Cook Islands national rugby league team

Cook Islands

Nickname	The Cooks
Governing body	Cook Islands Rugby League Association
Region	Asia-Pacific
Head coach	Tony Iro
Home stadium	Avarua National Stadium
RLIF ranking	25th
First international
Niue 8–22 Cook Islands  (Rarotonga, Cook Islands; 1986)
Biggest win
United States 8–64 Cook Islands  (Featherstone, England; 1995)
Biggest defeat
New Zealand 84–10 Cook Islands  (Reading, England; 2000)
World Cup
Appearances	2 (first time in 2000)
Best result	Group stage, 2000; 2013

The Cook Islands national rugby league team has been participating in international rugby league football competition since 1986. The team is controlled by the governing body for rugby league in Cook Islands, Cook Islands Rugby League Association (CIRLA), which is currently a member of the Asia-Pacific Rugby League Confederation (APRLC). They are currently ranked 25th in the RLIF World Rankings.

Before 1995, the Cooks’ international experience was limited to participation in the Pacific Cup, and hosting the touring British Amateur Rugby League Association Great Britain Amateur teams. Nonetheless, the sizeable number of expatriate Cook Islanders living and playing in New Zealand has ensured that they have never been short of players with rugby league experience.

They won the 1995 Emerging Nations tournament, defeating United States, Russia and Scotland before beating Ireland in the final.

In 1996 and 1997 the Cook Islands competed in the Super League World Nines. They also played several full internationals against other South Pacific nations, most notably as part of the Papua New Guinea 50th Anniversary Tournament in October 1998. 2000 saw the Cook Islands competing in the World Cup for the first time. They finished third in their pool after losing to Wales and the Kiwis and only managing a draw against Lebanon.

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