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	49th
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 December 2024
Rank	Change	Team	Pts %
1		Australia	100
2		New Zealand	86
3		England	84
4	1	Tonga	63
5	1	Samoa	54
6	1	Papua New Guinea	53
7	1	Fiji	44
8		France	30
9	2	Serbia	23
10		Cook Islands	22
11	1	Netherlands	22
12	5	Wales	18
13	2	Malta	17
14	6	Ukraine	13
15	1	Greece	12
16	7	Lebanon	12
17	4	Italy	11
18	2	Ireland	9
19	1	Jamaica	8
20	1	Czech Republic	8
21	2	Chile	8
22	3	Scotland	7
23	4	Philippines	7
24	7	United States	7
25	1	Poland	5
26	2	South Africa	5
27	5	Germany	5
28	3	Norway	5
29	4	Brazil	4
30	4	Kenya	4
31	10	Canada	4
32		Montenegro	4
33	2	North Macedonia	3
34	15	Argentina	3
35	5	Albania	2
36		Bulgaria	2
37	7	Ghana	2
38	9	Nigeria	2
39	5	Turkey	1
40	3	Cameroon	1
41	2	Japan	1
42	4	Spain	1
43	1	Colombia	1
44	1	El Salvador	0
45		Russia	0
46	1	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0
47	3	Hong Kong	0
48	3	Solomon Islands	0
49	8	Vanuatu	0
50		Niue	0
51	1	Latvia	0
52	2	Denmark	0
53	2	Belgium	0
54	4	Estonia	0
55	9	Sweden	0
56	12	Morocco	0
57	9	Hungary	0
Complete rankings at INTRL.SPORT

See also

• Sports portal