The Vanuatu Rugby Football Union, or VRFU, is the governing body for
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 ...
in
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 ...
. It was established in the 1960s, but only became fully affiliated to 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 ...
(IRB) in 1999.
[
The Vanuatu Rugby Football Union is a full member of the Federation of Oceania Rugby Unions (FORU), which is the regional governing body for rugby union in ]Oceania
Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...
.[
]
National teams
Vanuatu's national team, the Tuskers, has not yet played in a world cup but has competed at the South Pacific Games, including winning a bronze medal for rugby 15s (as New Hebrides) in 1966.[ Vanuatu fields teams in 7s competitions as well as 15s. The national women's 7s team was established in 2011.][
In 2015 the country sent an Under 20 team to the yearly regional tournament, Oceania Rugby Junior Trophy where the team would come against pacific neighbors like Fiji, Tonga and PNG. The team came into the competition with some confidence after boasting some top local players and led by their captain who was based in New Zealand the team was hungry for success. Unfortunately the team proved to be undersized compared to their much larger opposition eventually finishing the tournament with 0 wins, 3 losses and recording only 1 scored in the whole tournament. This proved to be a disappointment to the team who were looking to play with a high tempo game due to their smaller stature. Final results from the 3 round tournament are as follows:
Round 1: Tonga 81 Vanuatu 0, Fiji 63 Papua New Guinea 0
Round 2: Tonga 55 Papua New Guinea 16, Fiji 109 Vanuatu 6
Round 3: Fiji 19 Tonga 10, Papua New Guinea 80 Vanuatu 7
]
See also
* Vanuatu national rugby union team
* Vanuatu national rugby sevens team
The Vanuatu national rugby sevens team is Vanuatu's representative in rugby sevens.
History
At the 1999 South Pacific Games held in Guam, Vanuatu won its second rugby medal, defeating Solomon Islands for the bronze in the rugby 7s. The first bro ...
* Vanuatu national under-20 rugby union team
* Vanuatu women's national rugby sevens team
* Rugby union in Vanuatu
External links
Vanuatu Rugby Union
on facebook.com
on IRB.com
on OceaniaRugby.com
Reference list
Rugby union in Vanuatu
Organisations based in Vanuatu
Rugby union governing bodies in Oceania
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