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.

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

Tournament winners

Successor events

See also

References

External links