The 2019 Oceania Cup was the inaugural edition of the Oceania Cup. Contested by six teams, the competition began in June and concluded in November.
The competition was announced at the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF) congress in November 2018.[1] The draw was released in March and breaks the six teams into two separate pools with promotion and relegation to exist in what is to become an annual tournament. Group A will comprise the top three ranked Pacific nations in Australia, New Zealand and Tonga while Group B will comprise Fiji, Samoa and Papua New Guinea.[2][3]
The winner of Pool A will win the Oceania Cup while the winner of Pool B will win the Oceania Shield and be promoted to Pool A in the next edition in place of Australia, who were due to travel to Europe for their first Kangaroos tour since 2003.[4]
Venues
The games were played at the following venues in New Zealand and Australia.
Daniel Russell (Papua New Guinea) made his Test debut, while Alex Johnston made his debut for Papua New Guinea having previously represented Australia.