Papua New Guinea national rugby union team

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This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Papua New Guinea women's national rugby union team.
Papua New Guinea
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)The Pukpuks
UnionPapua New Guinea Rugby Football Union
Head coachBilly Rapila
First colours
World Rugby ranking
Current83 (as of 23 November 2020)
First international
 Papua New Guinea 47–3  New Hebrides
(1966-12-01)
Biggest win
 Papua New Guinea 97–3  Vanuatu
(2005-08-20)
Biggest defeat
 Papua New Guinea 7–115  Samoa
(2009-07-11)
hide
Medal record
Pacific Games
Gold medal – first place 1966 Noumea
Silver medal – second place 1969 Port Moresby

The Papua New Guinea national rugby union team, nicknamed the Pukpuks, (Tok Pisin for 'crocodiles'), played its first international in 1966, defeating Vanuatu 47–3. Papua New Guinea have not so far qualified for a Rugby World Cup. They participated in the Oceania World Cup qualifying tournaments for the 2007, 2011 and 2015 World Cups, but did not qualify.

History[]

See also: Rugby union in Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea made their international rugby debut at the South Pacific Games in 1966. The team won all three matches against New Hebrides, New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna to win the gold medal.

As hosts for the following games held at Port Moresby in 1969, Papua New Guinea defeated New Caledonia again and the Solomon Islands but lost to the eventual gold medalist Fiji to finish with the silver medal.

Papua New Guinea entered a qualifying tournament for the 1999 Rugby World Cup in Wales. Papua New Guinea competed in Round 1 of the Oceania qualifying tournament. Although they defeated Tahiti, they lost 22–19 against the Cook Islands. They finished second in the final standings.

They played in qualifying tournaments for the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia, playing in Round 1b of the Oceania tournament. Papua New Guinea defeated both the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to advance through to Round 3. In Round 3 Papua New Guinea faced the Cook Islands to advance to Round 4. In the final round, for repechage qualification, Papua New Guinea were defeated by Tonga.

In attempting to qualify for the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France, Papua New Guinea started out in Round 1a of the tournament. Papua New Guinea defeated the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to finish at the top of the standings to move through to Round 2. In Round 2 the Cook Islands went through to Round 4.

The Pukpuks won the inaugural Federation of Oceania Rugby Union (FORU) Cup (2007), defeating Niue in the final by a score of 46–19. In the 2009 Oceania Nations Cup, Papua New Guinea managed to beat Vanuatu 86–12 in the semifinals and in the final, beat Cook Islands 29–12. They then went on to play Samoa in the Oceania Qualification for the 2011 Rugby World Cup where they got beaten 115–7 away and 73–12 at home. They were unable to qualify for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Papua New Guinea hosted the 2011 edition of the FORU Oceania Cup, winning the tournament by defeating Vanuatu (78–3),[1] Solomon Islands (33–15)[2] and Niue (36–7) [3]

World Cup record[]

World Cup record
Year Round P W D L F A
AustraliaNew Zealand 1987 No qualifying tournament held
FranceRepublic of IrelandUnited Kingdom 1991 Did not enter
South Africa 1995
Wales 1999 Did not qualify
Australia 2003
France 2007
New Zealand 2011
England 2015
Japan 2019 Withdrew
Total 0/8 - - - - - -

Overall Records[]

Below is table of the representative rugby matches played by an Papau New Guinea national XV at test level up until 20 April 2020.[4]

Team Mat Won Lost Draw Win% Last played For Aga Diff
 American Samoa 1 1 0 0 100% 2015 36 22 +14
 Cook Islands 7 3 4 0 42.86% 2013 153 163 −10
 Fiji 3 0 3 0 0% 1979 3 253 −250
 Hong Kong 3 0 3 0 0% 2016 26 79 −53
 Nauru 1 1 0 0 100% 2019 89 7 +82
 New Caledonia 3 2 1 0 66.67% 1979 59 25 +34
New Hebrides New Hebrides 1 1 0 0 100% 1966 47 3 +44
 Niue 3 3 0 0 100% 2019 111 44 +67
 Russia 1 0 1 0 0% 2016 19 49 −30
 Samoa 2 0 2 0 0% 2009 19 188 −169
 Solomon Islands 8 8 0 0 100% 2019 284 97 +187
 Sri Lanka 2 2 0 0 100% 1992 46 35 +11
 Tahiti 3 3 0 0 100% 2015 163 48 +115
 Tonga 2 0 2 0 0% 2002 26 135 −105
 Vanuatu 5 5 0 0 100% 2011 339 28 +311
 Wallis and Futuna 2 2 0 0 100% 1969 100 5 +95
 Zimbabwe 1 0 1 0 0% 2016 11 38 −27
Total 50 32 18 0 64% – 1564 1271 +293

Squad[]

Squad to FORU Oceania Cup (3 December 2011):

  • Shane Amean
  • Kapua Kapua
  • Shane Koal
  • Aaron Miai
  • Philip Suapo
  • Leme Tole
  • Raymond Vagi (c)
  • Billy Torea
  • Douglas Guise
  • Wesley Rooney
  • Emmanuel Guise
  • Emmanuel Auru
  • Tisa Kautu
  • Andrew Samson
  • Christopher Kakah
  • Chauka Posolok
  • Wesley Thomas
  • Gabriel Biyama
  • George Oki
  • Kumalau Auru
  • Frank Gabi
  • Jonah Kautu
  • Dazy laka

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ http://www.irb.com/newsmedia/regional/newsid=2060706.html#png+solomon+islands+oceania+cup Archived 2011-12-01 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ http://www.irb.com/newsmedia/regional/newsid=2060759.html#png+remain+unbeaten+oceania+cup Archived 2011-12-03 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ http://www.irb.com/newsmedia/regional/newsid=2060797.html#png+claim+oceania+cup+2011 Archived 2011-12-07 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "team records". espnscrum. Retrieved 20 April 2020.

External links[]

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