2019 Oceania Rugby Women's Championship

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 18–30 November 2019, with six teams entered. Australia and New Zealand sent development teams, having already qualified for the 2021 World Cup.^[2]

2019 Oceania Women's Championship

Tournament details
Host	Fiji
Venue	Churchill Park, Lautoka
Date	18 November 2019 (2019-11-18)– 30 November 2019 (2019-11-30)
Teams	6
Final positions
Champions	New Zealand
← 2018 2022 →

Teams

•   Black Ferns Dev. XV
•   Samoa
•   Tonga

•   Australia A
•   Fiji
•   Papua New Guinea

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.^[4] 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.^[4]

The Black Ferns Development XV were undefeated in the tournament and won the 2019 Oceania Rugby Women's Championship ^[5] 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.^[6]

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.^[4]

Tournament

Pool stage

Pool A

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Black Ferns Dev. XV	3	3	0	0	234	0	+234	15
2	Samoa	3	1	0	2	77	65	+12	5
3	Tonga	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	2

Pool B

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Australia A	3	1	1	1	27	55	−28	7
2	Fiji	2	1	0	1	26	60	−34	5
3	Papua New Guinea	2	0	0	2	12	196	-184	0

Round 1

	18 November	Australia A	0–0 ^a	Tonga	Churchill Park, Lautoka
			Report ^[7]

Test: 1370	18 November	Samoa	65–12	Papua New Guinea	Churchill Park, Lautoka
			Report ^[8]

	18 November	Black Ferns Dev XV	53–0	Fiji	Churchill Park, Lautoka
			Report ^[9]

Notes:

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

Round 2

	22 November	Australia A	0–50	Black Ferns Dev XV	Churchill Park, Lautoka
			Report ^[10]

Test: 1372	22 November	Samoa	7–26	Fiji	Churchill Park, Lautoka
			Report ^[11]

Bye/s: Papua New Guinea

Round 3

	26 November	Black Ferns Dev XV	131–0	Papua New Guinea	Churchill Park, Lautoka
			Report ^[12]

	26 November	Australia A	27–5	Samoa	Churchill Park, Lautoka
			Report ^[13]

Bye/s: Fiji

Playoffs

Samoa and Fiji played in the World Cup qualifier match at Lautoka.^[6] Due to Tonga's absence, a consolation match was arranged for Papua New Guinea against a Fiji developmental team.^[6]

Consolation match

	30 November	Fijiana Dev XV	40–22	Papua New Guinea	Churchill Park, Lautoka
			Report ^[14]

World Cup qualifier

Test: 1379	30 November	to RWC      Fiji	41–13	Samoa	Churchill Park, Lautoka
			Report ^[15]

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.

Test: 1389	1 March 2020	Papua New Guinea	24–36	Tonga	Bava Park, Port Moresby
			Report ^[16]

Test: 1397	14 November 2020	to repechage Samoa	40–0	Tonga	The Trusts Arena, Auckland, New Zealand

References

1. . World.Rugby. 5 April 2019. Archived from the original on 8 April 2019.
2. . Oceania Rugby. 2 October 2019. Archived from the original on 9 October 2019.
3. Birch, John (18 November 2019). . Scrum Queens. Archived from the original on 24 March 2020.
4. . Loop. 24 November 2019. Archived from the original on 27 November 2019.
5. "Oceania Rugby Women's Championship 2019: trophy lift". World Rugby. November 2019. Archived from the original on 24 March 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
6. Birch, John (19 November 2019). . Scrum Queens. Archived from the original on 10 February 2020.
7. greenwood, Emma (17 November 2019). . rugby.com.au. Archived from the original on 20 December 2019. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
8. "Oceania Rugby Women's Championship 2019, Match 1". World.Rugby. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
9. "Oceania Rugby Women's Championship 2019, Match 3". World.Rugby. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
10. "Oceania Rugby Women's Championship 2019, Match 5". World.Rugby. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
11. "Oceania Rugby Women's Championship 2019, Match 5". World.Rugby. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
12. "Oceania Rugby Women's Championship 2019, Match 7". World.Rugby. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
13. "Oceania Rugby Women's Championship 2019, Match 8". World.Rugby. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
14. "Oceania Rugby Women's Championship 2019, Match 10". World.Rugby. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
15. "Oceania Rugby Women's Championship 2019, Match 11". World.Rugby. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
16. "Tonga defeat Papua New Guinea in 2021 Rugby World Cup qualifiying". Rugby.World.Cup. Retrieved 1 March 2020.