Penitani primed for World Cup qualifiers with Tonga
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Tonga captain Tiana Penitani has urged other NRLW stars with Pacific Islands heritage to help their nation qualify for the 2026 World Cup after the Pacific Championships draw was announced.
With the growth of women’s rugby league across the globe, a qualifying process has been introduced for the first time, with Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga to play off in the Pacific Bowl for a spot at RLWC2026 in Australia.
Tonga, who were 14th in the latest IRL World Rankings, will play 24th ranked Samoa in Fiji on October 19, with Fiji - ranked 26th - to host sixth ranked Cook Islands on October 26.
The Women's Pacific Championship draw explained
The two winners will meet in Auckland as part of a double-header with the Kiwis-Tonga men's clash; the victor becoming the seventh nation to qualify for the women’s World Cup.
Australia, England, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea automatically qualified as semi-finalists at the last World Cup in 2022, while France and Wales joined them after topping their pools in European RLWC2026 qualifiers.
The Pacific Bowl runner up will have a chance to secure the eighth and final spot at the 2025 World Series, in which they will be pitted against either Greece or Ireland and the winners of Americas and African qualifying tournaments.
“It will be the first time that Tonga could potentially qualify for a World Cup, so it is going to be a really big end to the year,” Penitani told NRL.com.
“To think of the amount of Tongan players that there are in the women's game, it would be amazing to be able to represent those girls."
Penitani, who played for the Jillaroos in 2019, switched to Tonga last season to honour the memory of her Tongan-born father Solomon and played alongside sister Natasha, who is a backrower for Wests Tigers.
Sharks team-mates Tegan Dymock and Vanessa Foliaki, Eels five-eighth Cassey Tohi-Hiku, Cowboys pair China Polata and Lavinia Tauhalaliku, Wests Tigers forward Amelia Huakau (Née Mafi) and Titans prop Dannii Perese were also in the Tongan team which lost 28-10 to the Kiwi Ferns.
Other players eligible for Tonga include Raiders captain Simaima Taufa, Broncos centre Mele Hufanga and Roosters prop Pani Hopoate.
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“With the incentive of qualifying Tonga for the World Cup for the first time ever it would be exciting to see some of those big names come across so hopefully we see that - not just for Tonga, but for the other Pacific nations too," Penitani said.
“Last year, it was such an exciting week for me personally, with my first experience playing for Tonga. We definitely wanted more, so it is great that we have been given that at the end of this year with the Pacific Championships.
“I think for all of the Pacific nations to be given the opportunity to play in the Pacific Championships again and the opportunity to qualify for the World Cup simultaneously is really exciting."
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Penitani said success at the Pacific Championships would have a huge impact in Tonga, where the game is growing at junior level with a Tongan U16s Schoolgirls team recently being unbeaten in a three-match tour of Australia.
"It was only a few years ago that rugby league was banned for women in Tonga, so fast forward to where we are now, with the presence of Tongan athletes in the NRL and the NRLW, and it is amazing," Penitani said.
"For those U16s girls come out and do as well as they did shows that the ripple effect is huge in the women’s game and it great to see.”
In addition to qualifying for RLWC2026, the winner of the Pacific Bowl will also play in a promotion-relegation play-off for next year's Pacific Championships against the third-placed team in the Pacific Cup, contested by the Jillaroos, Kiwi Ferns and PNG Orchids.
