Pacific Nations Cup Schedule Released

World Rugby has announced the fixtures for the 2018 Pacific Nations Cup, which will be hosted in Suva, Fiji between 9 and 16 June.

The World Rugby-funded tournament, which provides important high-performance preparation for teams ahead of Rugby World Cup 2019, sees Georgia joining Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.

In a revised format compared to previous editions, the winner will be determined as the team to have scored the maximum number of competition points over the two fixtures that they play.

The fixtures form part of a wider package of World Rugby-supported fixtures involving emerging and high performance Tier 2 rugby nations during the June window.

World Rugby Head of Competitions and Performance Mark Egan said: “World Rugby is committed to working in full partnership with its unions to design, implement and support a high-performance environment that will enable each union to optimise its potential at Rugby World Cup 2019 and beyond.

“Now in its 13th year, the Pacific Nations Cup is an example of this commitment in competitions, providing an important and competitive schedule for participating unions. It also delivers some of the most exciting rugby during the June window and I am sure that this new format will give it an extra edge for teams and fans.”

Fiji Rugby Union CEO John O’Connor added: “The World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup represents a great opportunity to defend our title at home and for fans to see the development of the Flying Fijians on the road to Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan.

“With just over a year to go until Rugby World Cup every match counts to prepare, form combinations and strategies, so this is an important competition. We have a very talented squad that includes the 2018 European Player of the Year, Leone Nakarawa, and Semi Radradra, who has switched codes and will pull on a Fiji jersey for the first time in front of a home crowd, which is exciting.”

Further details of where to watch the matches will be confirmed in due course.

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Source: Blog