South Pacific Championship
Encyclopedia
The South Pacific Championship was a rugby union
competition that was introduced in 1986, and contested through to 1991 when it was renamed the Super Six (or Super Sixes). The competition consisted of six teams - three provinces from New Zealand; Auckland, Canterbury and Wellington, as well as two Australian teams; Queensland
and New South Wales
, and lastly Fiji
.
football - which was expanding its domestic competition. It was decided to invite the New Zealand provincial teams of Canterbury and Auckland into the competition due to their close links to the New South Wales and Queensland unions respectively. The third New Zealand team of Wellington was also invited due to it having an international airport in the city. The sixth team of Fiji was invited into the competition as, at the time, it was the most competitive of the Pacific rugby teams.
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
competition that was introduced in 1986, and contested through to 1991 when it was renamed the Super Six (or Super Sixes). The competition consisted of six teams - three provinces from New Zealand; Auckland, Canterbury and Wellington, as well as two Australian teams; Queensland
Queensland Reds
The Queensland Reds represent Queensland in the sport of rugby union in the Southern Hemisphere Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996 they were a representative team selected on merit from the rugby union club competitions in Queensland...
and New South Wales
New South Wales Waratahs
The New South Wales Waratahs are an Australian rugby union football team, representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super 15 Super Rugby competition...
, and lastly Fiji
Fiji national rugby union team
The Fiji national rugby union team is a member of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance formerly along with Samoa and Tonga. In 2009, Samoa announced their departure from the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance, leaving just Fiji and Tonga. Fiji are ranked sixteenth in the world by the IRB as of 26...
.
Background
The competition was organised by the New South Wales Rugby Union on an invitational basis. The reason the championship was started was to supply some regular matches to the New South Wales and Queensland teams in an attempt to compete against rugby leagueRugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
football - which was expanding its domestic competition. It was decided to invite the New Zealand provincial teams of Canterbury and Auckland into the competition due to their close links to the New South Wales and Queensland unions respectively. The third New Zealand team of Wellington was also invited due to it having an international airport in the city. The sixth team of Fiji was invited into the competition as, at the time, it was the most competitive of the Pacific rugby teams.
Results
- 1986 Auckland
- 1987 shared Canterbury and Auckland
- 1988 Auckland
- 1989 Auckland
- 1990 Auckland
- 1991 No competition
See also
- Super 10Super 10 (Southern Hemisphere competition)The Super 10 was a rugby union tournament featuring ten teams from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Tonga and Western Samoa, which ran for three years from 1993 to 1995...
- Super 12/Super 14/Super 15Super 14Super Rugby is the largest and pre-eminent professional Rugby union competition in the Southern Hemisphere...