World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup

The Pacific Nations Cup is an international rugby union competition held between three Pacific states: Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. The 2019 edition of the tournament also included the national teams of Canada, Japan and United States. First held in 2006, the tournament is intended to strengthen the Tier 2 rugby teams by providing competitive test matches in a tournament format.

World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2023 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup
SportRugby union
Founded2006 (as Pacific 5 Nations)
No. of teams4
Countries Samoa
 Japan
 Fiji
 Tonga
Most recent
champion(s)		 Fiji (2023)
Most titles Fiji (6 titles)
2012 Pacific Nations Cup match at Tokyo, in which Samoa defeated Japan 27–26.

Previously, Japan participated from 2006 to 2015, New Zealand from 2006 to 2009, Australia from 2007 to 2008, and Canada and the United States from 2013 to 2015. The inaugural tournament was the only one that carried the title of IRB Pacific 5 Nations; from 2007 the competition was known as the IRB Pacific Nations Cup.

Format

The tournament is a round-robin, where each team plays one match against each of the other teams. There are four points for a win, two points for a draw and none for a defeat. There are also bonus points offered with one bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match and one bonus point for losing by 7 points or fewer.

The tournament generally occurs every year in the June mid-year international test window. The tournament was played mainly throughout June, with the last round in early July. The revised tournament begins in May due to pre-existing Test commitments and concludes in late June.

History

The Pacific Nations Cup was funded as an International Rugby Board (IRB) tournament which was part of the $US50 million, three-year, global strategic investment programme launched in August 2005. The competition was aimed at developing the Pacific rim sides in the second tier of the rugby countries: Fiji, Japan, Samoa and Tonga. The Junior All Blacks were also invited to compete, who are New Zealand's second XV. "The IRB Pacific 5 Nations is a tournament that will provide more certainty for Fiji, Japan, Samoa and Tonga in terms of regular high level Test match rugby, while also providing a high level of competition for the Junior All Blacks," said Mark Egan, the IRB's Head of Rugby Services.[1]

Japan v Australia A at Level-5 stadium, 2008 Pacific Nations Cup

In the first year only it was called the IRB Pacific 5 Nations and did not include Australia. Australia had been invited to take part in the inaugural 2006 tournament but decided against sending a team stating that they wanted to focus on their domestic competition. The inaugural tournament kicked off 3 June 2006 and was played in a round-robin format, with some games being held in Australia. The Junior All Blacks won all of their matches en route to winning the 2006 tournament. The inaugural tournament was a success in providing a platform for Pacific states and Japan in gaining valuable exposure.

Australia A joined an expanded competition for the 2007 season. The inclusion of Australia A meant that the tier 2 teams would have an even greater number of matches in the buildup to the 2007 Rugby World Cup. For Australia, it provided a stepping stone for Wallaby selection. Following the 2008 tournament, however, the ARU announced Australia A would not play in 2009 due to the current economic environment.[2] Australia has not participated since then.

In 2008, the New Zealand Māori team replaced the Junior All Blacks in the competition. The New Zealand Rugby Union had decided that the New Zealand Māori needed to play more matches at home and that the Junior All Blacks would not be assembled in 2008 for reasons of "player welfare."[3] The Junior All Blacks returned for the 2009 tournament, but no New Zealand team has participated since then.

From 2010 to 2012, the Pacific Nations Cup was a four-team tournament, contested by Japan, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, with Samoa winning in 2010 and 2012, and Japan winning in 2011.

In January 2013, the IRB announced that both the USA and Canadian rugby teams would be joining the 2013 competition on a permanent basis. For the first time, the reigning champion Samoan team did not compete as they took part in a competition in South Africa.[4]

The World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup was downscaled for 2016 and 2017 with these two editions featuring only Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. The sides from Canada, Japan and United States played in their respective regional qualifiers for the 2019 Rugby World Cup. As part of the Oceanian qualification, places at the 2019 Rugby World Cup were awarded to the two top teams of the 2016 and 2017 PNC (on aggregate), whereas the bottom team played a repechage match against the second best Rugby Europe Championship team. Georgia was invited for the 2018 tournament hosted in Suva.[5]

For 2019, Canada, Japan and the United States returned to the tournament, serving as a prelude to the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Japan won without losing a match.[6]

The tournament was not held in 2020 or 2021. It was revived in 2022, with the ever-present Fiji, Samoa and Tonga being joined by Australia A. Samoa won all three matches, ahead of Australia A. The 2023 version saw Australia A replaced by Japan: Fiji won the championship this time, ahead of Samoa who narrowly edged out Japan for second place.

On 24 October 2023, World Rugby announced that the 2024 edition will feature six teams: Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Japan, Canada and the United States.[7]

Teams

The teams in the Pacific Nations Cup and their finishing positions are as follows:

Team 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 22 23 24
Pacific teams
 Fiji3rd4th4th2nd2nd4th2nd1st2nd1st1st1st1st2nd3rd1stTBD
 Samoa2nd3rd3rd3rd1st3rd1st—1st *2nd2nd3rd4th4th1st2ndTBD
 Tonga4th5th6th5th4th2nd3rd3rd3rd3rd3rd2nd2nd5th4th4thTBD
Invited teams
 Japan5th6th5th4th3rd1st4th4th1st *4th———1st—3rdTBD
 Australia A —2nd2nd— ——— ——— ——— — 2nd——
 Junior All Blacks 1st1st—1st —
Māori people New Zealand Māori ——1st—
 Canada ———— ——— 2nd3rd6th ———6th——TBD
 United States 5th2nd5th3rdTBD
 Georgia —————— —————— 3rd — — — —

Notes:

^ * The 2014 tournament was split into conferences without crossover matches or finals. Samoa and Japan won their respective conference titles.[8][9]

Japan playing Tonga in 2006.

Commercial sponsorship

On 20 June 2008 the International Rugby Board announced that regional financial institution ANZ had agreed to become presenting sponsor of the competition, as well as the FORU Oceania Cup and the Pacific Rugby Cup.[10]

Results

Champions by year
Year Team P W D L PF PA PD BP Pts
2006  Junior All Blacks 440016747+120420
2007  Junior All Blacks 550022834+194525
2008 Māori people New Zealand Māori 550013462+72121
2009  Junior All Blacks 440016179+82319
2010  Samoa 32017863+1519
2011  Japan 32016774–7210
2012  Samoa 33007670+6012
2013  Fiji 430110959+50416
 2014a  Japan 22007154+1719
 Samoa 21103631+506
2015  Fiji 4310126103+23216
2016  Fiji 22004934+1508
2017  Fiji 22005226+2609
2018  Fiji 22006137+24210
2019  Japan 330010948+61315
2022  Samoa 3 3 0 0 88 64 +24 2 14
2023  Fiji 330010451+53315

Championships by team
Team Seasons Runners-up Champions
 Fiji 155 6
 Manu Samoa 144  4 a
 Junior All Blacks 30 3
 Japan 120  3 a
Māori people New Zealand Māori 10 1
 Australia A 33 0
 Tonga 152 0
 Canada 41 0
 United States 41 0

Points summary
Pacific Nations (2006 to 2018) b
Team P W D L PF PA PD
 Fiji 43262151045969+76
 Manu Samoa 3919218893841+52
 Junior All Blacks 1313––556160+396
 Japan 3712–257431126−383
Māori people New Zealand Māori 55––13462+72
 Australia A 10712392181+211
 Tonga 43141289071210−303
 Canada 103–7202226−24
 United States 103–7188264−76

Updated: 15 July 2017
Source: statbunker.com

Notes:

^a The 2014 tournament was split into conferences with Samoa and Japan winning their respective conference titles.[8][9]

^b The totals cited from statbunker.com include classification finals from 2015 which were not regular season games. While their match data (P W D L PF PA PD) is accurate, the statbunker figures for bonus points and log points are unreliable and those stats are not included in the table above.

Top scorers

The following tables contain points and tries scored in the Pacific Nations Cup.

Venues

Below is a table listing all the venues that have been used in the tournaments, listed with the number of matches each venue has hosted annually and historically:

Table updated to 2017 tournament

See also

References
  1. "IRB Pacific 5 Nations takes shape". rugbyrugby.com. Archived from the original on 31 December 2006. Retrieved 19 October 2006.
  2. "Australia A out of 2009 Pacific Nations Cup". The Roar. 17 December 2008. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  3. "New Zealand Maori to join IRB Pacific Nations Cup". allblacks.com. 26 September 2007. Archived from the original on 23 December 2007. Retrieved 17 January 2008.
  4. "Rugby".
  5. "World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup 2018: Fixtures". World Rugby. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  6. "World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup 2019: Fixtures" (PDF). World Rugby. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 December 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  7. Philipps, Mitch (24 October 2023). "World Cup expands to 24 teams amid radical new calendar". Paris. Reuters. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  8. "Samoa break 16-year drought with win over Fiji in Pacific Nations Cup". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 21 June 2014. Archived from the original on 1 November 2016.
  9. Thomas, Greg (22 June 2014). "Fiji 13-18 Samoa". IRB. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014.
  10. "ANZ Bank sponsors Pacific rugby". Fiji Sun. 25 June 2008. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
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