The Niue Island national rugby union team is the national team of the third tier

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 football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

playing nation of

Niue Island Niue (, ; niu, Niuē) is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Zealand. Niue's land area is about and its population, predominantly Polynesian, was about 1,600 in 2016. Niue is located in a triangle between Tonga ...

. The team first started playing in 1983 in mainly competes in the

Oceania Cup The Oceania Cup is an international men's field hockey competition organised by Oceania Hockey Federation (OHF). It is held every two years to determine which teams will receive an automatic berth to the Men's FIH Hockey World Cup and Summer Olymp ...

, which it won in 2008. Rugby union in Niue Island is administered by the

Niue Rugby Football Union Niue Rugby Football Union is the governing body for rugby union in Niue. It was founded in 1952, and became affiliated to the World Rugby (formerly the IRB) in 1999. The Niue Rugby Football Union is a member of the Federation of Oceania Rugby Uni ...

Results

Niue's first international match was at the 1983 South Pacific Games in Suva against hosts . The Niueans managed to score a try against the eventual tournament winners but were defeated by 124–4. The team found success in the 2008

, defeating

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

by 27–5 in the final on 1 September 2008."Niue take Oceania Cup rugby union final"
, ABC Radio Australia, 1 September 2008 As of 29 May 2013, Niue was ranked 71st in the IRB world rankings. The team had played 10 international matches by that time, four against 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 ...

and three against

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

. Other matches have been against

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 ...

and

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

Players

Some of Niue's best players are professionals 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 ...

. Former Niue captain Matt Faleuka played for Northland before moving to Italian club Overmach Rugby Parma in 2007. While the Niue and the Cook Islands teams did not compete in the

Pacific Tri-Nations The Pacific Tri-Nations was the traditional rugby union series between Tonga, Fiji and Samoa. It was established in 1982 with the Samoan team, then known as Western Samoa, winning the tournament. In 2006 it was replaced by the IRB Pacific 5 Nation ...

competition, they did supply players to the squad for the Pacific Islanders' tour in 2004 (but not in 2006). The Niue sevens team have been active in the IRB World Sevens and the Commonwealth Games.

Record

World Cup

Overall

Current squad

The squad was selected for the 2019 Oceania Rugby Cup.

References

External links

Report of the FORU Oceania Cup Final
Oceanian national rugby union teams Rugby union in Niue {{National-rugbyunion-team-stub