The Pacific Nations Cup was funded as an
International Rugby Board (IRB) tournament which was part of the $US50 million, three-year, global strategic investment programme launched in August 2005. The competition was aimed at developing the
Pacific Rim sides in the second tier of the rugby countries:
Fiji,
Japan,
Samoa and
Tonga. The
Junior All Blacks were also invited to compete, who are New Zealand's second XV. "The IRB Pacific 5 Nations is a tournament that will provide more certainty for Fiji, Japan, Samoa and Tonga in terms of regular high level Test match rugby, while also providing a high level of competition for the Junior All Blacks," said
Mark Egan, the IRB's Head of Rugby Services. ,
2008 Pacific Nations Cup In the first year only it was called the
Pacific 5 Nations and did not include Australia. Australia had been invited to take part in the inaugural 2006 tournament but decided against sending a team stating that they wanted to focus on their domestic competition. The inaugural tournament kicked off 3 June 2006 and was played in a round-robin format, with some games being held in Australia. The Junior All Blacks won all of their matches en route to winning the 2006 tournament. The inaugural tournament was a success in providing a platform for Pacific states and Japan in gaining valuable exposure.
Australia A joined an expanded competition for the 2007 season. The inclusion of Australia A meant that the tier 2 teams would have an even greater number of matches in the buildup to the
2007 Rugby World Cup. For Australia, it provided a stepping stone for
Wallaby selection. Following the 2008 tournament, however, the ARU announced Australia A would not play in 2009 due to the current economic environment. Australia has not participated again until
2022. In 2008, the
New Zealand Māori team replaced the Junior All Blacks in the competition. The
New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) had decided that the New Zealand Māori needed to play more matches at home and that the Junior All Blacks would not be assembled in 2008 for reasons of "player welfare." The Junior All Blacks returned for the 2009 tournament, but no New Zealand team has participated since then. From 2010 to 2012, the Pacific Nations Cup was a four-team tournament, contested by Japan, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, with Samoa winning in 2010 and 2012, and Japan winning in 2011. In January 2013, the IRB announced that both the
United States and
Canada teams would be joining the
2013 competition on a permanent basis. For the first time, the reigning champion Samoan team did not compete as they took part in a
competition in South Africa. The Pacific Nations Cup was downscaled for 2016 and 2017 with these two editions featuring only Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. The sides from Canada, Japan and United States played in their respective regional qualifiers for the
2019 Rugby World Cup. As part of the Oceanian qualification, places at the 2019 Rugby World Cup were awarded to the two top teams of the 2016 and 2017 PNC (on aggregate), whereas the bottom team played a
repechage match against the second best Rugby Europe Championship team. was invited for the 2018 tournament hosted in Suva. The competition format would, however, be staged with a
round-robin pool stage followed by a
knockout stage (finals), merging North America and the Asia-Pacific regions, replacing the former regional qualification method. ==Teams==