2023 replay: a look back at Pacific sport this year

Analysis - the 2023 sports season brought up surprises, disappointments, and a notable event in Honiara for the Pacific.

Senior sports journalist Iliesa Tora takes a look at the replays.

Flying Fijians

A major highlight was the Flying Fijians' defeat of the Australian Wallabies at the Rugby World Cup and their first Test victory over England at Twickenham in late August.

"What a year it has been for Fiji Rugby," Fiji Rugby Union Trustees Board chairman Peter Mazey told the media in his end-of-year message in Suva.

"It has been one of the most successful years for Fiji Rugby."

Mazey and his team were selected by the coalition government of Sitiveni Rabuka after they stepped in to set the FRU on the right path - following claims of mismanagement of funds and legal questions on its constitution and registration being raised.

In March they brought in a new coach in Simon Raiwalui after then-coach Vern Cotter decided it was time to return home.

Raiwalui then worked with his squad in the rural setting of Taveuni to set their Rugby World Cup campaign in motion, winning the Pacific Nations Cup, giving France and Wales a good run for their money and then defeating both England and Australia.

Ironically it was England who returned to haunt the Fijians in Marseille, beating Raiwalui's team under controversial circumstances in the Rugby World Cup quarterfinal, the first time in 16 years that Fiji was in the top 8 again.

Pacific neighbours Samoa and Tonga did not make it beyond the World Cup pool stage.

Netball World Cup

Tonga's Tala proved they were the best in the Pacific in netball, dominating AusPacific Netball tournaments (2022, 2023), the Oceania Netball Championship and the Pacific Games.

They also made the Netball World Cup trip to South Africa and finished eighth overall, after defeating Fiji in the playoffs there.

In November they beat Fiji in the Pacific Games final to win the gold medal in Honiara.

Papua New Guinea was another team making progress on the netball courts and competed in Singapore against some of Asia's best.

Rugby league

Samoa, Fiji, Cook Islands and Papua New Guinea locked horns in the Pacific Cup series played in PNG, Australia and New Zealand this year.

Samoa had tough runs against Australia and New Zealand while PNG turned the tables on Fiji, coming out victors in the final game, after having lost to the Bati earlier in the series.

Tonga, meanwhile, lost three Tests against Great Britain in England in October.

The series was on Great Britain's invitation to the Mate Ma'a Tonga.

Olympic Games 2024 preparation

With the Olympic Games coming up in 2024, Pacific Island teams and athletes were busy in 2023 trying to qualify in the different sports.

The Fijians men's and women's sevens rugby teams have both qualified through the HSBC Sevens Series with Samoa's men's team qualifying from the Oceania Sevens Rugby championship.

Individual athletes like Samoa'a Don Opeloge, Solomon Islands' Jenley Tegu Wini, Nauru's Blanco Wharton and Fiji's Taniela Rainibogi are all fighting to win Olympic weightlifting spots.

Most of the lifters are lined up to compete at qualifying events in January.

Pacific Games 2023

The Solomon Islands put up two weeks of the best Pacific Games ever witnessed, as stated by Pacific Games Council president Vidhya Lakhan.

Opening on November 19 at the National Stadium in Honiara, over 5,000 athletes and officials marched through in a show of the Pacific's best.

When the curtains closed on December 2, New Caledonia had made the biggest medal haul again, followed by Tahiti.

But Samoa had jumped the table and others had broken the dominance of the French territories in the pool, weightlifting, boxing and athletics.

Australia is now the Pacific's best in sprints taking over from Fiji and Papua New Guinea, who had dominated the 100 and 200 metres in the past.

Tokelau Islands was the only country not to win a medal at the Games.