Cook Islands national rugby union team
 |
|
| Union | Cook Islands Rugby Union |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Cookies |
| Coach(es) | Barry George |
| Captain(s) | Stan Wright |
| First international | |
Western Samoa  24 - 18  Cook Islands(1 September 1971) |
|
| Largest win | |
Cook Islands 77 - 0  Tahiti(2 June 2001) |
|
| Largest defeat | |
Fiji  108-6 Cook Islands(28 June 2014) |
|
The Cook Islands is a third tier rugby union playing nation. They began playing international rugby in the early 1971. Thus far, the Cook Islands have not made an appearance at any of the World Cups.
In 1924 a scratch team of Rarotongan boys, including the late Sir Albert Henry, played the All Black Invincibles on their way to the United Kingdom. The game was drawn 0-0, although this could never be considered an official international.
The Cook Islands played their first official international on September 1, 1971 against Western Samoa, losing 24 points to 18. The Cook Islands went on to win against Wallis and Futuna the next day and then lose again to Samoa the day after.
The next time the Cook Islands played was nine years later in 1980, in a close game against a touring Italian side; the Cook Islands won by 15 - 6. Three years later they again played Samoa, again losing. The next match for the Islanders wasn't until 1996, when they played Papua New Guinea. Since then, they play regularly against them and fellow Pacific sides Niue and Tahiti.
While Niue and the Cook Islands are not members of the Pacific Tri-Nations competition, they can supply players for the Pacific Islanders'. The first and still sole player from Cook Islands to have represented the Pacific Islanders was Tu Tamarua, in 2004.
The best Cook Islands rugby players often play in New Zealand where there is a large Cook Island population.
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Wikipedia