Rugby union in the Cook Islands
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Cook Islands is a tier three rugby playing nation. They began playing international rugby in the early 1990s and have yet to make the Rugby World Cup.
After Rugby World Cup 2007, Cook Islands might have a chance of qualifying in 2011, due to a change of format for qualification. The qualification change means that the 2 of the 3 Pacific teams (Fiji and Tonga) do not have to qualify for the next world cup.
With Samoa being the third Pacific team, but having to qualify for the next world cup, the Cook Islands team may or may not have a chance. This is due to a 20-to-16 team change in which there will be only four teams in one pool, opposed to the 5 currently used. This would mean that they would have either finish first, or second in the pacific qualifications, which would mean a win against Samoa. Since this is unlikely to happen, Cook Islands could go through the repechages system and qualify.
[edit] Governing body
The Cook Islands Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in the Cook Islands. It was founded in 1989 and became affiliated to the International Rugby Board in 1995.
The Cook Islands Rugby Union are also members of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance.
[edit] National team
The Cook Islands national rugby union team began playing international rugby union in the early 1990s. Thus far, the Cook Islands have not made an appearance at any of the World Cups.
They can also supply players for the Pacific Islanders team.
[edit] See also
 This rugby union article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
|
|||||
|
|||||||||||||||||
