Oceania Rugby Women's Championship#2019 Asia Pacific Championship
{{Short description|International women's rugby union competition}}
{{Infobox sports league
| upcoming_season = 2025 Oceania Rugby Women's Championship
| title = Oceania Rugby Women's Championship
| sport = Rugby union
| founded = {{start date and age|2016}}
| inaugural = 2016
| teams = 3
| countries = {{nwrut|Fiji}}
{{nwrut|Samoa}}
{{nwrut|Tonga}}
| champion = {{ruw|FIJ}}
| champ_season = 2024
| most successful club = {{Ruw|FIJ}}
(4 titles)
| website = [https://oceania.rugby/ oceania.rugby]
}}
Oceania Rugby Women's Championship is an international women's rugby union competition contested by women's national teams from Oceania.[http://www.worldrugby.org/news/201157Oceania Fiji and PNG set for historic qualifier] Fiji are the current Champions and have won the most titles with four.
{{toc level|3}}
History
The Oceania Rugby Women's Championship was introduced in 2016, and since its inception, also serves as a Rugby World Cup and WXV qualification tournament.
Before the establishment of the Championship there were few international fixtures for women's rugby in the region which hindered its progress. Matches were restricted to occasional test matches as part of the Rugby World Cup qualification process. It was established to provide more regular and consistent international competitions for the region.
The first tournament was held in 2016 in Suva, the match was between Fiji and Papua New Guinea as a part of the Rugby World Cup 2017 qualification. The Fijiana's won and moved onto a Repechage tournament against Hong Kong and Japan.
2018 saw Samoa and Tonga join Fiji and Papua New Guinea in Lautoka. Fiji were the eventual victors.
In 2019, six teams contested the title, with development squads from Australia and New Zealand joining their Pacific neighbours in Lautoka.{{Cite web|title=Women's Championship - 2019|url=https://oceania.rugby/competitions/oceania-rugby/womens-championship|access-date=2021-11-20|website=oceania.rugby|language=en}} The Black Ferns Development XV won the 2019 Oceania Championship in Lautoka, Fiji.{{cite web |date=November 2019 |title=Oceania Rugby Women's Championship 2019: trophy lift |url=https://www.world.rugby/photo/542727 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200324235322/https://www.world.rugby/photo/542727 |archive-date=24 March 2020 |access-date=24 March 2020 |website=World Rugby}} The 2020 Championship was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.{{Cite web|title=Oceania Rugby Women's Champs cancelled|url=https://www.fijitimes.com/oceania-rugby-womens-champs-cancelled/|access-date=2021-11-29|website=FijiTimes|language=en}} In 2022, Fiji won the Oceania Championship and clinched their third title.{{Cite web |date=2022-07-17 |title=Fijiana win Oceania Rugby Womens Championship in a thriller |url=https://oceania.rugby/news/fijiana-win-oceania-rugby-womens-championship-in-a-thriller-2022717 |access-date=2022-07-18 |website=oceania.rugby |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Deo |first=Rohit |date=2022-07-18 |title=Fijiana 15s win Oceania tournament |url=https://www.fijitimes.com/fijiana-15s-win-oceania-tournament/ |access-date=2022-07-18 |website=FijiTimes |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Krishant |first=Naveel |date=2022-07-17 |title=Fijiana 15's win Oceania Rugby Women's Championship |url=https://www.fijivillage.com/sports/Fijiana-15s-win-Oceania-Rugby-Womens-Championship-5f48rx/ |access-date=2022-07-18 |website=www.fijivillage.com |language=en}}
In 2023, Samoa created history in winning their first Oceania Championship title and confirmed their place for WXV 2 in the inaugural WXV tournament, Fiji as runners-up qualified for WXV 3.{{Cite web |date=2023-06-04 |title=Cassie Siataga inspires Samoa to first Oceania crown |url=https://www.world.rugby/news/815499?lang=en |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=www.world.rugby}}{{Cite web |last=Cama |first=Akuila |date=2023-06-05 |title=Fijiana 15s falls, Samoa creates history |url=https://www.fbcnews.com.fj/sports/rugby/fijiana-15s-falls-samoa-creates-history/ |access-date=2023-06-05 |website=Fiji Broadcasting Corporation}} Fiji claimed their fourth championship in 2024 and qualified for their second World Cup in England. Fiji and Samoa also qualified for the WXV 3 tournament in Dubai.{{Cite web |date=2 June 2024 |title=Fijiana XV Secures Direct Qualification to Women's Rugby World Cup 2025 |url=https://oceania.rugby/news/fijiana-xv-secures-direct-qualification-to-rugby-world-cup-2025-202462 |access-date=3 June 2024 |website=oceania.rugby |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=3 June 2024 |title=History-making Fiji and Hong Kong China move up World Rugby Women's Rankings |url=https://www.world.rugby/news/934604?lang=en |access-date=3 June 2024 |website=www.world.rugby}}
Champions
| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" |
| Year
! Venue ! Teams ! Winner ! Runner-up ! Third ! Fourth |
|---|
| 2016
| align=left| {{Flagicon|Fiji}} Suva | 2 | align=left|{{ruw|FIJ}} | align=left|{{ruw|PNG}} | {{n/a}} | {{n/a}} |
| 2018
| align=left| {{Flagicon|Fiji}} Lautoka | 4 | align=left|{{ruw|FIJ}} | align=left|{{ruw|SAM}} | align=left|{{ruw|TON}} | align=left|{{ruw|PNG}} |
| 2019
| align=left| {{Flagicon|Fiji}} Lautoka | 6 | align=left|{{ruw|NZL|name={{abbr|Black Ferns XV|New Zealand women's development XV}}}} | align=left|{{ruw|AUS|name=Australia A}} | align=left|{{ruw|FIJ}} | align=left|{{ruw|SAM}} |
| 2020
| colspan="6" rowspan="2" |Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2021 |
| 2022
|align=left| {{Flagicon|New Zealand}} Pukekohe |4 |align=left|{{ruw|FIJ}} |align=left|{{ruw|SAM}} |align=left|{{ruw|TON}} |align=left|{{ruw|PNG}} |
| 2023
|align=left| {{Flagicon|Australia}} Gold Coast |4 |align=left|{{ruw|SAM}} |align=left|{{ruw|FIJ}} |align=left|{{ruw|TON}} |align=left|{{ruw|PNG}} |
| 2024
|align=left| {{Flagicon|Australia}} Brisbane |4 |align=left|{{ruw|FIJ}} |align=left|{{ruw|SAM}} |align=left|{{ruw|TON}} |align=left|{{ruw|PNG}} |
| 2025
|align=left| {{Flagicon|Fiji}} Sigatoka |3 | colspan="3" align="centre" |TBD |{{n/a}} |
See also
References
{{reflist}}
{{International rugby union}}
{{Oceania Rugby Women's Championship}}
{{Rugby union in Oceania}}
{{Women's rugby union}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oceania Rugby Women's Championship}}
Category:Women's rugby union competitions in Oceania for national teams