Pacific Nations Cup

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Pacific Nations Cup
Current season or competition: 2008 IRB Pacific Nations Cup
Sport	Rugby union
Founded	2006
No. of teams	6
Country(ies)	Fiji  Samoa  Japan  Tonga  New Zealand Māori  Australia A
Most recent champion(s)	Junior All Blacks

The Pacific Nations Cup is an international rugby union competition originally known as the IRB Pacific 5 Nations and held between five Pacific rim sides; Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and the Junior All Blacks (New Zealand's second XV). Australia was invited to take part but decided against sending a team stating that they wanted to focus on their domestic competition. However, Australia hosted two games in the inaugural tournament, and on 18 October 2006 announced that Australia would send their second XV, Australia A. ^[1] For this reason, the inaugural tournament will be the only one that carried the title of IRB Pacific 5 Nations, from 2007 the competition will be known as the Pacific Nations Cup. The inaugural tournament was won by the Junior All Blacks.

The tournament is intended to strengthen the Pacific islander sides and Japan. Some people feel that the USA and Canada should replace the second teams of New Zealand and Australia to make the tournament a genuine pan-Pacific one.^{[citation needed]}

Japan v Australia A, Level-5 stadium, 2008

[edit] 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 less. Under the 5 Nations system, there were five rounds of competition, with two matches played each round. In total each team played four games, with one bye occurring as well. The tournament was played mainly throughout June, with the last round in early July. With the expansion to include Australia A, the Pacific Nations Cup retained the five round format, though each round, three matches are played, with no byes. The revised tournament begins in May due to pre-existing Test commitments and concludes in late June.

[edit] History

Japan playing Tonga at Honjo stadium, 2006.

The Pacific Nations Cup was funded as an International Rugby Board (IRB) tournament as as part of the $US50 million, three-year, global strategic investment programme that was 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. ^[2]

Australia were also invited to take part but decided against sending a team stating that they wanted to focus on their domestic competition. The inaugural tournament kicked-off June 3, 2006 and were played in a round-robin format, with some games being held in Australia. with the Junior All Blacks proclaimed the winner after their 38-8 defeat of Japan June 24, 2006. The inaugural tournament was a great success in providing a platform for Pacific nations and Japan in gaining valuable exposure. In October 2006 it was announced that Australia A had been officially confirmed as joining an expanded competition for the 2007 season. The inclusion of Australia A means that the tier 2 nations will have an even greater number of matches in the build up to France 2007. For Australia, it provides an important stepping stone for Wallaby selection.

In 2008, the New Zealand Māori team will replace the Junior All Blacks in the competition, following a decision by the New Zealand Rugby Union that the New Zealand Māori need to play more matches at home and that, for reasons of "player welfare", the Junior All Blacks will not be assembled in 2008. ^[3]

[edit] Champions

Year	Winner
2006 Details	Junior All Blacks
2007 Details	Junior All Blacks

[edit] Statistics

[edit] Point scorers

Points	Player	Nation
47	James Gopperth	Junior All Blacks
44	Stephen Donald	Junior All Blacks
40	Seremaia Bai	Fiji

[edit] Try scorers

Tries	Player	Nation
4	Anthony Tuitavake	Junior All Blacks
3	James Gopperth	Junior All Blacks
3	Cameron McIntyre	Junior All Blacks
3	John Senio	Samoa
3	Anitele'a Tuilagi	Samoa
3	Nick Williams	Junior All Blacks

[edit] Venues

Stadium	Location	Matches played
Post Fiji Stadium	Suva	2
Honjo Stadium	Kitakyushu	1
North Harbour Stadium	Auckland	1
Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium	Gosford	2
Yarrow Stadium	New Plymouth	2
Carisbrook	Dunedin	1
Nagai Stadium	Osaka	1
Dairy Farmers Stadium	Townsville	1
Level-5 stadium	Fukuoka	1
Sendai Stadium	Sendai	1
Olympic Stadium	Tokyo	1

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• 2008 IRB Pacific Nations Cup
• 2007 IRB Pacific Nations Cup
• Pacific Tri-Nations

[edit] External links

• Junior All Blacks and Tonga continue winning ways, IRB official website, 10 June 2006
• Manu Samoa Supporters Website