Qualifying for the 2023 Rugby World Cup for Oceania Rugby began in July 2021, where 3 teams competed for one direct qualification spot into the final tournament and for a place in a cross-regional play-off match.

Format

Oceania Rugby Oceania Rugby, previously known as the Federation of Oceania Rugby Unions (FORU), is the regional governing body for rugby union in Oceania. It was founded in 2000 to represent the interests of Oceania rugby within World Rugby, the international go ...

was granted one direct qualification berth, and was awarded to the winner on aggregate of a Samoa–Tonga home and away play-off (Oceania 1). The loser then progressed to a straight play-off match against the winner of the 2021 Oceania Rugby Cup to advance as Oceania 2 to a cross-regional play-off against Asia 1. All matches are scheduled to be held in

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 ...

due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

restrictions and rates in the region.

Entrants

Seven teams had meant to compete during for the Oceania qualifiers for the

2023 Rugby World Cup The 2023 Rugby World Cup is scheduled to be the tenth men's Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It is scheduled to take place in France from 8 September to 28 October 2023 in nine venues across the cou ...

, but later reduced to only 3 after the cancelation of the 2021 Oceania Rugby Cup; teams World Rankings are prior to the first Oceania qualification match on 10 July while nations in bold denote teams that have previously played in a Rugby World Cup.

Round 1: 2021 Oceania Rugby Cup

Papua New Guinea were due to host the 2021 Oceania Rugby Cup which was due to take place in June 2021. However, in April 2021, the participating unions agreed to cancel the tournament due to the rising impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the region. With the event's cancellation and the tight timeframe available to determine the region's champion, the

World Rugby Rankings The World Rugby Rankings (formerly the IRB Rankings) is a ranking system for national teams in rugby union, managed by World Rugby, the sport's governing body. There are separate men's and women's rankings. The teams of World Rugby's member nation ...

were used to confirm the team progressing in the Rugby World Rugby 2023 qualification process, and with the Cook Islands the highest-ranked team at the time, earned progression to Round 3.

Round 2: Oceania 1 play-offs

Round 2 consisted of a 2-leg play-off series between the highest-ranked participating teams in Oceania; Samoa and Tonga. This series was scheduled to be a home-and-away play-off series in Samoa and Tonga, but due to restrictions in the region, New Zealand became the hub for the qualification round.World Rugby and unions confirm men’s July test schedule
/ref> The winner of this round, Samoa, qualified as Oceania 1, whilst the loser moved to round 3 to play the Cook Islands in an Oceania 2 play-off decider.

Leg 1

Notes: * James Faiva was named to start but withdrew ahead of the game and was replaced by

Nafi Tuitavake Nafi Tuitavake (born 21 January 1989) is a New Zealand Rugby union player who plays for the Vodacom Blue Bulls in the Super rugby competition. He is the younger brother of former All Black winger Anthony Tuitavake. He was named in the Crusade ...

, who was replaced by

Viliami Fine Viliami Fine (born 1 December 1997) is a Tongan rugby union player who plays for Otago in the National Provincial Championship. His playing position is wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other ...

. *

Tomasi Alosio Tomasi Alosio Logotuli (born 26 January 1992) is a Samoan rugby union player who plays for in the Bunnings NPC. His position is wing or fullback. Career He was named in the Moana Pasifika squad for the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season. He a ...

, Jonah Aoina,

Neria Fomai Neria Fomai (born 3 February 1992) is a rugby union player, who currently plays as a centre or wing for in New Zealand's domestic National Provincial Championship competition and for in Super Rugby. He was born and raised in New Zealand, but ...

, Theo McFarland, Olajuwon Noa, Samuel Slade,

Jonathan Taumateine Jonathan Archie Taumateine (born 28 September 1996) is a professional rugby union player who plays as a scrum-half for Super Rugby club Moana Pasifika. Born in New Zealand, he represents Samoa at international level after qualifying on ancest ...

, Kalolo Tuiloma and

Tietie Tuimauga Tietie Tuimauga (born 5 August 1993) is a Samoan rugby union player, currently playing for France’s Top 14 side, CA Brive. Previous to that Tietie was part of the Championship winning 2022 Wellington Lions squad in the Bunnings NPC competition ...

(all Samoa) and

and Sam Vaka (both Tonga) made their international debuts.

Leg 2

Notes: * Jay Fonokalafi and Aisea Halo (both Tonga) and Losi Filipo and

JP Sauni JP Sauni (born 7 July 1997) is a professional rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby ...

(both Samoa) made their international debuts.

Round 3: Oceania 2 play-off

The winner of this match, Tonga, advanced to the Asia/Oceania play-off for Final Qualification Tournament (as Oceania 2) a home-and-away series against the

Asia Rugby Championship The Asia Rugby Championship, or ARC, is an annual rugby union competition held amongst national rugby sides within the Asia Rugby region. The competition was originally known as the Asian Rugby Football Tournament when founded in 1969, and was call ...

winner to earn the right to qualify for the 2023 Rugby World Cup as the Asia/Pacific play-off winner. Notes: * Tovo Faleafa, Kelemete Finau, Paula Mahe, Nela Matakaiongo, Semisi Paea and John Tapueluelu (all Tonga) and Jardine Pumati Chung-Ching, Leon Ellia-Niukore, Tahquinn Hansen, Leroy Henry-Jack, Gideon Kautai, Antonio Ripata, Te Puhi Rudolph, Ezekiel Sopoaga, Tokahirere Sopoaga, Tupou Sopoaga, Junior Taia, Materua Tupou, Ben Tou and Tevita Yamaraki (all Cook Islands) made their international debuts.

References

Notes

External links

Rugby World Cup
Official Site {{DEFAULTSORT:World Cup

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2023 Rugby World Cup qualification

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