2019 Oceania Rugby Women's Championship

The 2019 Oceania Rugby Women's Championship that was held in Fiji, was the 2021 Rugby World Cup qualifier for the Oceania region.[1] The tournament was played at Churchill Park in Lautoka from 18–30 November 2019, with six teams entered. Australia and New Zealand sent development teams, having already qualified for the 2021 World Cup.[2]

2019 Oceania Women's Championship
Tournament details
Host Fiji
VenueChurchill Park, Lautoka
Date18 November 2019 (2019-11-18)–
30 November 2019 (2019-11-30)
Teams6
Final positions
Champions New Zealand
← 2018
2022 →

Teams

Format

A split pool format was used for the Oceania tournament, with the teams seeded into two pools of three. Each team was scheduled to play one match against each of the teams in the opposite pool.[3] However, following a measles outbreak in Tonga, the Tongan women's team had to withdraw from competition after one of their players arriving in Fiji was suspected of having measles.[4] The tournament continued without playing their fixtures but a revised qualification process was put in place to allow Tonga to challenge later for the Oceania berth at the Rugby World Cup repechage qualifier.[4]

The Black Ferns Development XV were undefeated in the tournament and won the 2019 Oceania Rugby Women's Championship [5] based on the combined pool standings, with Australia A as runner-up. Qualification to the World Cup remained up for grabs in Lautoka for the remaining three nations (excluding Australia and New Zealand). Fiji won direct entry to the World Cup by defeating Samoa in the qualifying playoff match.[6]

Arrangements were made for a playoff match in early 2020 between Tonga and Papua New Guinea, with the winner to meet Samoa in another playoff match to decide the World Cup repechage berth.[4]

Tournament

Pool stage
Pool A
Pos Team P W D L PF PA PD Pts
1  Black Ferns Dev. XV 3 3 0 0 234 0 +234 15
2  Samoa 3 1 0 2 77 65 +12 5
3  Tonga 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2
Pool B
Pos Team P W D L PF PA PD Pts
1 Australia Australia A 3 1 1 1 27 55 −28 7
2  Fiji 2 1 0 1 26 60 −34 5
3  Papua New Guinea 2 0 0 2 12 196 -184 0

Round 1

18 November Australia A   0–0 a  Tonga Churchill Park, Lautoka  
Report [7]
Test: 1370 18 November Samoa  65–12  Papua New Guinea Churchill Park, Lautoka  
Report [8]
18 November Black Ferns Dev XV  53–0  Fiji Churchill Park, Lautoka  
Report [9]

Notes:

^a The match was cancelled and called a draw.[7]

Round 2

22 November Australia A  0–50  Black Ferns Dev XV Churchill Park, Lautoka  
Report [10]
Test: 1372 22 November Samoa  7–26  Fiji Churchill Park, Lautoka  
Report [11]
Bye/s: Papua New Guinea 

Round 3

26 November Black Ferns Dev XV  131–0  Papua New Guinea Churchill Park, Lautoka  
Report [12]
26 November Australia A  27–5  Samoa Churchill Park, Lautoka  
Report [13]
Bye/s: Fiji 

Playoffs

Samoa and Fiji played in the World Cup qualifier match at Lautoka.[6] Due to Tonga's absence, a consolation match was arranged for Papua New Guinea against a Fiji developmental team.[6]

Consolation match
30 November Fijiana Dev XV  40–22  Papua New Guinea Churchill Park, Lautoka  
Report [14]

World Cup qualifier
Test: 1379 30 November to RWC      Fiji  41–13  Samoa Churchill Park, Lautoka  
Report [15]

Repechage qualifiers

Tonga traveled to Port Moresby in March the following year and defeated Papua New Guinea to set up a playoff against Samoa to determine who qualified for the repechage tournament.

Test: 1389 1 March 2020 Papua New Guinea  24–36  Tonga Bava Park, Port Moresby  
Report [16]
Test: 1397 14 November 2020 to repechage Samoa  40–0  Tonga The Trusts Arena, Auckland, New Zealand  

References
  1. "World Rugby announces new Women's Rugby World Cup 2021 qualification pathway". World.Rugby. 5 April 2019. Archived from the original on 8 April 2019.
  2. "Australia & New Zealand to feature at 2019 Oceania Rugby Women's Championship". Oceania Rugby. 2 October 2019. Archived from the original on 9 October 2019.
  3. Birch, John (18 November 2019). "Samoa open qualifier with big win". Scrum Queens. Archived from the original on 24 March 2020.
  4. "Oceania-qualification for women's Rugby World Cup revised". Loop. 24 November 2019. Archived from the original on 27 November 2019.
  5. "Oceania Rugby Women's Championship 2019: trophy lift". World Rugby. November 2019. Archived from the original on 24 March 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  6. Birch, John (19 November 2019). "Fiji qualify for World Cup". Scrum Queens. Archived from the original on 10 February 2020.
  7. greenwood, Emma (17 November 2019). "Oceania Rugby cancel Australia A-Tonga clash after suspected measles case". rugby.com.au. Archived from the original on 20 December 2019. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  8. "Oceania Rugby Women's Championship 2019, Match 1". World.Rugby. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  9. "Oceania Rugby Women's Championship 2019, Match 3". World.Rugby. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  10. "Oceania Rugby Women's Championship 2019, Match 5". World.Rugby. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  11. "Oceania Rugby Women's Championship 2019, Match 5". World.Rugby. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  12. "Oceania Rugby Women's Championship 2019, Match 7". World.Rugby. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  13. "Oceania Rugby Women's Championship 2019, Match 8". World.Rugby. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  14. "Oceania Rugby Women's Championship 2019, Match 10". World.Rugby. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  15. "Oceania Rugby Women's Championship 2019, Match 11". World.Rugby. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  16. "Tonga defeat Papua New Guinea in 2021 Rugby World Cup qualifiying". Rugby.World.Cup. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
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