Pacific

Oceania Rugby Women's Champs cancelled

06:48 am on 16 September 2020

The Oceania Rugby Women's Championship is the latest sporting event to be cancelled because of the Covid-19 outbreak.

The Manusina ran in nine tries against the PNG Palais. Photo: Oceania Rugby

The announcement comes a week after the regional men's and women's sevens championships were also scrapped.

Oceania Rugby General Manager Bruce Cook said the health and well-being of players, officials and public remains to be their top priority.

"Given the exponential global growth of women's rugby and the opportunity to once again showcase our women's talent across the region leading into next year's all important Rugby World Cup, the cancellation of the Oceania Rugby Women's Championship was a very difficult and sad decision to make," he said.

"As with other key tournaments we have had to sadly cancel, the decisions have been made right at the last moment in the hope of providing our athletes the opportunity to return to play."

The 2019 Championship was the biggest to date, with the Fijiana XV joined by the Manusina, Papua New Guinea Cassowaries, Tonga as well as the New Zealand Development XV and Australia A.

The Fijiana celebrate qualifying for their first ever Rugby World Cup. Photo: Oceania Rugby