Oceania Cup
Current season or competition:
2023 Rugby League Pacific Championships
SportRugby league
Instituted2019
Inaugural season2019
Number of teams7
RegionOceania (APRL)
Holders New Zealand (2023)
Most titles Australia
 New Zealand (1 title)
Broadcast partnerNine Network
Fox League
Sky Sport
Related competitionPacific Cup

The Rugby League Pacific Championship is a rugby league tournament for national teams in Oceania. Its inaugural tournament was in 2019. Of the seven Oceanian teams, six compete across two divisions of three teams, while a rotating seventh goes on tour.

History

The tournament was created in 2019 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]

In 2023, International Rugby League announced the return of the tournament under the name Pacific Championships as part of a new seven years international calendar.[4]

Format

The Pacific Rugby League Championship is a competition for the seven full member of International Rugby League 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.

Tournaments

Year Cup Shield/Bowl Team on Tour
Champions Runners-up Third place Champions Runners-up Third place
AustraliaNew Zealand
2019

Australia

New Zealand

Tonga

Fiji

Samoa

Papua New Guinea
None[lower-alpha 2]
AustraliaNew Zealand
2020[lower-alpha 3]
 New Zealand,  Tonga, and  Fiji  Samoa,  Papua New Guinea, and  Cook Islands Australia Kangaroo tour of England
AustraliaNew ZealandPapua New Guinea
2023

New Zealand

Australia

Samoa

Papua New Guinea

Fiji

Cook Islands
Tonga Tonga tour of England
2024 TBA TBA TBA

Results by team

Team / Year20192023
 Australia1st2nd
 Cook Islands6th
 Fiji4th5th
 New Zealand2nd1st
 Papua New Guinea6th4th
 Samoa5th3rd
 Tonga3rdTour

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. Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic

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. https://www.intrl.sport/news/australia-new-zealand-png-to-host-2023-pacific-championships/
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