Cook Islands News

The Cook Islands national representative Rugby League side, nicknamed The Kuki’s, led the way for many Pacific Island nations having played their first test match back in 1986.

It was during the 1990’s when they started to emerge onto the global stage and since the turn of the millennium, they have become an established test playing side who have featured at numerous Rugby League World Cups.

The Cooks rely on a mix of home-grown talent and heritage players from Australia and most prominently New Zealand, which has helped them to make a name for themselves against nations with much bigger populations.

Here at 13v13, we bring you all the latest Cook Islands Rugby League news from outlets across the globe.

Cook Islands Breaking News

Here are all the latest Cook Islands RL news headlines, if a story is of interest to you, simply click on the headlines to be taken to the full story at the original source.

Cook Islands Latest News Today

If a major story regarding the country has broken today and you are wanting to get up to date, you are in the right place as we update all the latest news headlines regarding the Cook Islands around the globe to bring you the story as and when they happen.

Similarly, if you have been out and about and just want to see if anything has happened, we make it easy to news the attest ness at a glance or if you have heard a rumour and want to see if it is true or not, you can do that without having to search multiple websites- as we do that for you.

Confederation

The Cook Islands are governed by the Cook Islands Rugby League governing body and are under the Asia-Pacific Rugby League Confederation (APRLC) umbrella.

About

The Cook Islands is a self-governing island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean that have a free association with New Zealand.

That allows most Cook natives to also have New Zealand citizenship and that has allowed players to develop their skills at clubs across New Zealand and gain easier access to professional training and competitions.

History

The Kuki’s first ever test match came against Niue in a match held in Rarotonga, Cook Islands in 1986, where it was the hosts that ran out comfortable winners by 22 points to 8.

From there, they would become regular participants in the Pacific Cup, and they would also host touring British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA) Great Britain teams.

In 1995, the country took another big step forward when they participated in the 1995 Emerging Nations tournament, that ran alongside the RLWC that year.

The Cook Islands would not only go onto defeat the Untied States, Russia and Scotland to make it through to the final, but they would also defeat Ireland in the final to win the tournament.

During the Super League wars, the Cooks competed in the Super League World Nines before enjoying a number of full test matches against other South Pacific Island nations including taking on the Papua New Guinea Kumuls in their 50th anniversary tournament.

In 2000, they made the step up to the global stage when they participated in their first ever Rugby League World Cup, but it would prove to be a tough step up as they would lose to Wales draw with Lebanon and suffer one of the biggest defeats in RLWC.
In a match played in Reading, they took on the mighty New Zealand where the Kiwis would run out 84-10 winners.
In the qualification process for the 2008 edition, the Kuki’s played Fiji, Tonga and Samoa but they would lose all 3 matches and therefore not get to participate at the finals proper.

The next year, they would participate in the 2009 Pacific Cup, where they would defeat Samoa to compete there, and they would pick up a win against Fiji in the event.

The Kuki would once again return to the global stage at the 2013 RLWC, where they faced Wales, the USA and Tonga in the group stage and after losing to the USA and Tonga, they would go on to make history when they took on and defeat the co-hosts Wales for the countries first ever win at a World Cup.

To qualify for the 2021 RLWC, held in 2022, they would have to face South Arica and the USA. After comfortably defeating SA in Australia, they headed over to Jacksonville to take on the USA where they came away with a comfortable 38-16 win.

Cook Islands News Headlines

If you are looking for the latest Cook Islands news headlines, you are in the right place as we here at 13v13 bring you all the latest Kuki’s RL news headlines from across the globe.

Cook Islands News Update

As is the case with most of the news in the age of 24 hours new channels and first to post clickbait style websites, news outlets will often post a story as quickly as possible and disregard getting the full story first.

That means news outlets must keep updating stories and that can be a frustrating experience for fans who must keep searching out the latest on a story that is of interest to them.

Thankfully, there is now a much easier solution and that is by using our service right here at 13v13 as we do all of the searching for, and we keep you up to date with all of the latest news headlines regarding the Cook Islands RL national team.

Over the years, the Cook Islands Rugby League national test team have developed rivalries with a number of other Pacific Island nations, including the likes of the Fiji Bati and Tonga, thanks in part to the inter-island rivalry that always exists and also due to the number of times the nations have featured in test matches against each other.