PNG Women’s rugby league championship to be held this month

 THE Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League will host a national women’s championships this month in Port Moresby in conjunction with this year’s Digicel ExxonMobil Cup’s finals.

PNGRFL chief executive Stanley Hondina said the two-week tournament was part of a long term plan to establish a national competition for women in the country and was driven by the governing body’s high performance unit and the PNG National Rugby League Competition.

PNG Women’s rugby league championship to be held this month [Photo: PNG Orchids]

The rugby league tournament for women will showcase the top performing female talent from the four confederates – Southern, Northern, Highlands and New Guinea Islands.

“We are committed to seeing our girls perform better at the 2026 World Cup and the way forward is to improve the standard of our domestic competition and provide opportunities for them to play at higher levels,” said Hondina said in a statement.

“The teams have been formed by leagues who have been recognised as fully compliant to the PNGRFL’s guidelines and registration process which has been driven by our Community Rugby League team this season.

“The composition of the ladies competing came from teams representing their leagues who were invited to compete in provincial trials to identify and select their confederate sides.

“These trials took place over the course of three weeks from the July 29-Aug 11.

“Our community rugby league team have been hard at work establishing and reconnecting with our leagues across the country to have them adjust to our enforcement of compliance in order to benefit from PNGRFL programs and opportunities.

“With compliance this will lead to better capturing of data and information for our players and competitions.”

Tournament dates: Game 1: Aug 23; Game 2: Aug 27; Game 3: Aug 30; Game 4: Sept 3.

Statement

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