Vanuatu national rugby league team

The Vanuatu national rugby league team represents Vanuatu in international rugby league matches. The team was founded in 2011 and is administered by the Vanuatu Rugby League (VRL).

Vanuatu

Team information
Governing body	Vanuatu Rugby League
Region	Asia-Pacific
Head coach	Lionel Harbin
Captain	James Wood
Home stadium	Port Vila Municipal Stadium
IRL ranking	57th
Team results
First international
Vanuatu 14–24 Greece  (Port Vila, Vanuatu; 20 October 2012)
Biggest win
Vanuatu 48–30 Solomon Islands  (Mackay, Australia; 7 October 2013)
Biggest defeat
Vanuatu 16–32 Philippines  (Luganville, Vanuatu; 11 October 2014)
World Cup
Appearances	0

History

The Vanuatu national team was founded in 2011 after Australian Dane Campbell began to promote rugby league in Vanuatu.^[1] Campbell was the inaugural head coach of the team. They played their first match in the Cabramatta International Nines on 4 February 2012. Joe Meninga, nephew of Mal Meninga, was selected in Vanuatu's squad for the tournament.^[2] The team were undefeated in reaching the final, where they lost to the Australian Aboriginal team.

Vanuatu played their first test match against Greece on 20 October 2012, which they lost 14-24.^[3][4] On 20 August 2013, David Simpson was announced as head coach, succeeding the inaugural head coach Dane Campbell.^[5]

Vanuatu finished in eighth place at the 2018 Emerging Nations World Championship.^[6]

Competitive record

Below is a list Vanuatu national team record as of 23 December 2020.^[7]

Overall

Opponent	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Win %	For	Aga	Diff
Greece	2	0	0	2	0%	14	64	–50
Hungary	1	0	0	1	0%	13	18	–5
Niue	1	1	0	0	100%	22	20	+2
Philippines	1	0	0	1	0%	16	32	–16
Poland	1	0	0	1	0%	4	44	–40
Solomon Islands	3	3	0	0	100%	112	65	+47
Turkey	1	0	0	1	100%	26	27	–1
Total	10	4	0	6	40%	207	270	–63

Results

Date	Opponent	Score	Venue	Attendance	Competition	Report
20 October 2012	Greece	14–24	Port Vila Municipal Stadium, Port Vila		Friendly
7 October 2013	Solomon Islands	48–30	Stadium Mackay, Mackay	1,648	Friendly
12 October 2013	Niue	22–20	Port Vila Municipal Stadium, Port Vila	3,022	Friendly
11 October 2014	Philippines	16–32	Chapius Stadium, Luganville	2,021	Friendly
16 October 2016	Solomon Islands	24–16	Port Vila Municipal Stadium, Port Vila	1,000	Friendly
4 October 2018	Hungary	13–18	St Marys Leagues Stadium, Sydney	300	2018 Emerging Nations World Championship	[6][8]
7 October 2018	Greece	0–38	Kellyville Ridge Stadium, Sydney	130	2018 Emerging Nations World Championship	[6][9]
10 October 2018	Poland	4–44	New Era Stadium, Sydney	170	2018 Emerging Nations World Championship	[6][10]
10 October 2018	Turkey	26–27	St Marys Leagues Stadium, Sydney		2018 Emerging Nations World Championship	[6][11]

IRL Rankings

IRL Men's World Rankings v t e
Official rankings as of 30 June 2024
Rank	Change	Team	Pts %
1		Australia	100
2		New Zealand	82
3		England	80
4		Samoa	67
5		Tonga	49
6	1	Fiji	47
7	1	Papua New Guinea	46
8		France	28
9		Lebanon	22
10		Cook Islands	20
11		Serbia	19
12		Netherlands	17
13		Italy	15
14	1	Greece	15
15	1	Malta	14
16		Ireland	14
17		Wales	13
18		Jamaica	10
19		Scotland	9
20		Ukraine	7
21		Czech Republic	7
22		Germany	6
23	3	Chile	6
24		Poland	6
25	3	Norway	6
26	1	Kenya	5
27	4	Philippines	5
28	3	South Africa	4
29		Nigeria	4
30		Ghana	4
31	2	United States	4
32	4	Montenegro	4
33	2	Brazil	3
34	2	Turkey	3
35	7	North Macedonia	3
36	2	Bulgaria	3
37	2	Cameroon	2
38	1	Spain	2
39	1	Japan	1
40	1	Albania	1
41	5	Canada	1
42	2	Colombia	1
43	2	El Salvador	1
44	1	Morocco	1
45		Russia	0
46	2	Sweden	0
47	2	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0
48	2	Hungary	0
49	3	Argentina	0
50		Hong Kong	0
51	3	Solomon Islands	0
52	5	Niue	0
53	1	Latvia	0
54	1	Denmark	0
55	6	Belgium	0
56	1	Estonia	0
57	6	Vanuatu	0
Complete rankings at INTRL.SPORT

See also

• Sports portal

References

1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-04-10. Retrieved 2011-12-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
2. "Vanuatu Rugby League announces national team". Vanuatu Daily Post. 19 December 2011. Archived from the original on 25 March 2012.
3. "Rugby League Planet - Greece defeat Vanuatu in Port Vila". rugbyleagueplanet.com. Archived from the original on 2012-10-26.
4. Bryan, Andrew (6 November 2012). "Lazarus' Greek Odyssey". NRL.com. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
5. "New Squad and Coach announced". VanuatuRL.com. 20 August 2013. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
6. "Vanuatu". Rugby League Emerging Nations World Championship. Archived from the original on 22 March 2019.
7. "Head to Head". Rugby League Planet. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
8. "Match Report: Hungary vs. Vanuatu". Rugby League Emerging Nations World Championship. 4 October 2018. Archived from the original on 7 October 2018.
9. "Match Report: Greece vs. Vanuatu". Rugby League Emerging Nations World Championship. 8 October 2018. Archived from the original on 2 April 2019.
10. "Match report: Poland ease past Vanuatu into trophy final". Rugby League Emerging Nations World Championship. 10 October 2018. Archived from the original on 9 April 2019.
11. "Match report: Turkey defeat Vanuatu in golden point thriller". Rugby League Emerging Nations World Championship. 13 October 2018. Archived from the original on 9 April 2019.

External links

• Official website