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[[Australia A national rugby union team|Australia A]] joined an expanded competition for the 2007 season. The inclusion of Australia A meant that the tier 2 nations 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 [[Australia national rugby union team|Wallaby]] selection. Following the 2008 tournament, however, the ARU announced Australia A would not play in 2009 due to the current economic environment.<ref>http://livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/12/18/Australia_A_dumped_from_Pacific_Nations_Cup{{dead link|date=July 2016 |bot=Cyberbot II |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Australia has not participated since then.
[[Australia A national rugby union team|Australia A]] joined an expanded competition for the 2007 season. The inclusion of Australia A meant that the tier 2 nations 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 [[Australia national rugby union team|Wallaby]] selection. Following the 2008 tournament, however, the ARU announced Australia A would not play in 2009 due to the current economic environment.<ref>http://livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/12/18/Australia_A_dumped_from_Pacific_Nations_Cup{{dead link|date=July 2016 |bot=Cyberbot II |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Australia has not participated since then.


In 2008, the [[Māori All Blacks|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."<ref name=maori>{{cite web | publisher=allblacks.com | title=New Zealand Maori to join IRB Pacific Nations Cup | url=http://www.allblacks.com/index.cfm?layout=displayNews&newsArticle=6983| date=26 September 2007 | accessdate=2008-01-17}}</ref> The Junior All Blacks returned for the 2009 tournament, but no New Zealand team has participated since then.
In 2008, the [[Māori All Blacks|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."<ref name=maori>{{cite web | publisher=allblacks.com | title=New Zealand Maori to join IRB Pacific Nations Cup | url=http://www.allblacks.com/index.cfm?layout=displayNews&newsArticle=6983 | date=26 September 2007 | accessdate=2008-01-17 | deadurl=yes | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071223162139/http://www.allblacks.com/index.cfm?layout=displayNews&newsArticle=6983 | archivedate=23 December 2007 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> 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.
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.
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<ref name=irb-22-6-14>{{cite web
<ref name=irb-22-6-14>{{cite web
|date=22 June 2014
|date = 22 June 2014
|first=Greg|last=Thomas
|first = Greg
|last = Thomas
|title=Fiji 13-18 Samoa
|title = Fiji 13-18 Samoa
|website=IRB
|website = IRB
|url=http://www.irb.com/pacificnationscup/news/newsid=2071996.html
|url = http://www.irb.com/pacificnationscup/news/newsid=2071996.html
|deadurl=yes
|deadurl = yes
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714151634/http://www.irb.com/pacificnationscup/news/newsid=2071996.html
|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20140714151634/http://www.irb.com/pacificnationscup/news/newsid%3D2071996.html
|archivedate=14 July 2014
|archivedate = 14 July 2014
|df = dmy-all
}}</ref>
}}</ref>


Revision as of 00:59, 18 September 2017

World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup
SportRugby union
Founded2006 (as Pacific 5 Nations)
No. of teams3
Countries Fiji
 Samoa
 Tonga
Most recent
champion(s)		 Fiji (2017)
Most titles Fiji (4 titles)

The Pacific Nations Cup is an international rugby union competition currently held between three Pacific nations: Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. First held in 2006, the tournament is intended to strengthen the Tier 2 rugby nations by providing competitive test matches in a tournament format.

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.

Japan v Australia A, Level-5 stadium, 2008 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 nations: 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 playing Tonga at Honjo stadium, 2006 IRB Pacific 5 Nations.

In the first year only it was called the IRB Pacific Five 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 nations 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 nations 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.

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.

Teams

The teams that participate in the World Pacific Nations Cup (former Pacific 5 Nations) and their finishing positions are as follows:

Team 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Pacific
 Fiji 3rd 4th 4th 2nd 2nd 4th 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 1st 1st
 Samoa 2nd 3rd 3rd 3rd 1st 3rd 1st — 1st * 2nd 2nd 3rd
 Tonga 4th 5th 6th 5th 4th 2nd 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd 3rd 2nd
 Japan 5th 6th 5th 4th 3rd 1st 4th 4th 1st * 4th — —
Australasia
 Australia A — 2nd 2nd — — — — — — — — — —
 Junior All Blacks 1st 1st — 1st — — — — — — — — —
Māori people New Zealand Māori — — 1st — — — — — — — — — —
North America
 Canada — — — — — — — 2nd 3rd 6th — —
 United States — — — — — — — 5th 2nd 5th — —

Notes:

^ * The 2014 tournament was split into conferences without crossover matches or finals. Samoa and Japan won their respective conference titles.[5][6]

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.[7]

Results

Pacific Nations winners

Year Team P W D L PF PA PD BP Pts
2006  Junior All Blacks 4 4 0 0 167 47 +120 4 20
2007  Junior All Blacks 5 5 0 0 228 34 +194 5 25
2008 Māori people New Zealand Māori 5 5 0 0 134 62 +72 1 21
2009  Junior All Blacks 4 4 0 0 161 79 +82 3 19
2010  Samoa 3 2 0 1 78 63 +15 1 9
2011  Japan 3 2 0 1 67 74 –7 2 10
2012  Samoa 3 3 0 0 76 70 +6 0 12
2013  Fiji 4 3 0 1 109 59 +50 4 16
 2014a  Japan 2 2 0 0 71 54 +17 1 9
 Samoa 2 1 1 0 36 31 +5 0 6
2015  Fiji 4 3 1 0 126 103 +23 2 16
2016  Fiji 2 2 0 0 49 34 +15 0 8
2017  Fiji 2 2 0 0 52 26 +26 0 9

All time summary

Pacific Nations (2006 to 2016) b
Team P W D L PF PA PD Seasons Runners-up Champions
 Fiji 39 22 2 15 932 906 +26 11 4 3
 Manu Samoa 35 19 2 14 811 721 +90 11 3   3 a
 Junior All Blacks 13 13 – – 556 160 +396 3 0 3
 Japan 37 12 – 25 743 1126 −383 10 0   2 a
Māori people New Zealand Māori 5 5 – – 134 62 +72 1 0 1
 Australia A 10 7 1 2 392 181 +211 2 2 0
 Tonga 39 12 1 26 824 1136 −312 11 1 0
 Canada 10 3 – 7 202 226 −24 3 1 0
 United States 10 3 – 7 188 264 −76 3 1 0

Updated: 25 June 2016
Source: statbunker.com

Notes:

^a The 2014 tournament was split into conferences with Samoa and Japan winning their respective conference titles.[5][6]

^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 sections 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 2016 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. ^ http://livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/12/18/Australia_A_dumped_from_Pacific_Nations_Cup[permanent dead link]
  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. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ http://tvnz.co.nz/rugby-news/pacific-nations-cup-expanded-canada-and-usa-5324452
  5. ^ a b "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. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ a b Thomas, Greg (22 June 2014). "Fiji 13-18 Samoa". IRB. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ "ANZ to sponsor pacific rugby". irb.com.
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