Rugby Union in The Cook Islands - History

History

As with many Pacific Island nations, rugby has been the main sport since the early 20th century. Visiting ships from Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Japan, have kept the game going. However, Cook Island rugby has mostly taken the form of an informal folk sport until recently. Also, the Cook Islands have suffered another problem common to many other surrounding nations such as Western Samoa; with potential players opting to play for bigger nations. Both brothers Graeme and Steve Bachop were eligible to play for the Cook Islands but chose to play for their country of birth New Zealand. The Australian rugby league captain, Mal Meninga also started off in Cook Island rugby union. In the 1990s, Anthony Turua played a major part in formalising the situation, and getting the national side up to standard. Although they did not manage to get into the Rugby World Cup, the Cook Islands have done well in what is arguably the toughest rugby region, and managed to beat Papua New Guinea. As with many of the of Pacific Nations with a lot of talent, and not a lot of population, the Cook Islands have tended to do best at rugby sevens.