14 August 2024, the International Rugby League or National Rugby League are yet to confirm the format.
- The minimum format would be to play two Semi-Finals based on rankings, with the winners meeting in a Final. This would be three matches in total.
- A longer format would be for the four teams to play a round-robin over three weekends, with the top two teams meeting in a Final in week four. This would be seven matches in total.
- Coaches and captains listed in the above table are the incumbents from the 2023 tournament.
Venues
The August 2023 announcement of the Pacific Rugby League Championships, by the NRL and Australian Government, indicated that Fiji and Australia would co-host the tournament in 2024.[9][10] In May 2024, Fiji National Rugby League chief executive Don Natabe announced that Fiji were expected to host five national teams in a month-long Rugby League festival.[11]
Officiating
Referees and side-line officials are expected to announced closer to the mid-October 2024 commencement of the tournament.
References
- ^ a b "IRL World Rankings: June 30, 2024". International Rugby League. 26 July 2024. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
- ^ a b "Stacey Jones Appointed NZ Kiwis Head Coach". NZRL. 21 February 2024. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
- ^ "Stacey Jones Confirms New Zealand Kiwis Staff For 2024 Pacific Championships". NZRL. 25 July 2024. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
- ^ "Venues revealed for England-Samoa rugby league Test series". Love Rugby League. 13 June 2024.
- ^ McHugh, Robert (13 June 2024). "Revealed: England set to confirm end-of-season opponents for historic Test Series".
- ^ "England to play Samoa in autumn Test Series". www.rugby-league.com. RFL. 13 June 2024.
- ^ "England's men to host Samoa in two-Test series in October and November". BBC Sport. 13 June 2024.
- ^ Walter, Brad (27 July 2024). "Kangaroos stay No.1 but England edging closer ahead of Ashes series". NRL. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
- ^ "Pacific Rugby League Championships". Prime Minister of Australia. 16 August 2023. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
- ^ Evans, Kyle (18 August 2023). "Pacific State of Origin: PNG and Fiji to co-host to new international rugby league tournament". ABC. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
- ^ "Fiji to host Pacific Championship". Fiji Broadcasting Corporation. 16 May 2024. Retrieved 13 August 2024.