Pacific Championships 2024

[Jim from Oz]

Interesting tidbit about the possibilities for the 2024 Pacific Championships:


The only reason the NZRL moved the game to Hamilton was because the Test schedule was not locked in until the collective bargaining agreement was nailed down.
October remains the best time to play Test football – it is foolish to suggest any other time during the year – and 12 months of promotion will help next year.
Four nations taking part rather than three will also mean there is no rest weekend during the Pacific Championships, which helps the series maintain momentum.
Australia, New Zealand, Tonga and potentially Fiji will make up the Pacific Championships next year, with international officials hopeful Samoa tour England, and Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Lebanon and potentially France round out the tier-two tournament.

Inspired Kiwis send Australia crashing to their heaviest Test loss

Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga is already planning next year’s revenge mission after New Zealand claimed the inaugural Pacific Championships crown with a record defeat of Australia on Saturday.

www.smh.com.au

 

[Perth Red]

Wow some performance. That was most enjoyable watching the kangaroos get smashed lol yeh dont hold next year in Hamilton would be my suggestion!

 

[jim_57]

Interesting tidbit about the possibilities for the 2024 Pacific Championships:


The only reason the NZRL moved the game to Hamilton was because the Test schedule was not locked in until the collective bargaining agreement was nailed down.
October remains the best time to play Test football – it is foolish to suggest any other time during the year – and 12 months of promotion will help next year.
Four nations taking part rather than three will also mean there is no rest weekend during the Pacific Championships, which helps the series maintain momentum.
Australia, New Zealand, Tonga and potentially Fiji will make up the Pacific Championships next year, with international officials hopeful Samoa tour England, and Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Lebanon and potentially France round out the tier-two tournament.

Inspired Kiwis send Australia crashing to their heaviest Test loss

Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga is already planning next year’s revenge mission after New Zealand claimed the inaugural Pacific Championships crown with a record defeat of Australia on Saturday.

www.smh.com.au

The mid-year tests used to be a good way to break up the season and keep people somewhat engaged with International teams. Interest in the Kangaroos and Kiwis has fallen away big time since the days when they used to play the Anzac match, sure that isn’t the only reason but many switch off once the NRL season is done unfortunately.

Promising signs again nonetheless but this Pacific Championship is being heralded as the first of it’s kind when really it is just a rebirth of the Oceania Cup that started 2019 and was scheduled for 2020 before the obvious happened.

 

[Foreign Legion]

Gee the trophy looked pretty average, looks like it was made in a TAFE woodworking class.

 

[Jim from Oz]

Gee the trophy looked pretty average, looks like it was made in a TAFE woodworking class.

Agreed, very cheap and nasty … I thought it may have come from an op shop !

 

[jim_57]

Not saying this is a good or a bad thing but if France come down next year to play in the 2nd tier it pretty much seals the ARLC/NRL’s control over International Rugby League.

I’m sure they won’t bother themselves too much with the schedule of the likes of Netherlands or Jamaica and leave that to the relevant governing bodies but they’ll be essentially controlling the schedule of the top 10 nations if that is the schedule. Which is conveniently the likely 10 nations that will make up the World Cup as well.

 

[blukablu]

Interesting tidbit about the possibilities for the 2024 Pacific Championships:


The only reason the NZRL moved the game to Hamilton was because the Test schedule was not locked in until the collective bargaining agreement was nailed down.
October remains the best time to play Test football – it is foolish to suggest any other time during the year – and 12 months of promotion will help next year.
Four nations taking part rather than three will also mean there is no rest weekend during the Pacific Championships, which helps the series maintain momentum.
Australia, New Zealand, Tonga and potentially Fiji will make up the Pacific Championships next year, with international officials hopeful Samoa tour England, and Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Lebanon and potentially France round out the tier-two tournament.

Inspired Kiwis send Australia crashing to their heaviest Test loss

Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga is already planning next year’s revenge mission after New Zealand claimed the inaugural Pacific Championships crown with a record defeat of Australia on Saturday.

www.smh.com.au

Adding France and Lebanon would make a great end-of-year international test window.

Leave England to host touring teams, the game over there needs a boost. Hopefully after a few years France can get to a higher level and host their own tours.

 

[yakstorm]

I imagine PNG will be in second tier, regardless of tomorrow's result, simply because they'll be used as primary host.

Be interesting what venues will host what games in the main tournament. We know AAMI Park will have one of the Kangaroos matches, but I don't believe the NRL is locked in anywhere else.

I'd love for Kangaroos v Tonga to be at CommBank.

 

[Bobby DIGital]

I imagine PNG will be in second tier, regardless of tomorrow's result, simply because they'll be used as primary host.

Be interesting what venues will host what games in the main tournament. We know AAMI Park will have one of the Kangaroos matches, but I don't believe the NRL is locked in anywhere else.

I'd love for Kangaroos v Tonga to be at CommBank.

Kangaroos vs Tonga at Comm Bank would be great, but I feel Aus are apprehensive to play pacific island teams in Sydney (esp West). They know they'll be outnumbered in their own country like we were. I'm sure that's why they played Samoa in North Qld.

 

[yakstorm]

Gee the trophy looked pretty average, looks like it was made in a TAFE woodworking class.

TAFE students usually do better jobs cutting with the jigsaw.

 

[Jim from Oz]

I imagine PNG will be in second tier, regardless of tomorrow's result, simply because they'll be used as primary host.

Be interesting what venues will host what games in the main tournament. We know AAMI Park will have one of the Kangaroos matches, but I don't believe the NRL is locked in anywhere else.

I'd love for Kangaroos v Tonga to be at CommBank.

I thought the Australian government funding for the 2024 championships stipulated that Fiji would be hosts of the Pacific bowl?

 

[jim_57]

I thought the Australian government funding for the 2024 championships stipulated that Fiji would be hosts of the Pacific bowl?

Whoever wins tomorrow can be promoted and use some of that funding to host a couple of pool games there, would be huge for PNG or Fiji to host Australia and/or NZ.

Losing team can host the bowl or most of it.

 

[Ideas Man Stephen]

Whoever wins tomorrow can be promoted and use some of that funding to host a couple of pool games there, would be huge for PNG or Fiji to host Australia and/or NZ.

Losing team can host the bowl or most of it.

Yeah, as these events are government supplemented, let’s make it worth their investment. A fully packed game in Moresby or Suva against the Kangas will be far better than 10k rattling around an Aussie or Kiwi stadium.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

Adding France and Lebanon would make a great end-of-year international test window.

Leave England to host touring teams, the game over there needs a boost. Hopefully after a few years France can get to a higher level and host their own tours.

Yep I actually really like having high level games in both hemispheres this year. We are at a level as a game where we can do that now.

Even when Australia go to England, there'll be plenty of passion and support for a Pacific Championship involving NZ, Samoa & Tonga plus one other.

Like it or not, the next two world cups have 10 teams, so we need to focus on getting 3 to 4 tests each and every year for...

Australia
New Zealand
England
Samoa
Tonga
Fiji
PNG
Cook Islands
Lebanon
France

I love the idea floated of a Southern Hemisphere side touring England each year. Then the rest form a 4 Nation Pacific Championship and a 4 Nation Pacific Bowl with P&R using Lebanon and France to make up the numbers.

When England tour the Southern Hemisphere once every 4 years, we should revive the 4 Nations for that year. England, Aus, NZ and the next highest ranked nation (rankings will be more relevant with more nations playing in meaningful events every year).

 

[docbrown]

I was not at all surprised by the NZ vs AUS result. In a one off match in the middle of the year the Kangaroos will beat the Kiwis 80% of the time. But in a series format, where the Kiwis get a warm up match and play the Kangaroos more than once, they're a 50-50 match.

Every 4 years there needs to be a three game Kangaroos vs Kiwis series with each side playing another country as a warm up.

 

[Perth Red]

Gee the trophy looked pretty average, looks like it was made in a TAFE woodworking class.

Got to pay for Vegas somehow!

 

[Perth Red]

So looks like 2024 will hopefully be:

test series: England v Samoa
pacifc championship: Australia, New Zealand, Tonga and Fiji
Pacific bowl: Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Lebanon and France

Not bad, should make the bowl more interesting.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

So looks like 2024 will hopefully be:

test series: England v Samoa
pacifc championship: Australia, New Zealand, Tonga and Fiji
Pacific bowl: Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Lebanon and France

Not bad, should make the bowl more interesting.

Hopefully the Fijian matches are played in Fiji. Will help get more RL exposure in Fiji, plus save the embarrassment of some low Fiji crowds if they played in Aus or NZ. A 10k full house in Fiji looks better than 6k somewhere else and does more for Fijian RL.

Samoa should play Tonga before leaving for England and should be a locked in annual fixture no matter what.

Great to see France and Lebanon at the table, regular fixtures against the best sides only makes for a better woeld cup.

 

[docbrown]

Won't it be PNG in the Cup if they win this year's bowl?

 

[johnny plath]

So looks like 2024 will hopefully be:

test series: England v Samoa
pacifc championship: Australia, New Zealand, Tonga and Fiji
Pacific bowl: Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Lebanon and France

Not bad, should make the bowl more interesting.

Is this happening or just a wish list.. looks good if it is.