2019 Oceania Rugby Women's Championship Explained

2019 Oceania Women's Championship
Type:Women
Host:Fiji
Venue:Churchill Park, Lautoka
Date:
Nations:6
Champion:New Zealand
Preceded By:2018
Succeeded By:2022

The 2019 Oceania Rugby Women's Championship that was held in Fiji, was the 2021 Rugby World Cup qualifier for the Oceania region.[1] The tournament was played at Churchill Park in Lautoka from 18 to 30 November 2019, with six teams entered. Australia and New Zealand sent development teams, having already qualified for the 2021 World Cup.[2]

Format

A split pool format was used for the Oceania tournament, with the teams seeded into two pools of three. Each team was scheduled to play one match against each of the teams in the opposite pool.[3] However, following a measles outbreak in Tonga, the Tongan women's team had to withdraw from competition after one of their players arriving in Fiji was suspected of having measles. The tournament continued without playing their fixtures but a revised qualification process was put in place to allow Tonga to challenge later for the Oceania berth at the Rugby World Cup repechage qualifier.

The Black Ferns Development XV were undefeated in the tournament and won the 2019 Oceania Rugby Women's Championship[4] based on the combined pool standings, with Australia A as runner-up. Qualification to the World Cup remained up for grabs in Lautoka for the remaining three nations (excluding Australia and New Zealand). Fiji won direct entry to the World Cup by defeating Samoa in the qualifying playoff match.[5]

Arrangements were made for a playoff match in early 2020 between Tonga and Papua New Guinea, with the winner to meet Samoa in another playoff match to decide the World Cup repechage berth.[6]

Tournament

Pool stage

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Team
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Team
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Round 1

Notes:

The match was cancelled and called a draw.[7]

Round 2

Round 3

Playoffs

Samoa and Fiji played in the World Cup qualifier match at Lautoka. Due to Tonga's absence, a consolation match was arranged for Papua New Guinea against a Fiji developmental team.

World Cup qualifier

Repechage qualifiers

Tonga traveled to Port Moresby in March the following year and defeated Papua New Guinea to set up a playoff against Samoa to determine who qualified for the repechage tournament.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 5 April 2019. World Rugby announces new Women’s Rugby World Cup 2021 qualification pathway. https://web.archive.org/web/20190408122532/https://www.world.rugby/news/410898?lang=en. 8 April 2019. World.Rugby.
  2. Web site: 2 October 2019. Australia & New Zealand to feature at 2019 Oceania Rugby Women's Championship. https://web.archive.org/web/20191009062527/http://www.oceaniarugby.com/pageitem.aspx?id=177524&id2=1&eID=66726&entityID=66726. 9 October 2019. Oceania Rugby.
  3. Web site: Birch. John. 18 November 2019. Samoa open qualifier with big win. https://web.archive.org/web/20200324232600/https://www.scrumqueens.com/news/samoa-open-qualifier-big-win. 24 March 2020. Scrum Queens.
  4. Web site: November 2019. Oceania Rugby Women's Championship 2019: trophy lift. live. https://archive.today/20200324235322/https://www.world.rugby/photo/542727. 24 March 2020. 24 March 2020. World Rugby.
  5. Web site: Birch. John. 19 November 2019. Fiji qualify for World Cup. https://web.archive.org/web/20200210082512/https://www.scrumqueens.com/news/fiji-qualify-world-cup. 10 February 2020. Scrum Queens.
  6. Web site: 24 November 2019. Oceania-qualification for women's Rugby World Cup revised. https://web.archive.org/web/20191127220511/http://www.loopsamoa.com/rugby/oceania-qualification-womens-rugby-world-cup-revised-88455. 27 November 2019. Loop.
  7. Web site: greenwood. Emma. 17 November 2019. Oceania Rugby cancel Australia A-Tonga clash after suspected measles case. https://web.archive.org/web/20191220143901/https://www.rugby.com.au/news/2019/11/17/oceania-australiaa-women. 20 December 2019. 10 February 2020. rugby.com.au.