[Source: Rugby World Cup]

A new annual men’s 15s competition involving Canada, Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga, and the USA will launch in 2024, reaffirming World Rugby’s commitment to increasing global competitiveness on the road to Rugby World Cups in Australia (2027) and the USA (2031).

World Rugby is committed to increasing the competitiveness, value, and reach of the game.

Pacific Nations Cup to provide long-term certainty and opportunity in 2024

New competition is a key building block for providing an increased number of annual test matches.

A new annual men’s 15s competition involving Canada, Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga, and the USA will launch in 2024, reaffirming World Rugby’s commitment to increasing global competitiveness on the road to Rugby World Cups in Australia (2027) and the USA (2031).

Approved by the international federation’s Council, the rebranded Pacific Nations Cup, which will be played in the southern hemisphere release window of August and September, will feature two pools of three teams: a North America/Japan pool and a Pacific Islands pool, with each union hosting matches.

A finals series involving all teams will take place each year, where the annual champions will be confirmed.

Japan and USA will host the finals series in alternate years, starting with Japan in 2024.

Backed by significant World Rugby investment and union support, each union will play a minimum of three additional matches a year via the new competition, delivering important certainty for each union in order to optimize commercial and performance returns, including ticket and sponsorship revenue and domestic broadcast.

The competition supports the bigger picture objective of reshaping the global men’s competition calendar, and combined with the proposed two-division global competition model, renewed investment in regional competitions, and cross-border club structures, the new competition landscape will secure a positive and sustainable future of international rugby for participating unions, providing a platform for accelerated growth.

World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont said: “We have seen at this Rugby World Cup just how the performance nations need certainty of regular access to top-level competition to be able to build, grow, and deliver on the world stage.

This Pacific Nations Cup competition helps address that need as we look to reshape the global calendar to deliver greater opportunity, certainty and equity. By 2026, these teams will have unprecedented high-level competition access.”

World Rugby Chief Executive Alan Gilpin says they are on the side of growth and this tournament is a key pillar in a wider strategy. Combined with the proposed new two-division global competition model from 2026 and cross-over fixtures against high-performance unions, performance unions could be playing an unprecedented number of annual fixtures from 2026.

Gilpin says hosting the grand final in the USA every two years is at the heart of their strategy to grow rugby visibility, accessibility and relevance on the road to the Rugby World Cup 2031 and 2033.

He adds that they will be making some big announcements on this in the coming months.”

Samoa head coach Seilala Mapusua is excited about the potential of the expanded Pacific Nations Cup, as it provides important high-quality fixture certainty to grow and develop Manu Samoa.

Mapusua adds that this means they will have more test matches and more time together as a team, which they lacked in the past.

He is rest assured that this new environment will enable them grow and develop as the world look towards the Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia.

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