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World Rugby Pacific Challenge

Annual rugby union football tournament

Summary

Annual rugby union football tournament

Field	Value
title	Pacific Rugby Cup
current_season	2024 World Rugby Pacific Challenge
logo	World_Rugby_Pacific_Challenge_logo.png
pixels	185px
caption
sport	Rugby union football
founded	2006
teams	4
country
<br> {{ruA	Japan	name	Japan	noflag=1}}

champion	Fiji Warriors (2023)
season
most_champs	Fiji Warriors (10 titles)
related_comps	Pacific Nations Cup

The World Rugby Pacific Challenge, formerly the IRB Pacific Rugby Cup, is an annual rugby union football tournament held in Oceania since 2006. It is contested by national 'A' teams (formed from the best locally based players, with most not already on their nations' senior rugby team) from the Asia-Pacific region. The tournament is run by World Rugby (previously IRB) through Oceania Rugby.

The [[Fiji Warriors]] (in white) taking on 2006 champions [[Savaii Samoa]] (navy blue) in 2007

The original IRB Pacific Rugby Cup featured two teams from each of the three Pacific Island countries of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. The competition followed the completion of Fiji's Colonial Cup, Samoa's National Provincial Championship and Tonga's Provincial Championship and provided player development pathway leading into the IRB Pacific Nations Cup.

Since 2011, the tournament has been contested by national 'A' sides, although some matches also featured teams from Super Rugby academies in Australia and New Zealand. Teams from Japan, Argentina and Canada have also joined the tournament to compete with the three Pacific Island countries.

Teams

The competing national 'A' teams as of the 2018 season were:

FIJ Fiji Warriors

Overall

Summary of all Pacific Challenge winners and runners-up, for tournaments up to and including 2020:

By team

Team	Tournament
wins	Runner-up
placings	Seasons
contested	Total	16	16	16
FIJ Fiji Warriors	10	3	16
ARG Pampas XV	2	0	2
SAM Upolu Samoa	1	2	5
TON Tautahi Gold	1	0	5
SAM Savaii Samoa	1	0	5
	0	5	11
JPN Junior Japan	1	3	9
TON Tau'uta Reds	0	1	6
FIJ Fiji Barbarians	0	1	5
AUS Qld Reds A	0	1	1

By country

Country	Tournament
wins	Runner-up
placings	Seasons
contested	Total	16	16	16
	10	4	16
	2	7	16
	2	0	2
	1	3	9
	1	1	16
	0	1	1

History

Pacific Island tournament: 2006 to 2010

The Pacific Rugby Cup initially featured six representative teams, two from each Pacific Island country:

:{|style= "table-layout:fixed; width=95%; margin-top:0;margin-left:0; border-width:1px;border-style:none ;border-color:#ddd; padding:0px; vertical-align:top;" |- |{{hlist | Fiji Warriors

Fiji Barbarians
{{hlist
Upolu Samoa
Savaii Samoa
-
{{hlist
Tau'uta Reds
Tautahi Gold
}

The format was a single round-robin tournament with the top-placed team hosting a final against the second-placed to decide the title. The Fiji Warriors won the competition twice, the Samoan teams won the Cup once each, and Tautahi Gold also claimed the title once for Tonga.

Pacific Australasian series: 2011 to 2014

From 2011, the three Pacific Island countries were represented by their national 'A' teams. They were joined by Japan's national 'A' team, Junior Japan, as the fourth core team in 2013. The itinerary included tour matches against Super Rugby academy opposition from Australia and New Zealand and included the following sides:

:{|style= "table-layout:fixed; width=95%; margin-top:0;margin-left:0; border-width:1px;border-style:none ;border-color:#ddd; padding:0px; vertical-align:top;" |- |{{hlist | Fiji Warriors | |

Junior Japan
{{hlist
ACT A
NSW A
Reds A
Force A
Rebel Rising
Brisbane Academy
Sydney Academy
-
{{hlist
Chiefs Dev XV
Crusaders Knights
Hurricanes Dev XV
Blues Dev XV
Highlanders Dev XV
}
The tournament was split into three stages with the core Pacific Cup teams playing Super Rugby academies in the first two stages in Australia and New Zealand, respectively. In the third stage, the Pacific Cup teams played each other in a single round robin, home or away, to decide the title. No finals were played and the team finishing on top of the combined table after all stages was the tournament winner. The Fiji Warriors won all three tournaments from 2011 to 2013.

The format was expanded again in 2014 with Argentina's Pampas XV and four Australian academy teams joining the competition as core teams competing with the Pacific A sides. The New Zealand development teams did not participate in 2014 and the tournament was held entirely in Australia. Two pools were formed as follows:

:{|style= "table-layout:fixed; width=95%; margin-top:0;margin-left:0; border-width:1px;border-style:none ;border-color:#ddd; padding:0px; vertical-align:top;" |- |{{hlist | Fiji Warriors | Force A | Reds A

Junior Japan
{{hlist
ACT A
NSW Gen Blue
Pampas XV

| | |}

A single round robin was played in each pool with the top ranked sides from each playing in the final. The Pampas XV defeated Reds A in the final held in Sydney to win the title. Fiji Warriors defeated Samoa A in the play-off for third place.

Pacific Challenge: 2015 onward

The Pacific Rugby Cup was restyled as the "Pacific Challenge" in 2015 and held in Fiji. It returned to a being a tournament solely for national 'A' teams, with replacing the Australian academy teams.

The Pampas XV won again in 2015 but were replaced by Junior Japan for the following season. The Fiji Warriors won the next four tournaments at home before their dominance was broken by Junior Japan defeating them at Suva to take the 2020 Pacific Challenge title.

After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament returned to Apia Park, Samoa in 2023.

;Notes : Japan A, Force A, Rebel Rising, and the Brisbane and Sydney Academies joined in 2013. : The Blues and Highlanders development teams featured in 2012 and 2013. : The Pacific stage was cancelled in 2013 to allow Fiji, Samoa and Tonga to maximise preparations for the end-of-year tours.

Winners

Year	# of
Teams	Final	Venue	Winner	Score	Runner-up
2006	6	SAM Savaii Samoa	10–5	FIJ Fiji Warriors	Marist Grounds, Apia
2007	6	SAM Upolu Samoa	35–15	TGA Tau'uta Reds	Teufaiva Stadium, Nukuʻalofa
2008	6	TGA Tautahi Gold	11–3	SAM Upolu Samoa	Apia Park, Apia
2009	6	FIJ Fiji Warriors	19–7	SAM Upolu Samoa	Apia Park, Apia
2010	6	FIJ Fiji Warriors	26–17	FIJ Fiji Barbarians	National Stadium, Suva
2011	3 +8 other --	FIJ Fiji Warriors	round
robin		various
2012	3 +9 other --	FIJ Fiji Warriors	round
robin		various
2013	4 +9 other --	FIJ Fiji Warriors	round
robin		various
2014	9 +2 other --	ARG Pampas XV	36–21	AUS Queensland A	TG Millner Field, Sydney
2015	6	ARG Pampas XV	17–9	FIJ Fiji Warriors	National Stadium, Suva
2016	4	FIJ Fiji Warriors	36–0		National Stadium, Suva
2017	4	FIJ Fiji Warriors	round
robin		National Stadium, Suva
2018	4	FIJ Fiji Warriors	round
robin		National Stadium, Suva
2019	4	FIJ Fiji Warriors	round
robin		National Stadium, Suva
2020	4		round
robin	FIJ Fiji Warriors	National Stadium, Suva
Not contested 2021–2022
2023	4	FIJ Fiji Warriors	round
robin		Apia Park, Apia
2024	4		round
robin	FIJ Fiji Warriors	Apia Park, Apia

Tournaments

Teams listed are those that qualified for the Pacific Rugby Cup final matches (for seasons without a final, the core teams are shown). Results of the final matches are written so that the score of the team in each row is mentioned first.

Legend

Pacific Challenge: 2015 to 2020

Contested by the national 'A' teams of Fiji, Japan, Samoa, and Tonga. Canada A along with Argentina's Pampas XV also competed in 2015.

:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |+ Pacific Rugby Challenge winner and runner-up !rowspan=2|Year !rowspan=2 style="padding:0 0.75em"|Duration !rowspan=2|Pos !rowspan=2 style="padding:0 3.1em"|Team !colspan=10|Pool matches !colspan=1|Play-offs !rowspan=2|Refs |- ! style="width:20px;"|Pld ! style="width:20px;"|W ! style="width:20px;"|D ! style="width:20px;"|L ! style="width:20px;"|F ! style="width:20px;"|A ! style="width:25px;"|Diff ! style="width:20px;"|TB ! style="width:20px;"|LB ! style="width:20px;"|Pts ! style="padding:0 1em"| Final

-
to
14 March
1
3
–
-
2
3
–
-
to
16 March
1
3
–
-
2
3
–
-
to
17 March
1
3
–
-
2
3
–
-
to
18 March
1
3
–
-
2
3
–
-
to
21 March
1
3
36–0
access-date=24 March 2016
url-status= live
archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160327025854/http://www.worldrugby.org/news/148209
archive-date= 27 March 2016 }}
-
2
3
0–36
-
to
23 March
1A
3
17–9
-
1B
3
9–17
}
:{
-
! colspan="4" style="border:0px"
-
4 points for a win
2 points for a draw
1 bonus point for a loss by seven points or less
1 bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match
Classification:
Teams standings are calculated as follows:
Most log points accumulated from all matches
Most log points accumulated in matches between tied teams
Highest difference between points scored for and against accumulated from all matches
Most points scored accumulated from all matches
}

Pacific Australasian series: 2011 to 2014

Contested by the national 'A' teams of Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga. Japan A joined as a core team in 2013. The core teams played against Super Rugby academy opposition from Australia and New Zealand before meeting each other in a single round robin to decide the title. No finals were played and team finishing on top of the table after all matches were completed was the tournament winner.

In 2014, Argentina's Pampas XV and four Australian Academy sides were added as core teams. Two pools were formed and a single round robin played in each. The top ranked sides in each pool played off in the final for the title and the second ranked teams played off for third place.

:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |+ 2011–2014 Pacific Rugby Cup finalists. !rowspan=2|Year !rowspan=2 style="padding:0 0.75em"|Duration !rowspan=2|Pos !rowspan=2 style="padding:0 3.1em"|Team !colspan=10|Pool matches !colspan=1|Play-offs !rowspan=2|Refs |- ! style="width:20px;"|Year ! style="padding:0 1.2em"|Duration ! style="width:20px;"|Pos ! align=left| Team

! style="width:20px;"|Pld ! style="width:20px;"|W ! style="width:20px;"|D ! style="width:20px;"|L ! style="width:20px;"|F ! style="width:20px;"|A ! style="width:25px;"|Diff ! style="width:20px;"|TB ! style="width:20px;"|LB ! style="width:20px;"|Pts ! style="padding:0 1em"|Final |- to 23 March | 1B | 4 || 4 || 0 || 0 ||148 || 83 || 65 || 3 || 0 || 19

36–21
1A
3
21–36
-
2A
3

| |- | 2B | 4 || 2 || 0 || 2 || 96 ||115 || -19 || 1 || 0 || 9 |

-
to
7 April
1
6
–
-
2
6
–
-
3
6
–
-
4
6
–
-
-
to
19 October
1
8
–
-
2
8
–
-
3
8
–
-
-
to
26 March
1
8
–
-
2
8
–
-
3
8
–
}
:{
-
! colspan="4" style="border:0px"
-
4 points for a win
2 points for a draw
1 bonus point for a loss by seven points or less
1 bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match
Classification:
Teams standings are calculated as follows:
Most log points accumulated from all matches
Most log points accumulated in matches between tied teams
Highest difference between points scored for and against accumulated from all matches
Most points scored accumulated from all matches
}

[[Upolu Samoa]] after winning the 2007 Pacific Rugby Cup.

Notes:

Pacific Island tournament: 2006 to 2010

For the first five seasons, the tournament was contested by six teams; two each from Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga. The format consisted of a single round-robin, home or away, and the teams finishing in the first two positions on the table played in a final, hosted by the top ranked team, to decide the Pacific Rugby Cup title.

:{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |+ 2006–2010 Pacific Rugby Cup finalists. !rowspan=2|Year !rowspan=2 style="padding:0 0.75em"|Duration !rowspan=2|Pos !rowspan=2 style="padding:0 3.1em"|Team !colspan=9|Pool matches !colspan=1|Play-offs !rowspan=2|Refs |- ! style="width:20px;"|Year ! style="padding:0 1.2em"|Duration ! style="width:20px;"|Pos ! align=left| Team

! style="width:20px;"|Pld ! style="width:20px;"|W ! style="width:20px;"|D ! style="width:20px;"|L ! style="width:20px;"|PF ! style="width:20px;"|PA ! style="width:25px;"|Diff ! style="width:20px;"|BP ! style="width:20px;"|Pts ! style="padding:0 1em"|Final |- to 29 May | 1 |5||4||0||1||155||73||82||3||19

26–17
2
5
17–26
-
-
to
29 May
1
5
7–19
-
2
5
19–7
-
-
to
24 May
1
5
3–11
-
2
5
11–3
-
-
to
5 May
1
5
15–35
-
2
5
35–15
-
-
to
20 May
1
5
10–5
-
2
5
5–10
}
:{
-
! colspan="4" style="border:0px"
-
4 points for a win
2 points for a draw
1 bonus point for a loss by seven points or less
1 bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match
Classification:
Teams standings are calculated as follows:
Most log points accumulated from all matches
Most log points accumulated in matches between tied teams
Highest difference between points scored for and against accumulated from all matches
Most points scored accumulated from all matches
}

:{| class="wikitable"

+ 2006–2010 Overall pool match results.
!width=165
!width=40
!width=40
!width=40
!width=40
!width=40
!width=40
!width=40
!width=40
!width=40
- align=center
25
- align=center
25
- align=center
25
- align=center
25
- align=center
25
- align=center
25
}

Gallery

Image:Savaii.jpg|Savaii Samoa taking on the Fiji Warriors in the 2007 Pacific Rugby Cup. Image:Upolu champs.jpg|Upolu Samoa after winning the 2007 Pacific Rugby Cup.

References

|url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080622160041/http://oceaniarugby.com/tournaments/tournaments_home.html |archive-date=22 June 2008 }}

|url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140302025518/http://oceaniarugby.com/fixtures__results/pacific_rugby_cup/2008_prc_fixtures_and_results_2.html |archive-date= 2 March 2014 }}

|url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140302025510/http://oceaniarugby.com/fixtures__results/pacific_rugby_cup/2009_prc_fixtures_and_results_1.html |archive-date= 2 March 2014 }}

|url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140302025505/http://oceaniarugby.com/fixtures__results/pacific_rugby_cup/2010_pacific_rugby_cup_fixtures_and_results_1.html |archive-date= 2 March 2014 }}

|url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140302025501/http://oceaniarugby.com/fixtures__results/pacific_rugby_cup/2011_pacific_rugby_cup_fixtures_and_results_1.html |archive-date= 2 March 2014 }}

|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150316195157/http://oceaniarugby.com/tournaments/pacific_rugby_cup/2012/2012_pacific_rugby_cup_fixtures_and_results.html |archive-date=16 March 2015

|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150228123344/http://oceaniarugby.com/tournaments/pacific_rugby_cup/2013/2013_pacific_rugby_cup_fixtures_and_results.html |archive-date=28 February 2015

|access-date= 6 February 2014

|access-date= 28 January 2015 |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150206123305/http://www.mailife.com.fj/fiji-to-host-rugbys-revamped-pacific-challenge/ |archive-date= 6 February 2015}}

References

(14 March 2020). "Junior Japan end Fiji Warriors' dominance at Pacific Challenge".
(31 March 2023). "Samoa to host World Rugby Pacific Challenge 2023".
[http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=244067 IRB cancels Pacific leg]. Fiji Times, 29 August 2013.
(15 March 2020). "World Rugby Pacific Challenge - Standing".
(16 March 2019). "Pacific Challenge 2019".
(17 March 2018). "Pacific Challenge 2018".
(18 March 2017). "Pacific Challenge 2017".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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