Pacific nations to play-off for Women's World Cup berth

The women’s qualifying process for IRL Rugby League World Cup 2026 has been finalised with the announcement of the 2024 Pacific Championships draw.

Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga will play off over three weeks for the seventh place at RLWC2026, which is being hosted by the ARLC with matches in Australia and Papua New Guinea.

Tonga, who were 14th in the latest IRL World Rankings, will play 24th ranked Samoa in Fiji on October 19, with Fiji - ranked 26th - to host sixth ranked Cook Islands on October 26.

The sudden death matches pits:

•  the highest ranked nation of the four (Cook Islands) against the 4th ranked (Fiji), and;
•  the 2nd and 3rd highest ranked nations (Tonga and Samoa) against each other.

The two winners will meet in Auckland on November 3, with the victor joining Australia, England, France, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Wales as nations to have qualified for RLWC2026.

With the growth of women’s rugby league across the globe, a World Cup qualifying process has been introduced for the first time, with tournaments in Africa, the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific.

The IRL Women’s World Cup 2026, which will be played alongside the men’s and wheelchair tournaments before it is staged as a standalone event in 2028, will feature eight teams comprising of:

• Four Pacific nations
• Three European nations
• Winner of inaugural IRL World Series in 2025. 

With Australia, New Zealand, England and Papua New Guinea having already qualified as semi-finalists at the last World Cup in 2022, there were 16 nations vying for the remaining four berths.

France and Wales became the fifth and sixth nations to earn World Cup berths after winning their pools in European RLWC2026 qualifiers earlier this year.

Qualifying tournaments are scheduled to take place in Florida in November - featuring USA, Canada and Jamaica - and Nairobi, where Kenya will host Nigeria in a two-match series in September.

The 2025 World Series will be contested by the:

• African winner (Kenya or Nigeria);
• Americas winner (Canada, Jamaica, USA)
• third placed European nation (Greece or Ireland)
• Pacific runner-up (Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga).

The winner of the World Series will secure the eighth and final place at the 2026 World Cup.