Growing the Pacific Nations Cup

Having now just completed it's 7th year, the IRB Pacific Nations Cup (the PNC) has established itself on the Pacific Rugby Calendar. Within the Pacific Rugby community it has established a reputation for providing fast-paced, exciting and unpredictable Rugby. 

For the four core teams (Fiji, Japan, Samoa and Tonga) that have participated in the tournament every year since it's inception (Australia A, the Junior All Blacks and the New Zealand Maori competed at various times in the first four years), the tournament provides vital regular international competition amongst some of the top teams in the world.

The Pacific Nations Cup has a reputation for fast, unpredictable Rugby (photo: www.oceaniarugby.com)

Fiji defeated Tonga in the last match of the 2012 PNC (Photo: www.oceaniarugby.com)

And as the tournament has grown in importance, so too have the calls to expand it to include other High Performance Unions that don't currently participate in the Six Nations or the Rugby Championship.

In May this year, the IRB invited  the Unions of Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga, USA and Canada to a meeting to discuss the possibility of expanding the PNC to include USA and Canada. There is in fact a history of such a competition - from 1999-2001 a Pacific Rim Championship contested by these six nations was held however was discontinued due to costs. For a good perspective on this meeting from one of the potential Participating Unions, check out Nigel Melville's (CEO, USA Rugby) post here.

There are many reasons why an expanded PNC can and should work. All countries need to be playing more Test Matches each year (you may recall from earlier posts that in the Pacific we are endeavouring to provide around 20 Test and 'A' matches per year for the Pacific Island Member Unions) and an expanded PNC can contribute to this. The IRB is investing millions of dollars into these Unions and we have a vested interest to ensure that they have access to a level of competition that ensures their continued improvement on the international stage and, ultimately, Rugby World Cup.


There is also the issue of quality. Invariably, at least one of the PI Unions are in the IRB Top 10 World Rankings at any point in time and it is important that teams that have qualified for RWC, or are endeavouring to do so, are playing regularly against the best teams in the world. In the absence of access to the Six Nations and the Rugby Championship, the PNC provides competition for the next best teams in World Rugby.

Could we see the USA in an expanded PNC any time soon? (Photo: www.irb.com)

There are however, considerable hurdles that need to be overcome before the dream becomes a reality. From a cost perspective, it is a very expensive tournament concept. Preliminary costings for an expanded PNC have airfares alone at GBP220,000 (AUD335,000). Landed costs (accommodation, meals and ground transport) are even more expensive. However, an even greater hurdle is logistics.

Trying to host a six team tournament in the three-weekend June Test window in an area that spans 1/3 of the world's surface is a logistical nightmare. The June test window is important because it is the period under which players have to be released by professional clubs under IRB Regulation 9 (so it is therefore important to host the tournament within the June test window to ensure the strongest possible sides).

Add to that other important considerations such as sponsorship, broadcasting and other commercial considerations and you face a complex web of challenges to overcome to make an expanded PNC a reality. However the benefits of an expanded PNC are too great to ignore (I haven't even talked about the commercial potential of a tournament that is played in two of the world's three largest economies) and as such we are continuing to work on this complex problem.

Watch this space.