The Pacific Rim Rugby Championship, also known as the Epson Cup for sponsorship purposes,
[ was an international ]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 ...
tournament contested by national teams from around the Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
.[ The championship was held annually between 1996 and 2001.
The competition was run by the ]International Rugby Board
World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...
.[ In the first three tournaments, Canada, United States, Japan and Hong Kong competed for the championship. The competition was expanded to six teams in 1999 with 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 ...
teams Fiji, Samoa and Tonga replacing Hong Kong for the last three tournaments.
Tournament winners
Successor events
The Epson Cup series ended at the completion of the original sponsorship deal, but the Pacific Tri-Nations tournament continued for the next three years until the IRB expanded that competition to form the Pacific Nations Cup
The Pacific Nations Cup is an international rugby union competition held between three Pacific states: Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. The 2019 edition of the tournament will also include the national teams of Canada, Japan and United States. First held ...
in 2006 (also known as the Pacific Six Nations).[
The Pacific Nations Cup, including Japan, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, was expanded again in 2012 with Canada and the United States joining the competition.][
The United States, Russia, China, Japan, and eventually Canada and Romania, played in the ]Super Powers Cup
The Super Cup or Super Powers Cup was an international rugby union competition contested from 2003 to 2005. It featured teams representing Canada, Japan, Russia, the United States and Romania.
Tournaments
2003
The Super Powers Cup was fir ...
(later renamed the Super Cup) from 2003 to 2005.[
]
See also
* Pacific Nations Cup
The Pacific Nations Cup is an international rugby union competition held between three Pacific states: Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. The 2019 edition of the tournament will also include the national teams of Canada, Japan and United States. First held ...
* Super Cup
A super cup is a competition, usually but not exclusively in association football, which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competitions during the prev ...
References
External links
irb-epson.irb.org
archive of official webpage
{{United States national rugby union team
Canada national rugby union team
Fiji national rugby union team
Hong Kong national rugby union team
Japan national rugby union team
Samoa national rugby union team
Tonga national rugby union team
United States national rugby union team
Rugby union competitions in Asia for national teams
Rugby union competitions in Oceania for national teams
Rugby union competitions in North America
Defunct rugby union competitions for national teams
Recurring sporting events established in 1996
Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2001