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)
Date Home team Score Away team Venue 2 June 2001 86–0 Rarotonga, Cook Islands 9 June 2001 8–28 Alofi, Niue 16 June 2001 41–6 Papeete, Tahiti
Pool B (Western Zone)
Date Home team Score Away team Venue 2 June 2001 32–10 Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea 9 June 2001 10–32 Port Vila, Vanuatu 16 June 2001 11–3 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.
Date Home team Score Away team Venue 1 June 2002 16–17 Apia, Samoa 7 June 2002 22–47 Nukuʻalofa Tonga 15 June 2002 16–27 Nukuʻalofa, Tonga 22 June 2002 12–22 Suva Fiji 28 June 2002 31–13 Apia, Samoa 6 July 2002 47–20 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 29–14 Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea 26 October 2002 21–13 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 14–47 Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea 6 December 2002 84–12 Nukuʻalofa, Tonga
References