Pacific Cup rugby league: the old tournament and the modern competition
Understand rugby league’s Pacific Cup history, its place in the Pacific Championships, recent winners and why older records need separate treatment.
In rugby league, Pacific Cup can mean two different things: the historical regional tournament first played in 1975, or the top division of the modern Pacific Championships, launched in 2023. Both belong to the thirteen-a-side game, but should not be treated as one unchanged competition.
New Zealand won the 2025 men’s Pacific Cup, beating Samoa 36–14 at CommBank Stadium in Sydney on 9 November. Australia won the women’s title that day, defeating New Zealand’s Kiwi Ferns 40–8. These are separate honours. Men’s final record; women’s final record.
The original Pacific Cup
The inaugural 1975 tournament included New Zealand Māori, Papua New Guinea, Victoria and Western Australia. New Zealand Māori won undefeated, repeated their success in 1977, and won again when the competition was revived in 1986. That later field included Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau, Tonga and Western Samoa. Source: Te Ara.
The identity of the winning team matters. New Zealand Māori are not the New Zealand Kiwis: their early Pacific Cup titles should not be added to the Kiwis’ modern tally. Likewise, the presence of Australian state representative sides means the original tournament cannot simply be described as a competition exclusively between national Test teams.
Western Samoa became a major force in the revived competition. After losing the 1986 and 1988 finals to New Zealand Māori, they won in 1990 by beating Māori 26–18. They retained the title in 1992 with an 18–14 extra-time victory over Tonga. Those results appear in Rugby League Samoa’s historical account. For the national-team naming context, see Western Samoa’s rugby league origins.
The historical Cup also served a wider international purpose. On 1 November 2009, Papua New Guinea beat Cook Islands 42–14 in the final at Lloyd Robson Oval, Port Moresby. The victory secured the Kumuls’ place alongside Australia, New Zealand and England in the 2010 Four Nations. The match archive records the result; the contemporary BBC report confirms the qualification consequence.
Pacific Cup versus Pacific Championships
Pacific Championships is the umbrella event. Pacific Cup is its upper division; Pacific Bowl is the lower division. The 2023 men’s draw placed Australia, New Zealand and Samoa in the Cup, with Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Cook Islands contesting the Bowl. Each division had its own final. Source: NRL announcement.
The field and format are edition-dependent:
- 2024: Australia, New Zealand and Tonga contested the men’s Cup. Promotion/relegation play-offs were introduced, pairing the Bowl winners with the third-placed Cup teams in both the men’s and women’s competitions. Source: 2024 tournament details.
- 2025: New Zealand, Samoa and Tonga contested the men’s Cup. Each played the other two once, with the top two advancing to the final. The men’s Bowl comprised Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Cook Islands. Source: 2025 draw explanation.
Australia’s absence from the 2025 men’s Cup was not relegation: the Kangaroos instead played the Ashes in England. Samoa returned after touring England in 2024. The IRL’s calendar review documents those touring commitments, while the 2025 draw announcement confirms Samoa’s return.
Modern men’s Pacific Cup winners
This table covers the 2023–2025 Cup division, not the historical tournament’s complete honour roll.
| Edition | Winner | Runner-up | Final score | Final venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | New Zealand | Australia | 30–0 | FMG Stadium Waikato, Hamilton |
| 2024 | Australia | Tonga | 20–14 | CommBank Stadium, Sydney |
| 2025 | New Zealand | Samoa | 36–14 | CommBank Stadium, Sydney |
Sources: official records for the 2023 final, 2024 final and 2025 final.
New Zealand therefore won two of these three editions of the modern men’s Cup.
Reading the record in 2026
As of 14 October 2026, the Rugby League World Cup is scheduled for 15 October–15 November. IRL’s May 2026 review looks ahead to the Pacific Championships in 2027. Source: IRL calendar review.
When comparing Pacific results, retain the year, team identity, men’s or women’s competition, division and match stage. A Cup final, a Bowl fixture and a promotion play-off answer different record-book questions. Historical tournament participation alone also does not settle an individual match’s Test status.
For dated scores and venues across the different competitions, use the Pacific, Four Nations and Tri-Nations results archive.