The honour of opening the Oceania Zone qualifying campaign in June 2001 fell to the so called ‘smaller islands’ – namely the Cook Islands, Niue, Tahiti, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
The first round saw these six split into two pools of three, the Polynesian islands in the Eastern zone and Melanesian in the Western Zone, with each playing two matches, one home and one away.
The Eastern zone kicked off with the Cook Islands emphatically beating Tahiti 86-0 in Rarotonga and Lance Fitzpatrick scoring eight of their 14 tries. A week later they were confirmed as pool winners after beating Niue 28-8.
Niue may have lost their first ever international match, but the tiny nation with a population of just 1,950 soon had cause to celebrate after clinching a 41-6 victory in Tahiti on June 16.
Papua New Guinea lived up to their billing as favourites to finish top of the Western zone with 32-10 victories over the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, whereby qualifying for the third round and a play off with the Cook Islands in the Oceania Championship.
The three big names in Pacific rugby – Fiji, Samoa and Tonga – entered the fray in June 2002 with a home and away round robin that would see the top two qualify automatically for Rugby World Cup 2003 and the other enter the Répechage.
This round robin, which formed the second round of the Oceania Zone qualifiers, began with Samoa hosting Fiji in Apia, a match the visitors won 17-16 after Earl Va’a missed an injury-time penalty.
Samoa recovered to win their next three matches, including a 22-12 triumph in Fiji, to confirm their place at Rugby World Cup 2003, although they had to wait for the outcome of Tonga’s visit to Fiji to see whether that would be as Oceania One or Two.
This final match in the Pacific Tri Nations saw Fiji triumph 47-20 to finish above Samoa on points difference and book their place in Pool B alongside France, Scotland and, ultimately, Japan and ultimately the United States.
Samoa slotted into Pool C with England and South Africa – Georgia and Uruguay had yet to qualify – while Tonga awaited the winner of the Oceania Championship, between Papua New Guinea and the Cook Islands, in the fourth round.
Neither side had played a Test match since reaching the Oceania Zone third round, but Papua New Guinea drew first blood, winning 29-14 on home soil on 19 October 2002. The Cook Islands won the return match, but went out 42-35 on aggregate.
Papua New Guinea, who lost to the Cook Islands in their only previous meeting during qualifying for the last World Cup, found Tonga too big an obstacle to overcome, going down 131-26 on aggregate.
Tonga then faced South Korea in the Répechage, just as they had done in 1999. The outcome was the same with Tonga posting a record 119-0 score in Nuku’Alofa to win 194-0 on aggregate and join New Zealand, Wales, Italy and Canada in Pool D.