{"id":874864,"date":"2026-08-31T09:38:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T09:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/874864\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T09:38:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T09:38:27","slug":"pacific-teams-set-for-rugby-league-world-cup-2026-showdown-who-when-and-where-to-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/874864\/","title":{"rendered":"Pacific teams set for Rugby League World Cup 2026 showdown: Who, when and where to watch"},"content":{"rendered":"

The countdown is on for kick-off on the 2026 Rugby League World Cup which features five Pacific Islands men’s teams and three Pacific Islands women’s teams competing against the world’s best.<\/p>\n

Here’s a break down of all you need to know and where you need to go for all of your favourite Pacific Islands teams.<\/p>\n

Staged in nine cities in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, the World Cup will feature 53 matches across three tournaments in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Port Moresby, Christchurch, Newcastle, Wollongong, Gold Coast and Townsville.<\/p>\n

How the draw worksMEN<\/p>\n

The 10-team Men’s tournament will include one pool of four and two pools of three nations.<\/p>\n

The pools have been structured to reflect the most recent International Rugby League (IRL) world rankings.<\/p>\n

Group A: Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Cook Islands \u00a0<\/p>\n

Group A teams will play each other once and features two Pacific Islands teams – Cook Islands and Fiji – who will both need to get past Australia and New Zealand to keep their chances of advancing alive.<\/p>\n

Group B: England, Samoa, Lebanon \u00a0<\/p>\n

Group C: Tonga, Papua New Guinea, France \u00a0<\/p>\n

Group B and Group C will each play three matches against the teams in the other pool.<\/p>\n

The top two teams from Group A will progress to the semi-finals, while the top two teams from the combined table of Group B and Group C will progress to the semi-finals.<\/p>\n

The first Pacific team to play in the men’s competition will be Samoa when they take on France on October 16 at Western Sydney Stadium in Parramatta.<\/p>\n

\"A Toa Samoa perform the siva tau to Pacific rivals Tonga during the Pacific Championships in Brisbane in 2025.(ABC Pacific: Penina Momoisea)WOMEN<\/p>\n

There are three Pacific Islands teams who will compete in the 2026 Rugby League World Cup \u2014 Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Samoa.<\/p>\n

Group A: \u00a0Australia, England, Samoa, Wales\u202f<\/p>\n

Group B: \u00a0New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, France, Fiji\u202f<\/p>\n

The eight-team women’s tournament will feature two groups of four and each team will play three matches against the other teams in their group.<\/p>\n

The top two teams from each group will progress to the semi-finals.<\/p>\n

The Women’s tournament will kick off on Friday, October 16 with a clash between the Jillaroos and Samoa that will headline a double-header at Western Sydney Stadium with the Samoa v France Men’s match being played first.<\/p>\n

The Pacific Islands do not have any teams in the wheelchair tournament but keep an eye out for Corey Cannane who is of Samoan heritage and plays for the Wheelaroos (Australia’s wheelchair team).<\/p>\n

\"A Corey Cannane is of Samoan heritage and represents Australia in wheelchair rugby league.(NRL Photos: Grant Trouville)The Draw \u2014 Pacific Islands edition:<\/p>\n

All times are Australian Eastern Daylight Time.<\/p>\n

Round 1Friday October 16<\/p>\n

Double Header\u00a0<\/p>\n

POOL B MEN<\/p>\n

Toa Samoa vs France les Bleus<\/p>\n

5.45pm at Western Sydney Stadium, Parramatta<\/p>\n

POOL A WOMEN<\/p>\n

Fetu Samoa vs Australia Jillaroos<\/p>\n

8.05pm at Western Sydney Stadium, Parramatta<\/p>\n

Saturday October 17<\/p>\n

Double Header\u00a0<\/p>\n

POOL B WOMEN\u00a0<\/p>\n

PNG Orchids vs France Les Tricolores<\/p>\n

1.15pm at PNG Football Stadium, Port Moresby<\/p>\n

POOL B MEN\u00a0<\/p>\n

PNG Kumuls vs Lebanon Cedars<\/p>\n

3.25pm at PNG Football Stadium, Port Moresby<\/p>\n

POOL B MEN\u00a0<\/p>\n

England Lions vs Tonga Rugby League XIII<\/p>\n

8.05pm at Perth Rectangular Stadium, Perth<\/p>\n

Sunday October 18<\/p>\n

Double Header\u00a0<\/p>\n

POOL B WOMEN<\/p>\n

Fiji Bulikula vs New Zealand Kiwi Ferns<\/p>\n

1.50pm at Newcastle International Sports Centre, Newcastle<\/p>\n

POOL A MEN<\/p>\n

Fiji Bati vs Cook Islands Aitu<\/p>\n

4.05pm at Newcastle International Sports Centre, Newcastle<\/p>\n

\"A The Fiji Bulikula will make history when they run out in their first game against the New Zealand Kiwi Ferns. \u00a0It will be the first time they play in a Rugby League World Cup\u00a0(Facebook: Fiji Bulikula\u00a0)Round 2Friday October 23<\/p>\n

Double Header\u00a0<\/p>\n

POOL A WOMEN<\/p>\n

Fetu Samoa vs Wales<\/p>\n

5.45pm at Western Sydney Stadium, Parramatta<\/p>\n

POOL B MEN<\/p>\n

Tonga Rugby League XIII vs Lebanon Cedars<\/p>\n

8.05pm at Western Sydney Stadium, Parramatta<\/p>\n

Saturday October 24<\/p>\n

Double Header<\/p>\n

POOL B WOMEN<\/p>\n

Fiji Bulikula vs PNG Orchids<\/p>\n

1.15pm at PNG Football Stadium, Port Moresby<\/p>\n

POOL B MEN<\/p>\n

PNG Kumuls vs Toa Samoa<\/p>\n

3.25pm at PNG Football Stadium, Port Moresby<\/p>\n

Sunday October 25<\/p>\n

POOL A MEN<\/p>\n

Cook Islands Aitu vs New Zealand Kiwis<\/p>\n

4.05pm at Te Kaha Stadium, Christchurch<\/p>\n

POOL A MEN<\/p>\n

Australia Kangaroos vs Fiji Bati<\/p>\n

8.05pm at Brisbane Stadium (Lang Park), Brisbane<\/p>\n

\"A Morea Morea in action for the PNG Kumuls in last year’s Pacific Championships in Port Moresby.(ABC Pacific: Jeremiah William)Round 3Friday October 30<\/p>\n

Double Header<\/p>\n

POOL A WOMEN<\/p>\n

Fetu Samoa vs England Lionesses<\/p>\n

5.45pm at Wollongong Showground, Wollongong<\/p>\n

POOL B MEN<\/p>\n

PNG Kumuls vs England Lions<\/p>\n

8.05pm at Wollongong Showground, Wollongong<\/p>\n

Saturday October 31<\/p>\n

Triple header<\/p>\n

POOL B WOMEN<\/p>\n

Fiji Bulikula vs France Les Tricolores<\/p>\n

1.20pm at Robina Stadium, Gold Coast<\/p>\n

POOL A MEN<\/p>\n

Fiji Bati vs NZ Kiwis<\/p>\n

3.30pm at Robina Stadium, Gold Coast<\/p>\n

POOL B WOMEN<\/p>\n

PNG Orchids vs NZ Kiwi Ferns<\/p>\n

5.45pm at Robina Stadium, Gold Coast<\/p>\n

POOL A MEN<\/p>\n

Cook Islands Aitu vs Australia Kangaroos<\/p>\n

8.05pm at North Queensland Stadium, Townsville<\/p>\n

Sunday November 1<\/p>\n

POOL B MEN<\/p>\n

Toa Samoa vs Tonga Rugby League XIII<\/p>\n

8.05pm at Western Sydney Stadium, Parramatta<\/p>\n

\"Three Fetu Samoa girls after one of their Pacific Championships games in Sydney.(ABC Pacific: Penina Momoisea)<\/p>\n

The Men’s and Women’s 2026 Rugby League World Cup will be live on ABC Radio Australia<\/a> across the Pacific.<\/p>\n

Posted\u00a0Mon 31 Aug 2026 at 5:43pmMon 31 Aug 2026 at 5:43pmMon 31 Aug 2026 at 5:43pm, updated\u00a0Mon 31 Aug 2026 at 6:09pmMon 31 Aug 2026 at 6:09pmMon 31 Aug 2026 at 6:09pm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The countdown is on for kick-off on the 2026 Rugby League World Cup which features five Pacific Islands…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":874865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[444140,64,63,19307,2992,26045,15499,316133,1736,444139,15560,760,159,139707,5993,588,85,18559,444141,128479],"class_list":["post-874864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-aitu","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cook-islands","tag-draw","tag-fiji-bati","tag-kiwis","tag-kumuls","tag-new-zealand","tag-pacific-island-teams","tag-png","tag-rugby","tag-rugby-league","tag-rugby-league-world-cup","tag-samoa","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-tonga","tag-wheelchair-rugby","tag-womens-rugby-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}