2003 Rugby World Cup – Oceania qualification

In qualification for the 2003 Rugby World Cup, a number of positions were available to Oceania nations. Fiji and Samoa qualified, joining automatic qualifiers Australia and New Zealand, while Tonga progressed to the repechage, where they faced South Korea.

Round 1

The six teams in the "Small Islands" group were divided into Western and Eastern pools, comprising three teams each. The teams in each pool played each other in a single round robin, with the top team in each pool qualifying for round 3.

Pool A (Eastern Zone)

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Cook Islands	2	2	0	0	114	8	+106	6
2	Tahiti	2	1	0	1	41	92	−51	4
3	Niue	2	0	0	2	14	69	−55	2

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue
2 June 2001	Cook Islands	86–0[1]	Tahiti	Rarotonga, Cook Islands
9 June 2001	Niue	8–28[2]	Cook Islands	Alofi, Niue
16 June 2001	Tahiti	41–6[3]	Niue	Papeete, Tahiti

Pool B (Western Zone)

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Papua New Guinea	2	2	0	0	64	20	+44	6
2	Solomon Islands	2	1	0	1	21	35	−14	4
3	Vanuatu	2	0	0	2	13	43	−30	2

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue
2 June 2001	Papua New Guinea	32–10[4]	Solomon Islands	Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
9 June 2001	Vanuatu	10–32[5]	Papua New Guinea	Port Vila, Vanuatu
16 June 2001	Solomon Islands	11–3[6]	Vanuatu	Honiara, Solomon Islands

Round 2

In Round 2, the traditional three biggest Pacific Island nations played a single round-robin tournament. The top two qualified directly for the Rugby World Cup as Oceania 1 and 2 respectively, while the bottom-placed team went to Round 4 of qualifying. Fiji finished top and qualified for Pool B as Oceania 1, while Samoa finished second and were placed in Pool C as Oceania 2.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Fiji	4	3	0	1	123	80	+43	10
2	Samoa	4	3	0	1	96	58	+38	10
3	Tonga	4	0	0	4	71	152	−81	4

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue
1 June 2002	Samoa	16–17	Fiji	Apia, Samoa
7 June 2002	Tonga	22–47[7]	Fiji	Nukuʻalofa Tonga
15 June 2002	Tonga	16–27[8]	Samoa	Nukuʻalofa, Tonga
22 June 2002	Fiji	12–22[9]	Samoa	Suva Fiji
28 June 2002	Samoa	31–13[10]	Tonga	Apia, Samoa
6 July 2002	Fiji	47–20[11]	Tonga	Suva Fiji

Round 3

Round 3 saw the winners of the two pools in round 1 play home and away to qualify for round 4.

Date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue
19 October 2002	Papua New Guinea	29–14[12]	Cook Islands	Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
26 October 2002	Cook Islands	21–13[13]	Papua New Guinea	Rarotonga, Cook Islands

Round 4

Round 4 saw Papua New Guinea, the winners from round 3, take on Tonga, the third-placed team from round 2. The winners would qualify for the repechage. Tonga won 131–26 on aggregate to progress.

Date	Home team	Score	Away team	Venue
30 November 2002	Papua New Guinea	14–47	Tonga	Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
6 December 2002	Tonga	84–12	Papua New Guinea	Nukuʻalofa, Tonga

References

1. "Cook Islands v Tahiti at Raratonga". ESPN. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
2. "Niue Island v Cook Islands at Paliati". ESPN. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
3. "Niue Island v Tahiti at Papetee". ESPN. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
4. "Papua New Guinea v Solomon Islands at Port Moresby". ESPN. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
5. "Vanuatu v Papua New Guinea at Port Vila". ESPN. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
6. "Solomon Islands v Vanuatu at Honiara". ESPN. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
7. "Fiji vs Tonga – Match Statistics – Rugby World Cup Qualifier 2003". ESPN. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
8. "Tonga vs Samoa – Summary – Rugby World Cup Qualifier 2003". ESPN. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
9. "Fiji vs Samoa – Summary – Rugby World Cup Qualifier 2003". ESPN. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
10. "Samoa vs Tonga – Summary – Rugby World Cup Qualifier 2003". ESPN. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
11. "Fiji vs Tonga – Summary – Rugby World Cup Qualifier 2003". ESPN. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
12. "PNG grabs advantage". ESPN. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
13. "Cook Islands v Papua New Guinea". ESPN scrum. Retrieved 5 August 2018.