Pacific Cup

The Pacific Cup was a rugby league football competition for national teams from the Pacific region.

Pacific Cup
SportRugby league
Instituted1974
Number of teams6
RegionPacific (Pacific International)
Holders Papua New Guinea (2009)
Most titles Māori (4 titles)
Related competitionEuropean Cup
Tournaments

History

The Pacific Cup was started in 1975 by Keith Gittoes of the New South Wales Rugby League.[1] It was held twice in the 1970s before being abandoned due to cost.

The competition was revived in 1986 by Peter Donnelly. This was a true Pacific Cup with Polynesian players playing for their true country of origin rather than for the NZ Maoris as had previously been the case . The competition was held biennially until the 1996 competition was postponed. Instead a 1996 Pacific Challenge was held. The Super League ran an Oceania Cup in 1997.

The Pacific Cup was revived by the New Zealand Rugby League once again in 2004, this time as a secondary competition to the Pacific Rim Championship. It was again held in February and March 2006 under NZRL administration, this time as a main competition.

In the post-2008 Rugby League World Cup shake up of the international calendar by the RLIF, it was confirmed that a Pacific Cup was to be held in 2009 with the winner of the tournament entering the 2010 Four Nations tournament.

The 2009 tournament was hosted by Papua New Guinea.[2] The competing teams were Cook Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga.[2]

Appearances

Eighteen teams from ten nations have taken part in the 12 Pacific Cup tournaments held to date:

Finals
Year Host Winner Score Runner-up Losing semi -finalists Number
of
teams
1975  Papua New Guinea
Māori		 38–13
Papua New Guinea		 n/a n/a 4
1977  New Zealand
Māori		 35–12  Western Australia 5
1986  Cook Islands
Māori		 23–6
Samoa		  Tonga  Cook Islands 6
1988  Samoa
Māori		 26–16
Samoa		  Tonga  Cook Islands 6
1990  Tonga
Samoa		 26–18
Māori		  Tonga Australian Aboriginies 8
1992  New Zealand
Samoa		 18–14
Tonga		  Māori Australian Aboriginies 10
1994  Fiji
Tonga		 34–11
Fiji		  Samoa Australian Aboriginies 9
1997  New Zealand
New Zealand XIII		 20–15
Māori		 n/a n/a 6
2004  New Zealand
Cook Islands		 26–16
Māori		 6
2006  New Zealand
Tonga		 22–14
Fiji		 6
2009  Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea		 42–14
Cook Islands		  Tonga  Fiji 5

Results
TeamTitlesRunners-upSemi-finals
 Māori 4 (1975, 1977, 1986, 1988) 1 (1990) 1 (1992)
 Tonga 2 (1994, 2006) 1 (1992) 4 (1986, 1988, 1990, 2009)
 Samoa 2 (1990, 1992) 2 (1986, 1988) 1 (1994)
 Cook Islands 1 (2004) 1 (2009) 2 (1986, 1988)
 Papua New Guinea 1 (2009) 1 (1975) -
 New Zealand 1 (1997) - -
 Fiji - 2 (1994, 2006) 1 (2009)
 Western Australia - 1 (1977) -
Australian Aboriginies - - 3 (1990, 1992, 1994)

See also

References
  1. International Competitions The Vault
  2. ARL (Press Release) (28 July 2009). "Pacific Cup announced". Australian Rugby League. Archived from the original on 13 September 2009. Retrieved 29 July 2009.
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