Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 and WXV 3 2024 qualification will be up for grabs when the Oceania Rugby Women’s Championship gets underway in Brisbane, Australia, on Friday.
Fijiana’s bid to regain the title they last won in 2022 and seal their place at a second successive Women’s Rugby World Cup will kick-off against Tonga at 17:30 local time (GMT+10) on Friday, promising an exhilarating start to the tournament.
However, Samoa's defence of the title will have to wait after their opening match against Papua New Guinea Cassowaries was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.
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Fiji cannot improve their rating in the World Rugby Women’s Rankings with victory in the opening match due to the 15.52-point gap between the teams.
However, they could drop as low as 19th in the rankings on Monday should they slip up. In that scenario, Tonga would climb above Colombia and Belgium to an all-time high of 25th.
Tonga have lost all four of their previous meetings with Fijiana by an average score of 46-6. Ana Maria Naimasi scored a hat-trick of tries as Fiji ran out 45-12 in last year’s Oceania Rugby Women’s Championship.
Fijiana’s new coach Mosese Rauluni will not take anything for granted in Brisbane but made no secret of his team’s desire to reach another showpiece tournament.
“It’s a very important competition we are going into. Our main objective is to qualify for the World Cup,” Rauluni said.
“Our first big test is against Tonga. The main goal is to win every game; we can’t take any team lightly.
“Tonga is a very strong team. They have a lot of girls playing in New Zealand and Australia, so their time together will be short, but when they play for their country, they will give their all.”
Samoa won last year's title having edged Fiji to last year’s title, Cassie Siataga scoring all of her side’s points in a 19-18 victory in the decisive match.
Manusina will again meet Fijiana in the final fixture of the 2024 edition on Sunday, 2 June after they have played Tonga on Wednesday 29 May.
Whoever finishes top of the standings at the end of the round-robin tournament will secure their place at Women’s RWC 2025 in England.
Due to Samoa finishing sixth in WXV 2 2023, the champions and runners-up will both travel to Dubai to take part in WXV 3 this September and October.
Fixtures
Friday, 24 May
17:30 – Fiji v Tonga
19:30 – Samoa v Papua New Guinea
Wednesday, 29 May
17:30 – Fiji v Papua New Guinea
19:30 – Samoa v Tonga
Sunday, 2 June
14:00 – Tonga v Papua New Guinea
16:00 – Samoa v Fiji
All matches to be played at Sunnybank Rugby Club and times are local (GMT+10).
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