Rugby union in Papua New Guinea

Rugby union in Papua New Guinea
Country	Papua New Guinea
Governing body	Papua New Guinea Rugby Football Union
National team(s)	Papua New Guinea
Registered players	8,520 (total)[1]
Clubs	80

Papua New Guinea is a tier three rugby union playing nation. They began playing international rugby union in 1965 and have yet to make the Rugby World Cup. Teams from Papua New Guinea have competed in the Commonwealth games.

Although Papua New Guinea has a rugby union tradition, rugby league is far more popular and is the national sport. Despite this, there are 8520 registered players of rugby union and 57 clubs.

The national side is ranked 83rd in the world (as of 27 June 2022).

The governing body is the Papua New Guinea Rugby Football Union.^[2]

Rugby is long established in PNG, and tends to fall under the Australian sphere of influence. The game has been played as a folk sport in many regions, and the country's general lack of infrastructure has hindered its national development.

Due to its close relationship with Queensland in Australia, rugby league is very strong in the country.

Former Grand Slam Wallaby Brendan Moon lives on the island, and has been helping the development for a number of years.^[3]

As with many of the Pacific Nations, PNG has tended to do best at rugby sevens, and has a strong national sevens team.^[3]

The Papua New Guinea national rugby union team is nicknamed the "Puk-Puks", from the Tok Pisin word for "crocodiles". They have not qualified for a Rugby World Cup yet.

• Papua New Guinea national rugby sevens team
• Papua New Guinea national under-20 rugby union team
• Papua New Guinea Rugby Football Union
• Sport in Papua New Guinea

• IRB PNG page
• Federation of Oceania Rugby Unions, Vanuatu page
• Oceania nations, Papua New Guine
• Two days of rugby union sevens
• "Papuan rugby teams play outside Indonesia for first time" by Harlyne Joku, Benar News (18 December 2023)

• Cotton, Fran (Ed.) (1984) The Book of Rugby Disasters & Bizarre Records. Compiled by Chris Rhys. London. Century Publishing. ISBN 0-7126-0911-3