2024 Rugby League Pacific Championships
| 2024 Rugby League Pacific Championships | |
|---|---|
| Host countries |  Australia Fiji New Zealand Papua New Guinea |
< 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 format has been confirmed as Pacific Cup and Pacific Bowl competitions for both genders, with teams being divided between higher ranked and lower ranked sides respectively.[1]
The Asia-Pacific qualification tournament for the 2026 Women's Rugby League World Cup will be integrated into the 2024 Pacific Championships as the Women's Pacific Bowl competition.[2]
Background
[edit]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.[3][4] 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.[5]
On 19 August 2024, news website Stuff reported that a men's match between New Zealand and Tonga had been scheduled for Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland on Saturday, 2 November 2024.[6] This was again reported three days later by The New Zealand Herald, going further with reporting New Zealand will host Australia on 27 October in Christchurch. The report also suggested that Samoa would not participate,[7] contrary to reports in England suggesting that Samoa had reduced the length of their tour of England from three to two matches in order to play both the tour and the Pacific Championships.[8][9] On 23 August 2024, the New Zealand Rugby League confirmed the fixtures for their men's and women's teams, including home matches in Christchurch and Auckland and an away match for the Kiwi Ferns in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.[1] A report on the NRL website confirmed that Australia's opening matches of the tournament would be a double-header at Suncorp Stadium on the weekend of 18-20 October, with the women playing Papua New Guinea and the men playing Tonga.[10]
An exact date for this double-header was not specified.[10]
The remainder of the fixtures were announced in an NRL media release on 30 August 2024, apart from naming the venue, or venues, within Fiji for the games scheduled in that country.[11] The date of the opening fixtures at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane was announced to be Friday, 18 October 2024.
The media release of 30 August also announced the introduction of promotion and relegation matches between the third-placed Pacific Cup team and the first-placed Pacific Bowl team in both the men's and women's tournaments. This is a change in format from the 2023 Pacific Championships.
- In the men's Pacific Bowl, the first-placed team (from the three teams competing) will be determined based on the three scheduled fixtures, without a final.
- In the women's Pacific Bowl, the first-placed team (from the four teams competing) will be determined based on three knockout matches, with seedings based on IRL rankings. Two semi-finals will be held over the first two weekends, with a final on the third weekend of the tournament. The winner of the final will qualify for the promotion / relegation play-off to the 2025 Pacific Championship.[12]
The women's Pacific Bowl will also act as the Asia-Pacific qualifying tournament for the 2026 World Cup. The Bowl winners will become the seventh team to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, while the runners up will go forward to the 2025 qualifying tournament to decide the eighth and final team to go to the World Cup.[12]
On 9 September 2024, the National Stadium in Suva was confirmed as the venue for the games that Fiji are to host on 19 and 26 October 2024.[13][14]
Teams
[edit]Squads
[edit]Playing squads will be announced closer to the tournament's October 2024 commencement.
Men's teams
[edit]| Competition | Team | World ranking[15] |
Coach | Captain | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pacific Cup | Australia |
1 | Mal Meninga |
James Tedesco | [10] |
| New Zealand |
2 | Stacey Jones |
James Fisher-Harris | [16][17] | |
 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 | Jason Demetriou |
Kyle Laybutt | [18] |
Samoa (ranked 3rd) undertake a tour of England with two Test Matches scheduled for Sunday, 27 October and Saturday, 2 November 2024.
Women's teams
[edit]| Competition | Team | World ranking[15] |
Coach | Captain | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pacific Cup | Australia |
1 | Brad Donald |
Kezie Apps and Ali Brigginshaw | [10] |
| New Zealand |
2 | Ricky Henry |
Georgia Hale and Raecene McGregor | ||
| Papua New Guinea |
5 | Tahnee Norris |
Elsie Albert, Sera Koroi, and Belinda Gwasamun | [19] | |
| Pacific Bowl (Asia-Pacific qualification tournament for the 2026 Women's Rugby League World Cup) |
Cook Islands |
6 | Rusty Matua |
Ngatokotoru Arakua | |
| Fiji |
26 | Josaia Dakuitoga |
Josephine Maejiirs | ||
 Samoa |
24 | Jamie Soward |
Niall Williams Guthrie | ||
| Tonga |
14 | John Strange |
Tiana Penitani | [20] |
Venues
[edit]Venues in Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Fiji have been confirmed.
Six venues across four countries were selected to host the Championships.
Brisbane, Australia: Lang Park will host two matches on the evening of Friday, 18 October 2024, Australia playing Papua New Guinea in the women's Cup and Tonga in the men's Cup.- Suva, Fiji: National Stadium will host two-double headers (four games in all) on Saturday, 19 October and Saturday, 26 October 2024.
Christchurch, New Zealand: Rugby League Park will host two matches on 27 October 2024, a women's and men's double-header between New Zealand and Australia.- Auckland, New Zealand: Mount Smart Stadium will host two matches on 2 November 2024, the women's Bowl Final and a men's Cup match between New Zealand and Tonga.
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea: PNG Football Stadium will host a double-header on Sunday, 3 November 2024.- Sydney, Australia: Western Sydney Stadium will host a quadruple-header on Sunday, 10 November 2004. The order of matches are the women's playoff, the women's Cup final, the men's playoff, and the men's Cup final.
Officiating
[edit]Referees and side-line officials are expected to announced closer to the mid-October 2024 commencement of the tournament.
Men's Pacific Cup
[edit]Standings
[edit]| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australia
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Advance to final |
| 2 | New Zealand
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | Tonga
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Confined to relegation playoff |
NB: Samoa had intended to participate, however opted to a tour of England instead.
Fixtures
[edit]Group Stage
[edit]Men's Final
[edit]Men's Pacific Bowl
[edit]Standings
[edit]| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cook Islands
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Advance to Promotion Playoff |
| 2 | Fiji
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | Papua New Guinea
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Fixtures
[edit]Group Stage
[edit]Men's Promotion / Relegation Playoff
[edit]| TBC Third-placed Cup team |
v | TBC First-placed Bowl team |
|---|---|---|
Women's Pacific Cup
[edit]Standings
[edit]| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australia
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Advance to final |
| 2 | New Zealand
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | Papua New Guinea
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Confined to relegation playoff |
NB: All three teams have already qualified for the 2026 Women's Rugby League World Cup.
Fixtures
[edit]Group Stage
[edit]Women's Final
[edit]Women's Pacific Bowl
[edit]The 2024 Women's Pacific Bowl will act as the Asia-Pacific qualification tournament for the 2026 Women's Rugby League World Cup with all Pacific Cup teams having already qualified. First place team will qualify directly for the tournament, whereas the second place will qualify for the Inter-confederation playoffs which they will have to win to qualify for the World Cup.[21][22]
The fixtures were arranged on 30 August based on the IRL Women's World Rankings.[23]
| Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
| 14 | Tonga
| ||||||||
| 24 | Samoa
| ||||||||
| 6 | Cook Islands
| ||||||||
| 26 | Fiji
| ||||||||
Fixtures
[edit]Semi-finals
[edit]Final
[edit]The winner of the Women's Pacific Bowl Final will play the third-placed team from the Women's Pacific Cup to determine promotion and relegation for the next edition of the tournament.
Women's Promotion/Relegation playoff
[edit]| TBC Third-placed Cup team |
v | TBC Bowl winning team |
|---|---|---|
References
[edit]- ^ a b "2024 rugby league Pacific Championships schedule announced with three Tests in Aotearoa". NZRL. 23 August 2024. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
- ^ "2026 Rugby League World Cup: Women's qualification process announced, with four nations' places already secured". Love Rugby League. 15 December 2023.
- ^ "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.
- ^ Long, David (19 August 2024). "Kiwis to play Tonga at Mt Smart Stadium in rugby league showdown". Stuff. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
- ^ "Kiwis to host Australia, Tonga as Pacific Championships return confirmed". NZ Herald. 21 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".
- ^ a b c d Walter, Brad; Edwards, Colleen (23 August 2024). "No room for loyalty as Mal vows to restore 'Roos pride". NRL. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
- ^ "2024 Pacific Championships Draw Announced". NRL. NRL Media Release. 30 August 2024. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
- ^ a b Walter, Brad (30 August 2024). "Penitani primed for World Cup qualifiers with Tonga". NRL. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
- ^ "Draw - Pacific Championships - 2024". NRL. 9 September 2024. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
- ^ "Draw - Pacific Championships Women - 2024". NRL. 9 September 2024. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
- ^ a b "IRL World Rankings: June 30, 2024". International Rugby League. 26 July 2024. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
- ^ "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.
- ^ Walter, Brad (27 August 2024). "Demetriou to take charge of Kumuls". NRL. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
- ^ "Norris to break new ground as Orchids coach". NRL. 2 September 2024. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
- ^ Strange, John (4 September 2024). "Strange to coach Tonga women as new dawn begins for Pacific nation". NRL. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
- ^ "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. 15 December 2023.
- ^ "Pacific nations to play-off for Women's World Cup berth". Rugby League International Federation.