The World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup, which gets underway today, will give six teams beneficial game time ahead of Rugby World Cup.

With excitement building ahead of RWC 2015, six of the teams who will be competing on rugby’s greatest stage have their eyes set on winning the World Rugby PNC, which kicks off exactly two months before the showcase event.

Canada, Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and USA have been busy preparing for England 2015 and winning the World Rugby PNC would be a huge boost ahead of the tournament.

The teams have been drawn in two pools of three with teams playing across the two pools in a round-robin competition, played in venues in Fiji, USA and Canada between July 18 and August 3.

Adding extra excitement to the competition schedule, for the positional play-offs the teams will be ranked according to the number of competition points achieved across pool play.

The finals will be played in Burnaby, Canada on August 3.

With all the focus on team performance ahead of England 2015, there are some mouth-watering encounters that will provide a preview of what to expect in September and October as RWC Pool B opponents USA and Samoa play on Saturday, while Japan, also in Pool B, tackle USA on July 24.

World Rugby chairman Bernard Lapasset said: “The World Rugby funded Pacific Nations Cup always delivers excitement and highly-competitive action, but this year’s edition takes on extra significance with Rugby World Cup 2015 just two months away.

“World Rugby is committed to supporting these teams on the road to England 2015 and it will be exciting to see where they are in their preparation as we look forward to what promises to be an exceptionally competitive Rugby World Cup.” World Rugby

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