The 2017 Rugby League World Cup Asia-Pacific qualification play-off was a

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

match that was played on 17 October 2015 at

Campbelltown Stadium Campbelltown Stadium, formerly Orana Park and Campbelltown Sports Ground, is a multi-use stadium in Leumeah, New South Wales, Australia, owned by Campbelltown City Council. It is the home ground of the Western Suburbs Magpies and the Wests Ti ...

in Australia.

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

defeated the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

28–8 to qualify for the

2017 Rugby League World Cup The 2017 Rugby League World Cup was the fifteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup tournament and took place in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea between 27 October and 2 December 2017. The tournament featured the national teams ...

Overview

On 3 October 2014, the 2017 Rugby League World Cup qualifying competition was announced. Seven of the eight teams who made the knockout-stages of the

2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and took place in England, Wales, France and Ireland. between 26 October and 30 November 2013. It was the main event of the year's 2013 Festival of World ...

were announced as automatic qualifiers, which included

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

and

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

. In October 2015,

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

was announced a co-host of the 2017 World Cup and granted automatic qualification. It was confirmed that Tonga would take on the Cook Islands in a one-off game for the 2017 World Cup with the playing date later being confirmed as 17 October 2015. The game was held at

in Campbelltown,

Squads

Both teams picked preliminary train-on squads that had

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

and

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

experience.

Tonga

The Tongan squad as of 24 September 2015 is as follows: *Coach:

Kristian Woolf Kristian Woolf (born 6 July 1975) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the assistant coach of the Dolphins in the NRL and the head coach of Tonga at international level. He previously was the head coach of St Hel ...

Cook Islands

The Cook Islands squad as of 24 September 2015 is as follows: *Coach: Alex Chan

Qualifier

Tonga picked 4 débutantes, while the Cook Islands featured eleven. The Tongan team consisted of

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

based players except for

Mosese Pangai Mosese Pangai (born 18 December 1991), anglicised Moses Pangai, is a Tonga international rugby league footballer who last played as a or on the for the North Queensland Cowboys in the NRL. Background Pangai was born in Newcastle, New South ...

and Ukuma Ta’ai, who play in the

Queensland Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League (QRL) and is contested by four ...

for the

Townsville Blackhawks The Townsville & Districts Blackhawks are an Australian semi-professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, Queensland. They compete in Queensland's top rugby league competition, the Queensland Cup. The club was admitted to the Que ...

and the

for the

Huddersfield Giants Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, the birthplace of rugby league, who play in the Super League competition. They play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium which is sh ...

respectively. The Cook Islands team consisted mainly of players who play at reserve grade or youth levels for their respective NRL clubs, only 4 players in the lineup have played first grade this season either in the NRL or in the Super League. Tonga's most capped player is Ukuma Ta’ai who made his 8th appearance for his country, while the Cook Islands' most experienced players are

Drury Low Drury Low (born 2 April 1990) is a Cook Islands international rugby league footballer who plays for the Narellan Jets in the Group 6 Rugby League and previously with the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and Canberra Raiders in the National Rugby L ...

Anthony Gelling Anthony Gelling (born 18 October 1990) is a Cook Islands international rugby league footballer who plays as a er and forward. He has previously played for the Wigan Warriors in the Super League, the New Zealand Warriors in the National Rugby L ...

and Johnathon Ford who all made their 6th appearance for their nation. Penrith's Sika Manu captained Tonga, and Canberra's Jordan Rapana led the Cook Islands.

Match details

With the win, Tonga qualified for the 2017 World Cup.

References

{{2015 in rugby league 2015 in rugby league 2017 Rugby League World Cup 2015 in Tongan sport 2015 in Cook Islands sport