Cook Islands national rugby union team

Cook Islands

Union	Cook Islands Rugby Union
Head coach	Stan Wright
Captain	Sam Anderson-Heather
First colours
World Rugby ranking
Current	52 (as of 23 November 2020)
First international
Western Samoa 24–18 Cook Islands (1 September 1971)
Biggest win
Cook Islands 86–0 Tahiti (2 June 2001)
Biggest defeat
Fiji 108–6 Cook Islands (28 June 2014)
Medal record International medals Pacific Games 1971 Papeete 1987 Noumea Pacific Mini Games 1985 Rarotonga

The Cook Islands is a third tier rugby union playing nation. They began playing international rugby in the early 1971. Thus far, the Cook Islands have not made an appearance at any of the World Cups.

History

In 1924 a scratch team of Rarotongan boys, including the late Sir Albert Henry, played the All Black Invincibles on their way to the United Kingdom. The game was drawn 0–0.^[1]

The Cook Islands played their first official international on September 1, 1971 against Western Samoa, losing 24 points to 18. The Cook Islands went on to win against Wallis and Futuna the next day and then lose again to Samoa the day after.

The next time the Cook Islands played was nine years later in 1980, in a close game against a touring Italian side; the Cook Islands won by 15 – 6. Three years later they again played Samoa, again losing. The next match for the Islanders wasn't until 1996, when they played Papua New Guinea. Since then, they play regularly against them and fellow Pacific sides Niue and Tahiti.

While Niue and the Cook Islands are not members of the Pacific Tri-Nations competition, they can supply players for the Pacific Islanders'. The first and still sole player from Cook Islands to have represented the Pacific Islanders was Tu Tamarua, in 2004.

The best Cook Islands rugby players often play in New Zealand where there is a large Cook Island population.

The Cook Islands entered the play-off round 4 against Tonga for a berth at the 2007 Rugby World Cup, but suffered heavy losses by 77–10 at home and 90–0 away, in 2006, being eliminated.

The Cook Islands entered recently Oceania Cup, but were surprisingly eliminated by Niue who beat them 18–7 at Rarotonga.

The 2013 Oceania Cup hosted by Papua New Guinea saw the Cook Islands record wins over Tahiti, Soloman Islands and the final hosts Papua New Guinea.^[2] Cook Islands played and lost to Fiji in 2014 for the last spot (Oceania 1) at the 2015 Rugby World Cup.^[3]

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
Fiji	2	0	2	0	0%	2014	3	161	–148
Hong Kong	2	0	2	0	0%	2018	3	77	–74
Italy	1	1	0	0	100%	1980	15	6	+9
New Caledonia	2	2	0	0	100%	2003	82	13	+69
Māori All Blacks	1	0	1	0	100%	1992	17	29	–12
Niue	7	5	2	0	71.43%	2009	193	75	+118
Papua New Guinea	7	4	3	0	57.14%	2013	163	153	+10
Samoa	3	0	3	0	0%		31	102	–71
Solomon Islands	1	1	0	0	100%	2013	39	12	+27
Tahiti	9	7	2	0	77.78%	2017	419	128	+291
Tonga	3	0	3	0	0%	2006	22	235	–212
Wallis and Futuna	1	1	0	0	100%	1971	29	18	+11
Total	39	21	18	0	53.85%	–	1026	1009	+17

World Cup record

Year	Round	Position	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	Pts For	Against
1987	Not invited
1991 – 1995	Did not enter
1999 – 2019	Did not qualify
Total	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–

Current squad

Cook Islands squad for the 2019 Rugby World Cup Oceania qualifiers.^[5]

• Head Coach: Stan Wright

Player	Position	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Club/province
Sam Anderson-Heather	Hooker	15 February 1988 (aged 31)		Otago
Matt Mullany	Hooker			Johnsonville
Alex Casey	Prop	3 January 1991 (aged 28)		Queensland Country
AJ Campbell	Prop	9 August 1990 (aged 29)		North Brisbane
Alex Matapo	Prop	26 May 1982 (aged 37)		Ponsonby
Tuakana Paitai	Prop			Morrinsville
James Pakoti	Prop			Wairarapa Bush
Oneal Rongo	Lock			Northland
Shahn Eru	Lock	20 September 1989 (aged 30)		Perpignan
Tai Marsters	Lock			Ardmore Marist
Tyrone Viiga	Loose forward	9 June 1992 (aged 27)		AS Béziers
Eruu Wano	Loose forward	27 June 1994 (aged 25)		Ardmore Marist
Tainui Ford	Loose forward	28 August 1990 (aged 29)		Queensland Country
Teara Henderson	Scrum-half			Oriental Rongotai
Corry Tearoa	Scrum-half			Wanneroo Districts
Walter Koteka	Fly-half			Wests Scarborough
Will Raea	Fly-half			Manurewa
Reece Joyce	Fly-half			Bombay
Josh Gordon	Centre			Southern
Gene Te Amo	Centre			Manurewa
Josh Tinomana	Centre			Wests Scarborough
Brynn Uriarau	Wing			Taradale
Oisin Clarken	Wing			Moorabbin
Justin Masters	Fullback			Melbourne Rising
Greg Mullany	Fullback			OBU

Notable players

• Tommy Hayes
• Albert Henry
• Koiatu Koiatu
• Paul Koteka
• Dave Rennie
• Tu Tamarua
• Stan Wright
• Mike Beckham

See also

• Rugby union in the Cook Islands
• Cook Islands national rugby sevens team

References

External links

• Cook Islands Rugby Union – Official Site (in English)
• Cook Islands at the IRB Official Site
• Cook Islands Rugby Union on Facebook