The Solomon Islands national rugby union team represent

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

in the sport of

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 ...

. They played their first internationals as part of the 3rd South Pacific Games in Port Moresby, beginning with a 5–23 loss to host team

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

on 18 August 1969. Their first wins came soon after; 36–0 over

Wallis and Futuna Wallis and Futuna, officially the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands (; french: Wallis-et-Futuna or ', Fakauvea and Fakafutuna: '), is a French island collectivity in the South Pacific, situated between Tuvalu to the northwest, Fiji ...

and 28–12 against New Caledonia to win the bronze medal. Since then have played in only a small number of internationals, but did win bronze again in Port Moresby at the 9th South Pacific Games. Solomon Islands have yet to qualify for the

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

finals. The team did take part in the qualifying tournaments in Oceania for the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup. Originally planned to be hosted by India, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the Indian Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup ...

in Australia, and the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

in France, but did not end up qualifying.

History

In November and December 2011, Solomon Islands competed in the Eastern Regional Pool of the 2011

FORU Oceania Cup The Oceania Rugby Men's Championship (formerly known as the Oceania Cup) is an international rugby union competition for countries and territories from Oceania with national teams in the developmental band. It is administered by Oceania Rugby. T ...

. All matches were played at

Lloyd Robson Oval PNG Football Stadium (known as ''Lloyd Robson Oval'' until 2015) is a sporting ground in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. It hosted three games for the 1989–1992 Rugby League World Cup. It has been the home ground for the Papua New Guinea natio ...

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New Z ...

. In their first match, on 29 November, Solomon Islands recorded a notable 22–19 victory over the more fancied former champions Niue. This was followed by a 33–15 loss to host nation, Papua New Guinea. In their final pool match, Solomon Islands defeated

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 ...

48–20 to finish second in the pool, behind Papua New Guinea. This victory set a new record winning margin for the Solomon Islands, eclipsing the previous best of 11–3, also against Vanuatu, in 2001. By virtue of their wins at the tournament, Solomon Islands climbed to an all-time high of 69th position on the

IRB World 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 ...

, overtaking Niue in the process.

Record

World Cup

Overall

Current squad

On July 30, the 31-man squad was selected for the 2019 Oceania Rugby Cup.

External links

Solomon Islands
on IRB.com
Solomon Islands
on Rugbydata.com

at the

Federation of Oceania Rugby Unions 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 ...

(FORU)
Solomon Islands Official Games

References

{{National rugby teams Oceanian national rugby union teams Rugby union in the Solomon Islands