World Rugby Pacific Challenge
| World Rugby Pacific Challenge | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Sport | Rugby union football |
| Instituted | 2006 |
| Number of teams | 4 |
| Country |
Fiji Japan Samoa Tonga |
| Holders | Fiji Warriors (2017) |
| Most titles | Fiji Warriors (7 titles) |
| Related competition | Pacific Nations Cup |
The World Rugby Pacific Challenge, formerly the IRB Pacific Rugby Cup, is an annual rugby union football tournament held in Oceania since 2006. It is contested by national 'A' teams (formed from the best locally based players, with most not already on their nations' senior rugby team) from the Asia-Pacific region. The tournament is run by World Rugby (previously IRB) through Oceania Rugby.
The original IRB Pacific Rugby Cup featured two teams from each of the three Pacific Island countries of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. The competition followed the completion of Fiji's Colonial Cup, Samoa's National Provincial Championship and Tonga's Provincial Championship and provided player development pathway leading into the IRB Pacific Nations Cup.
Since 2011, the tournament has been contested by national 'A' sides, although some matches also featured teams from Super Rugby academies in Australia and New Zealand. Teams from Japan, Argentina and Canada have also joined the tournament to compete with the three Pacific Island countries.
The competing national 'A' teams as of the 2017 season are:
Summary of all Pacific Challenge winners and runners-up, for tournaments up to and including 2017:
The Pacific Rugby Cup initially featured six representative teams, two from each Pacific Island country:
The format was a single round-robin tournament with the top-placed team hosting a final against the second-placed to decide the title. The Fiji Warriors won the competition twice, the Samoan teams won the Cup once each, and Tautahi Gold also claimed the title once for Tonga.
From 2011, the three Pacific Island countries were represented by their national 'A' teams. They were joined by Japan's national 'A' team, Junior Japan, as the fourth core team in 2013. The itinerary included tour matches against Super Rugby academy opposition from Australia and New Zealand and included the following sides:
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