How to watch Pacific Championship 2025: FREE rugby league live streams

If the first round thrillers between the Kiwis and Toa Samoa in the men’s Pacific Cup and the Kiwi Ferns and Fetū Sāmoa in the women’s Pacific Cup are any indication, the gap between Tier 1 and Tier 2 nations, once a yawning chasm, is becoming increasingly narrower. And the Pacific Championship itself has played an important role in this.

Rugby has long been a closed business, with the power dynamics skewed emphatically in favor of Australia and New Zealand, who had (and continue to have) the money and access to recruit the best talent from the Pacific Islands, as those nations were deprived of opportunities. The Pacific Championship offers a real incentive for elite players to look beyond the kangaroos and kiwis and reconnect with their roots.