Pacific Cup

Pacific Cup
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Sport	Rugby league football
Instituted	1974
Ceased	2009
Replaced by	Pacific International
Tournament Director	Brian Canavan
Number of teams	Cook Islands Fiji Papua New Guinea Samoa Tonga Australian Aborigines
Region	Pacific region (RLIF)
Holders	Papua New Guinea (2009)
Most titles	Māori (4 titles)
Related competition	Pacific International

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

History

The Pacific Cup was started in 1975 by Keith Gittoes of the New South Wales Rugby League. 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. The competing teams were Cook Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga.

Appearances

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

• Māori - 11 appearances
• Tonga - 10 appearances
• Samoa - 9 appearances
• Cook Islands - 7 appearances
• Fiji - 7 appearances
• Papua New Guinea - 6 appearances
• Tokelau - 5 appearances (1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 2006)
• Niue - 5 appearances (1986, 1990, 1992, 1994, 2004)
• American Samoa - 3 appearances (1988, 1992, 1994)
• Australian Aborigines - 3 appearances (1990, 1992, 1994)
• New Zealand XIII - 2 appearances (1996, 1997)
• Western Australia - 2 appearances (1975, 1977)
• Victoria - 2 appearances (1975, 1977)
• Fijian Presidents XIII - 1 appearance (1994)
• Rotuma - 1 appearance (1994)
• Norfolk Island - 1 appearance (1992)
• Friendly Islands - 1 appearance (1990)
• Northern Territory - 1 appearance (1977)

Pacific Cup details

Year	Host nation(s)	Winner	Score	Runner-Up	Other Participants
1975	Papua New Guinea	Māori	38 – 13	Papua New Guinea	Victoria, Western Australia
1977	New Zealand	Māori	35 – 12	Western Australia	Victoria, Northern Territory, Papua New Guinea
1986	Cook Islands	Māori	23 – 6	Western Samoa	Cook Islands, Niue, Tonga, Tokelau
1988	Samoa	Māori	26 – 16	Western Samoa	American Samoa, Cook Islands, Tonga, Tokelau
1990	Tonga	Western Samoa	26 – 18	Māori	Australian Aborigines, Friendly Islands, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Tokelau
1992	New Zealand	Western Samoa	18 – 14	Tonga	Australian Aborigines, American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, Māori, Niue, Norfolk Island, Tokelau
1994	Fiji	Tonga	34 – 11	Fiji	Australian Aborigines, American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fijian Presidents XIII, Māori, Niue, Rotuma, Western Samoa
1996 as Pacific Challenge Series	-	No final played			Cook Islands, Fiji, Māori, New Zealand XIII, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Western Samoa
1997 as Oceania Cup	New Zealand	New Zealand XIII	20 – 15	Māori	Cook Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga
2004 as Pacific Rim Championship	New Zealand	Cook Islands	52 – 18	Māori	Fiji, Niue, Samoa, Tonga
2006	New Zealand	Tonga	22 –14	Fiji	Cook Islands, Māori, Samoa, Tokelau
2009	Papua New Guinea	Papua New Guinea	42 – 14	Cook Islands	Fiji, Samoa, Tonga