ŌTAUTAHI CHRISTCHURCH THE VENUE FOR PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS TRANS-TASMAN TEST DOUBLE-HEADER
New Zealand and Australia will square off in a rugby league Test in Ōtautahi Christchurch for the first time in 35 years, while the Kiwi Ferns will play their first match in the South Island since 1998 following the announcement of a Pacific Championships trans-Tasman double-header at Apollo Projects Stadium on October 27.
The Kiwi Ferns and Jillaroos meet in a historic encounter and the Kiwis take on the Kangaroos at the spiritual home of rugby league in Canterbury, the former site of Addington Showgrounds (Rugby League Park), on the Sunday of Labour weekend.
Tickets go on sale via Ticketek Wednesday, August 28 at 12pm, with presale for NZRL and MyTicketek members Tuesday, August 27. Sign up to the waitlist to learn more.
“It is a very special occasion to partner with Ōtautahi Christchurch and work with Canterbury Rugby League to take the Pacific Championships to our fans in the South Island for the first international fixtures there in five years,” NZRL CEO Greg Peters says.
The men’s teams square off for the first time since the Kiwis’ record 30-0 victory to clinch the Pacific Cup in the 2023 final in Hamilton. Meanwhile, the Kiwi Ferns carved out a drought-breaking 12-6 win over the Jillaroos in their most recent encounter in Melbourne last October.
Following the Apollo Projects Stadium double-header, the Kiwis play Mate Ma’a Tonga at Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium and the Kiwi Ferns take on Papua New Guinea Orchids in Port Moresby on November 2. The finals for both competition’s will unfold on November 10 in Sydney.
Sold-out trials and NRL premiership matches featuring the Warriors recently have emphatically illustrated the region’s appetite for top-level football. The Pacific Championships announcement comes on the back of a massive CRL Happy Hire Grand Final Day at Ngā Puna Wai and further big news in the national junior representative rugby league space, reflecting the code’s health at grassroots level in Canterbury.
Canterbury Rugby League CEO Malcolm Humm said there will be great excitement throughout the district and within the local rugby league community that such important Test matches can be hosted in Ōtautahi.
“With the rugby league growth explosion we are experiencing across clubs, primary and secondary schools, the timing of this opportunity couldn’t be better,” Humm enthused.
“There is a real buzz about rugby league in the region currently, which has seen a significant increase in participation.
“Along with this growth, we recently announced that for the first time since 1993 Canterbury Rugby League will host the 2025 NZRL National Youth Competition in Christchurch, there are two bid submissions that we are aware of for an NRL expansion team to be based in the city, whilst our NRL club partner, the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, are serious contenders the 2024 NRL premiership.
“The announcement of these Test matches really is the icing on the cake.”
The Kiwi Ferns have only played in Christchurch once in their 30-year history, against Great Britain at the Showgrounds in 1998.
While the Australian women’s team makes a maiden visit to the South Island, their men’s counterparts play their first Test here since the 1989 series opener against New Zealand, which drew 17,000 fans to QEII Park in Christchurch as the tourists powered to a 26-6 win.
The city has hosted only a handful of Kiwis matches since: versus Great Britain at QEII Park in 1990, France at Addington Showgrounds in 1992, Great Britain at Lancaster Park/Jade Stadium in 1996 and 2006, Scotland at Rugby League Park during the 2017 Rugby League World Cup (the venue also staged the Tonga-Lebanon quarter-final), and Great Britain at Rugby League Park in 2019 (then known as Orangetheory Stadium).
The trans-Tasman rivals have met on two other occasions in Christchurch, with New Zealand winning both – 26-10 at Sydenham Park in 1919 and a 25-5 success for the Jimmy Haig-led Kiwis over Clive Churchill’s Australian side at Addington Showgrounds.
