The Vodafone Fijiana XV has held the Oceania Women’s Championship crown five times and maintaining that dominance is quite important for the current squad.
Fijiana took the trophy in 2016, 2018, 2022, 2024 and 2025 only missing out in 2019 when New Zealand took the honours and 2023 when Samoa ascended to the top.
The competition was shelved in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since its resumption in 2022, the Fijiana have made the final for four consecutive years, losing only in 2023 to an 80th-minute penalty goal by Samoa.
Interim Fijiana head coach Mike Legge did not downplay the significance of this tournament.
“It’s very important,” he said.
“We have been very dominant for a number of years now.”
The championship also opens the doorway for Legge to expand and test the depth of his squad.
“At the same time, we are using it as a tool to develop some of our girls that are coming through the system and start building a wider depth squad, depth chart so we are going to be blooding quite a few girls in that Oceania along with our experienced girls.
“It is very important that we continue to dominate that competition.”
The 2026 Oceania Women’s Rugby Championship is scheduled for April 17 to 25.
Fijiana will face Tonga on April 17 at Churchill Park and Tonga will then face Samoa at the same venue four days later.
The third round is planned to be held in Ba on April 25.
