Laurie O'Reilly Cup

O'Reilly Cup

Current season, competition or edition: 2024 Laurie O'Reilly Cup
Sport	Rugby union
Founded	1994; 31 years ago (1994)
No. of teams	2
Countries	Australia  New Zealand
Most recent champion(s)	New Zealand (2024)
Most titles	New Zealand (15 titles)

The Laurie O'Reilly Cup is the trophy competed for by the women's rugby union teams of Australia and New Zealand. The two nations met annually between 1994 and 1998, with New Zealand winning all games, often by significant margins, as a result of which the series fell into abeyance, but was revived in 2007.^[1][2][3]

History

The Cup is named in honour of Laurie O’Reilly, New Zealand's first women's Selector and National coach who died in 1998.^[4][5] It was formerly known as the Laurie O'Reilly Memorial Trophy.^[6] It has been contested between New Zealand and Australia since its inception in 1994. The Black Ferns has won every fixture so far and are the current holders of the O’Reilly Cup with a total of 17 wins.^[5]

In 2018, the Black Ferns and the Wallaroos played both Tests as curtain-raisers to both Bledisloe Cup Tests in Sydney and Auckland. The crowd at the end of both women's Tests swelled to about 28,000. The women's double-header concept was deemed as a success by NZR CEO Steve Tew who is open to repeating the concept. For the equivalent match at Eden Park in 2016, also before the men's clash, the crowd size peaked at 12,500.^[7]

In 2020, All planned test matches for the Wallaroos were cancelled due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, as was the September tour to New Zealand in 2021.^[8]

After a two-year absence due to the pandemic, it was confirmed that the competition would return. The Black Ferns hosted the first test and the Wallaroos the second test in 2022. The second match was played as a curtain raiser to the Wallabies and Springboks test in Adelaide.^[9][10] The Black Ferns won the first test in Christchurch and retained the O'Reilly Cup.^[11][12][13] They then won the series after winning the second test.^[14][15][16]

Results

Year	Date	Home	Score	Away	Cup Winner	Venue	Event
1994	2 September	Australia	0–37	New Zealand	New Zealand	Sydney
1995	22 July	New Zealand	64–0	Australia	New Zealand	Auckland
1996	31 August	Australia	5–28	New Zealand	New Zealand	Sydney
1997	16 August	New Zealand	44–0	Australia	New Zealand	Dunedin
1998	29 August	Australia	3–27	New Zealand	New Zealand	Sydney
2007	16 October	New Zealand	21–10	Australia	New Zealand	Cooks Gardens, Wanganui
	20 October	New Zealand	29–12	Australia	New Zealand	Wellington
2008	14 October	Australia	3–37	New Zealand	New Zealand	Canberra
	18 October	Australia	16–22	New Zealand	New Zealand	Sydney
2014	1 June	New Zealand	38–3	Australia	New Zealand	Rotorua International Stadium
2016	22 October	New Zealand	67–3	Australia	New Zealand	Eden Park, Auckland
	26 October	New Zealand	29–3	Australia	New Zealand	QBE Stadium, Auckland
2017	13 June	New Zealand	44–17	Australia	New Zealand	Rugby Park, Christchurch
2018	18 August	Australia	11–31	New Zealand	New Zealand	ANZ Stadium, Sydney
	25 August	New Zealand	45–17	Australia	New Zealand	Eden Park, Auckland
2019	10 August	Australia	10–47	New Zealand	New Zealand	Optus Stadium, Perth
	17 August	New Zealand	37–8	Australia	New Zealand	Eden Park, Auckland
2022	20 August	New Zealand	52–5	Australia	New Zealand	Orangetheory Stadium
	27 August	Australia	14–22	New Zealand	New Zealand	Adelaide Oval
2023	29 June	Australia	0–50	New Zealand	New Zealand	Brisbane	Pacific Four Series
	30 September	New Zealand	43–3	Australia	New Zealand	Waikato Stadium, Hamilton
2024	25 May	New Zealand	67–19	Australia	New Zealand	North Harbour Stadium	Pacific Four Series
	14 July	Australia	0–62	New Zealand	New Zealand	Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane

Matches

Venue	Played	Won by		Drawn	Total points
		Australia	New Zealand		Australia	New Zealand
Australia	10	0	10	0	62	363
New Zealand	13	0	13	0	100	580
Overall	23	0	23	0	162	943

See also

• Women's international rugby union
• Australia–New Zealand sports rivalries
• Bledisloe Cup
• Rugby union trophies and awards

References

1. "What's up with JJ?". www.allblacks.com. 2 September 2014. Archived from the original on 29 April 2015.
2. "Evans happy with Black Ferns first match". www.allblacks.com. 2 June 2014. Archived from the original on 6 June 2014.
3. Rattue, Chris (5 August 2005). "Anna Richards sick of retirement questions". NZ Herald.co.nz.
4. "31 years since first official New Zealand women's team took to the field". allblacks.com. 22 July 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
5. "All Blacks and Black Ferns announce bumper international home Test schedule". allblacks.com. 26 April 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
6. "How Laurie O'Reilly's 'larger than life' passion for rugby helped women's game soar". www.rugbyworldcup.com. 22 August 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
7. "Bledisloe Cup Japan fixture could suffer after All Blacks win series". ESPN Scrum. 27 August 2018. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
8. Mitchell, Brittany (17 August 2021). "Rugby Australia risk losing some of their best talent to NRLW". ESPN. Archived from the original on 16 September 2021.
9. "Black Ferns confirmed to play Australia in Adelaide for Laurie O'Reilly Cup test". Stuff. 2 May 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
10. "2022 eToro Rugby Championship fixtures confirmed". wallabies.rugby. 1 May 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
11. "Wallaroos walloped by Black Ferns in eight-try romp at Christchurch". the Guardian. 20 August 2022. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
12. "Wallaroos outclassed in heavy defeat to Black Ferns". ABC News. 20 August 2022. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
13. Pearson, Joseph (20 August 2022). "Black Ferns retain O'Reilly Cup after flattening lacklustre Wallaroos 52-5 in Christchurch". Stuff. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
14. Burnes, Campbell (27 August 2022). "Black Ferns made to work hard in Adelaide". allblacks.com. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
15. "Black Ferns come from behind to defeat Wallaroos". 1 News. 27 August 2022. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
16. Shannon, Kris (27 August 2022). "Work to be done: Black Ferns not at their best in scrappy win". NZ Herald. Retrieved 27 August 2022.