Papua New Guinea national rugby union team

Papua New Guinea
Nickname	The Pukpuks
Union	Papua New Guinea Rugby Football Union
Head coach	Sydney Wesley
	First colours
	First colours
World Rugby ranking
Current	86 (as of 4 November 2024)
Highest	84 (2023)
First international
	Papua New Guinea 47–3 New Hebrides; (1966-12-01)
Biggest win
	Papua New Guinea 97–3 Vanuatu; (20 August 2005)
Biggest defeat
	Samoa 115–7 Papua New Guinea ; (Apia, Samoa, 11 July 2009)
Medal record
Pacific Games

The Papua New Guinea national rugby union team, nicknamed the Pukpuks, (Tok Pisin for 'crocodiles'), played its first international in 1966, defeating Vanuatu 47–3. Papua New Guinea have not so far qualified for a Rugby World Cup. They participated in the Oceania World Cup qualifying tournaments for the 2007, 2011 and 2015 World Cups, but did not qualify.

History

Papua New Guinea made their international rugby debut at the South Pacific Games in 1966. The team won all three matches against New Hebrides, New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna to win the gold medal.

As hosts for the following games held at Port Moresby in 1969, Papua New Guinea defeated New Caledonia again and the Solomon Islands but lost to the eventual gold medalist Fiji to finish with the silver medal.

Papua New Guinea entered a qualifying tournament for the 1999 Rugby World Cup in Wales. Papua New Guinea competed in Round 1 of the Oceania qualifying tournament. Although they defeated Tahiti, they lost 22–19 against the Cook Islands. They finished second in the final standings.

They played in qualifying tournaments for the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia, playing in Round 1b of the Oceania tournament. Papua New Guinea defeated both the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to advance through to Round 3. In Round 3 Papua New Guinea faced the Cook Islands to advance to Round 4. In the final round, for repechage qualification, Papua New Guinea were defeated by Tonga.

In attempting to qualify for the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France, Papua New Guinea started out in Round 1a of the tournament. Papua New Guinea defeated the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to finish at the top of the standings to move through to Round 2. In Round 2 the Cook Islands went through to Round 4.

The Pukpuks won the inaugural Federation of Oceania Rugby Union (FORU) Cup (2007), defeating Niue in the final by a score of 46–19. In the 2009 Oceania Nations Cup, Papua New Guinea managed to beat Vanuatu 86–12 in the semifinals and in the final, beat Cook Islands 29–12. They then went on to play Samoa in the Oceania Qualification for the 2011 Rugby World Cup where they got beaten 115–7 away and 73–12 at home. They were unable to qualify for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

Papua New Guinea hosted the 2011 edition of the FORU Oceania Cup, winning the tournament by defeating Vanuatu (78–3),^[1] Solomon Islands (33–15)^[2] and Niue (36–7).^[3]

World Cup record

World Cup record
Year	Round	P	W	D	L	F	A
1987	No qualifying tournament held
1991	did not enter
1995	did not enter
1999	did not qualify
2003
2007
2011
2015
2019	Withdrew
2023	did not qualify
2027
Total	0/8	-	-	-	-	-	-

Overall Records

Below is table of the representative rugby matches played by a Papua New Guinea national XV at test level up until 20 April 2020.^[4]

Team	Mat	Won	Lost	Win%	Last played	For	Aga	Diff
American Samoa	1	1	0	100%	2015	36	22	+14
Cook Islands	7	3	4	42.86%	2013	153	163	−10
Fiji	3	0	3	0%	1979	3	253	−250
Hong Kong	3	0	3	0%	2016	26	79	−53
Nauru	1	1	0	100%	2019	89	7	+82
New Caledonia	3	2	1	66.67%	1979	59	25	+34
New Hebrides	1	1	0	100%	1966	47	3	+44
Niue	3	3	0	100%	2019	111	44	+67
Russia	1	0	1	0%	2016	19	49	−30
Samoa	2	0	2	0%	2009	19	188	−169
Solomon Islands	8	8	0	100%	2019	284	97	+187
Sri Lanka	2	2	0	100%	1992	46	35	+11
Tahiti	3	3	0	100%	2015	163	48	+115
Tonga	2	0	2	0%	2002	26	135	−105
Vanuatu	5	5	0	100%	2011	339	28	+311
Wallis and Futuna	2	2	0	100%	1969	100	5	+95
Zimbabwe	1	0	1	0%	2016	11	38	−27
Total	50	32	18	64%	–	1564	1271	+293