Rugby League Pacific Championships
Current season or competition: 2024 Rugby League Pacific Championships | |
| Sport | Rugby league |
|---|---|
| Instituted | 2019 |
| Inaugural season | 2019 |
| Number of teams | 7 |
| Region | Oceania (APRL) |
| Holders |  Australia (Men's) Australia (Women's) (2024) |
| Most titles | Australia (Men's; 2 titles) 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".
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 will also be the Asia-Pacific qualification tournament for the 2026 Women's Rugby League World Cup.[9][10] For 2024 onwards, promotion and relegation will 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 three 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
| Cup | Bowl | Team on Tour | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Year | Champions | Runners-up | Third place | |||||
 2019 |
 Australia |
 New Zealand |
 Tonga |
2019 |
 Fiji (Promoted) |
 Samoa |
 Papua New Guinea |
None[b] | ||||
2020 |
Cancelled:[c] New Zealand,  Tonga, and  Fiji
|
2020 |
Cancelled:[c] Samoa,  Papua New Guinea, and  Cook Islands
|
Kangaroo tour of England[c]
| ||||||||
| 2021–2022: No tournament due to the 2021 Rugby League World Cup (held in 2022) | ||||||||||||
2023 |
New Zealand |
Australia |
Samoa |
2023 |
Papua New Guinea |
Fiji |
 Cook Islands |
Tonga tour of England
| ||||
2024 |
Australia |
Tonga |
New Zealand |
2024 |
Papua New Guinea |
Fiji |
Cook Islands |
Samoa tour of England[d]
| ||||
| 2025 | Tonga, Samoa, and New Zealand
|
2025 | Cook Islands[e], Fiji, and Papua New Guinea
|
Australia hosting England[f]
| ||||||||
| 2026: No tournament due to the 2026 Rugby League World Cup | ||||||||||||
- Promotion and relegation anomalies
- 2019/20: Tonga avoided relegation as Australia would were scheduled to tour England the following year freeing up an additional space in the 2020 tournament.
- 2020/23: Following the tournament's rebrand as the Pacific Championships and the extended time between editions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, previous promotions and relegations were nullified and teams were reseeded based on rank.
- 2023/24: No relegation was planned between the 2023 and 2024 edition with Tonga and Samoa touring England in these respective years. Tonga who did not participate in 2023 replaced Samoa who did not participate in 2024.
Results by team
| Team / Year | 2019 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia |
1st | 2nd | 1st |
| Cook Islands |
— | 6th | 6th |
| Fiji |
4th | 5th | 5th |
| New Zealand |
2nd | 1st | 3rd |
| Papua New Guinea |
6th | 4th | 4th |
| Samoa |
5th | 3rd | Tour |
| Tonga |
3rd | Tour | 2nd |
- 2024–present promotion/relegation playoff winners
- 2024: New Zealand (cup team)
Women's Tournaments
| Cup | Bowl | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Year | Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Fourth place | |||
2024 |
Australia |
New Zealand |
Papua New Guinea (Relegated) |
2024 |
Samoa (Promoted) |
Fiji |
Cook Islands and Tonga
| ||||
Results by team
| Team / Year | 2024 |
|---|---|
| Australia |
1st |
| Cook Islands |
6/7th |
| Fiji |
5th |
| New Zealand |
2nd |
| Papua New Guinea |
3rd |
| Samoa |
4th |
| Tonga |
6/7th |
- Promotion/relegation playoff winners
Notes
- ^ The Cook Islands did not participate in the inaugural 2019 edition
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b c Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
- ^ 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]
- ^ The Cook Islands will be playing at the 2025 World Series however it is not confirmed whether this will affect their participation in the 2025 Pacific Championships
- ^ Talks are currently being held regarding a host switch for this tour[14]
References
- ^ "RLIF Oceania Cup confirmed for 2019". rlif.com. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
- ^ "Oceania Cup is back with three cracking Double Headers". Asia Pacific Rugby League Confederation. 2020-02-25. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
- ^ "Oceania Cup cancelled for 2020". Asia Pacific Rugby League Confederation. 2020-09-04. Retrieved 2020-09-04.
- ^ "Pacific Rugby League Championships". Prime Minister of Australia. 16 Aug 2023. Retrieved 13 Aug 2024.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b "IRL - News".
- ^ a b "2024 rugby league Pacific Championships schedule announced with three Tests in Aotearoa". NZRL. 23 Aug 2024. Retrieved 23 Aug 2024.
- ^ "Kiwis to host Pacific Championships fixtures".
- ^ "Rugby League World Cup 2026 women's qualifying process announced". Rugby League International Federation.
- ^ "2026 Rugby League World Cup: Women's qualification process announced, with four nations' places already secured". LoveRugbyLeague. December 15, 2023.
- ^ Walter, Brad (30 Aug 2024). "Penitani primed for World Cup qualifiers with Tonga". NRL. Retrieved 30 Aug 2024.
- ^ "Venues revealed for England-Samoa rugby league Test series". Love Rugby League. June 13, 2024.
- ^ McHugh, Robert (June 13, 2024). "Revealed: England set to confirm end-of-season opponents for historic Test Series".
- ^ https://amp.theguardian.com/sport/2024/oct/28/rugby-league-2025-australia-ashes-series-makes-late-switch-to-england